Tom Cruise Talks Filming Top Gun Fighter Jet Scenes: You Cant Act That

Tom Cruise guides a behind-the-scenes look at how the fighter jet theatrics came together for his new film, Top Gun: Maverick, out June 26th, 2020.

The film finds Cruise reprising his role as Pete Maverick Mitchell, the ace pilot from 1986s Top Gun, although a lot has changed in both aviation and film technology since then. In the new documentary featurette, producer Jerry Bruckheimer explains that the goal of the film was to show audiences what its really like to be a Top Gun pilot.

In order to do that, the cast of Top Gun worked with some of the best fighter pilots in the world, while director Joseph Kosinski explained that they were able to film the fighter jet scenes with a new kind of rig that allowed them to fit six IMAX-quality cameras inside the cockpit.

Warning: Real flying. Real g-forces. May make you puke. #TopGun pic.twitter.com/CRjROgOvwd

Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) December 18, 2019

Cruise, who obviously has some experience in this realm, played a crucial role in helping the younger actors get used to the insane experience of flying a fighter jet. It is aggressive, you cant act that the distortion in the face, Cruise said. Theyre pulling seven-and-a-half, eight Gs. Thats 1,600 pounds of force. Im so proud of them and what theyve done; it is heavy duty.

Top Gun: Maverick picks up over 30 years after the events of the original film, with Maverick training a new group of Top Gun graduates for an unusual and difficult specialized mission. Among his charges is Lt. Bradley Rooster Bradshaw (played by Miles Teller), whos the son of Mavericks late friend, Nick Goose Bradshaw (played in the original film by Anthony Edwards).