- 17 hours ago
Feel the need, the need for fascinating trivia! Join us as we count down the most incredible behind-the-scenes facts from one of Hollywood's greatest action classics, celebrating its 40th anniversary! From on-set rivalries and improvised iconic moments to real-life tragedies and government involvement, there's far more to this legendary film than meets the eye!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Three, two, one, break right!
00:07Fire!
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at some of the biggest points of interest behind Tom Cruise's star-making
00:15feature, Top Gun.
00:17I'm Charlotte Blackwood.
00:18I'm Maverick.
00:19Maverick?
00:21Does your mother not like you or something?
00:24Number 10. Improvised Iconic Moments
00:27The cast's chemistry has always stood out as completely natural.
00:31That may be why some of the film's standout scenes were not even part of the script.
00:35One of the most memorable is when Iceman breaks into a sarcastic cough while dismissing Maverick's story.
00:40Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him?
00:44Because I was inverted.
00:47Reportedly, Val Kilmer improvised the scene, which may explain why everyone's reactions feel so natural.
00:53Charlie and Maverick's kiss is an even bigger moment, but the steamy exchange only happened by accident.
00:59Jesus Christ! And you think I'm reckless?
01:02Tom Cruise apparently forgot what he was supposed to say in response to Kelly McGillis' line.
01:06And instead of stopping the scene, he chose to kiss her instead.
01:10And I just don't want anyone to know that I've fallen for you.
01:23Director Tony Scott loved the spontaneity so much, he decided to keep the take in the final film.
01:28Number 9. Most of the cast reached for the sick bag.
01:32While every character gets their cool moment in the cockpit, it was apparently a miserable experience to shoot.
01:44Tom Cruise himself was hit with motion sickness during his first real F-14 flight with Lieutenant Commander Lloyd Bozo
01:50Abel.
01:50The latter wasn't exactly the most tactful when it came to maneuvering the jet, paying little mind to the untrained
01:56members of the cast.
01:57According to Cruise, Bozo left him holding the sick bag to his face, pulling upwards for several moments at a
02:03time.
02:03He pulled it out. I was like, just went down like this. And he at that point decided to pull
02:08up.
02:08And he pulled up so hard and for so long. I mean, I can't do it now. My head literally
02:15was touching the ground.
02:16The G-force had explained. Fine.
02:18Cruise wasn't alone either.
02:20Reports from production claim that nearly the entire main cast found it difficult to handle the intense G-forces.
02:26Anthony Edwards was reportedly the only one to get through filming without reaching for his sick bag.
02:31What the hell's going on?
02:33I don't know.
02:34Number 8. The U.S. Navy capitalized on the film's success.
02:38With blockbuster action, cool characters, and one-liners galore, Top Gun makes a dangerous premise actually look like fun.
02:47Just as dead.
02:49Woohoo!
02:49Just as dead.
02:51Yeehaw!
02:52Film producer John Davis essentially called the movie a recruiting video.
02:55In his book, Guts and Glory, The Making of the American Military Image in Film,
03:00historian Lawrence H. Seward described it as, quote,
03:03The rehabilitation of the American military after it had been savaged in Vietnam.
03:08The U.S. Navy also set up recruitment booths outside theaters.
03:11Lock up, baby. Lock up.
03:14I got him locked.
03:16Bingo.
03:18Although claims at the time reported an astounding 500% increase in recruits,
03:23this figure has since been disputed.
03:26Even so, the majority of applicants admitted to being influenced by Top Gun.
03:30Looking back at the Danger Zone-inspired Join the Navy ads at the time,
03:34it's easy to see why.
03:36I'm aware of two, two, Danger Zone.
03:41Number 7.
03:42Conflicting Heights
03:43Tom Cruise's height has been pop culture conversation ever since the actor shot to fame.
03:48It was no different on the set of Top Gun,
03:50where his co-star's taller stature became a point of contention.
03:54Reportedly, Cruise's 5'7 frame looked noticeably shorter next to Kelly McGillis,
03:59who stood at 5'11".
04:01I've got to get work very early in the morning.
04:03What are you doing?
04:04In a 2022 post on Medium,
04:07producer David Paul Kirkpatrick recounted the chemistry meeting on the Paramount lot,
04:11detailing his reaction at the striking difference in the pair's heights.
04:14I'm an instructor at this school.
04:16I see 20 new hot shots every eight weeks.
04:19Now, I'm sure you can figure that out.
04:21To make the difference less obvious on camera,
04:23production used camera tricks,
04:25different staging angles,
04:26and avoided putting McGillis in heels.
04:28Their efforts ultimately paid off,
04:30as the actors look around the same height in the finished film.
04:33I'm glad we got that straight.
04:36Number 6.
04:36Charlie was based on a real person.
04:39Many fans have wondered why the character of Charlie Blackwood
04:42wasn't an enlisted Navy member or among Top Gun's initiates.
04:46The MiG-28 does have a problem with its inverted flight tanks.
04:50It won't do a negative G pushover.
04:52This was reportedly the plan,
04:54but was scrapped to avoid suggesting any fraternization
04:57between officers and enlisted personnel.
04:59But,
05:00Charlie goes beyond the land of fiction.
05:02She's based on Christine Leggs Fox,
05:04a civilian employee at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
05:08Fox would go on to become the president of the Center for Naval Analyses.
05:12She was also acting Deputy Secretary of Defense,
05:15making her the highest-ranked woman in the United States Department of Defense.
05:19Another early version of the script placed an aerobics instructor
05:22as Maverick's love interest before Charlie was selected in the final draft.
05:26Hello, Pete Mitchell.
05:32I heard the best of the best were going to be back here, so...
05:36Number 5.
05:37Real-life tensions between Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.
05:40Turns out Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer were a real-life Maverick and Iceman all along.
05:45In his memoir, I'm Your Huckleberry,
05:47Kilmer revealed Cruise deliberately avoided, quote,
05:49revelry on set, which created some distance.
05:53Kilmer also pranked his co-star,
05:55sending Cruise on a scavenger hunt for an expensive bottle of champagne.
05:58You're everyone's problem.
06:00That's because every time you go up in the air, you're unsafe.
06:03I don't like you because you're dangerous.
06:05That's right.
06:07Nice.
06:08Man.
06:09I am dangerous.
06:11However, Kilmer's method-acting approach truly frayed relations.
06:15In the documentary Val, he admitted he, quote,
06:18would purposely play up the rivalry between Tom's character and mine off-screen as well.
06:23It's not your flying.
06:24It's your attitude.
06:27The enemy's dangerous.
06:29But right now, you're worse than the enemy.
06:31This ended up splitting the cast into two camps,
06:34one siding with Cruise and the other with Kilmer.
06:36In the end, though, the pair became just as close as their characters,
06:41with Kilmer calling Cruise, quote,
06:42a real friend and himself his lifelong, quote, wingman.
06:46One last thing.
06:48Who's the better pilot?
06:50You or me?
06:54This is a nice moment.
06:56It's not ruining it.
07:02Number four.
07:03Val Kilmer tried to sabotage his own audition.
07:06Kilmer's rivalry with Tom Cruise makes more sense
07:09once you learn he didn't even want to be in the movie.
07:11I'm sorry.
07:12In his memoir, I'm Your Huckleberry,
07:14he admitted he was, quote,
07:16tortured into auditioning by his agent,
07:18who also represented Cruise.
07:20To sabotage his own chances,
07:22Kilmer showed up in what he described as, quote,
07:24oversized, gunky Australian shorts in nausea green.
07:27Despite giving an indifferent reading,
07:29he still won the part, much to his disdain.
07:32Congratulations.
07:36Since he was on a studio contract,
07:38Kilmer was obligated to shoot the film,
07:39even though he found the script to be, quote,
07:42silly.
07:42In the documentary Val,
07:44the actor also claimed to have invented his own backstory for Iceman
07:47after feeling there was, quote,
07:48very little depth to the character.
07:50This is not personal,
07:52but with regard to Maverick,
07:54is he the best part?
07:55I know it's on your mind,
07:56because Anthony, just get on it.
07:58Number three,
07:59sparing no expense.
08:01Although the film's $15 million budget sounds on the lower side,
08:04the incredible aerial footage came at a pretty steep price.
08:08Okay, Wood, I'm taking the lead.
08:09Let's identify him.
08:10Roger, Ice, you got the lead.
08:12I'm on your left side, a little low.
08:14To make the movie authentic,
08:16the U.S. Navy allowed production to use real F-14 fighter jets,
08:20aircraft carriers,
08:21and the VF-51 Screaming Eagle Squadron.
08:23However,
08:24the real cost was the thousands of dollars per hour
08:27whenever military equipment was used outside normal operations.
08:31Director Tony Scott's insistence on sunset shots
08:34during takeoff and landing was particularly costly.
08:44As revealed by Scott and United States naval aviator Pete Pettigrew
08:48in the Top Gun home media release,
08:50simply turning the aircraft carrier for the backlight effect
08:53cost $25,000.
08:55Scott wrote the captain a check immediately,
08:57but also claimed his check bounced.
09:02Come in ahead, 15 miles.
09:04Airspeed is 600 knots.
09:05Number two,
09:06the Art Scholl tragedy.
09:08Art Scholl was a legendary aerobatic pilot,
09:11aerial cameraman,
09:12and flight instructor,
09:13appearing across numerous media,
09:15including film and television.
09:16This is Art Scholl.
09:18Teacher, designer,
09:20sometime actor,
09:21and professional stunt pilot.
09:22Tragically,
09:23Top Gun would be his last hurrah.
09:25While filming over the Pacific Ocean,
09:27capturing an inverted flat spin maneuver
09:29in his PITS S-2 camera plane,
09:31Scholl radioed in saying,
09:33quote,
09:33I have a problem.
09:34I have a real problem.
09:35These would turn out to be his final words,
09:38as his plane impacted five miles off the coast of Carlsbad, California.
09:42Neither Scholl nor the plane was ever recovered,
09:44with investigators failing to determine what caused the technical fault, if any.
09:48The film was ultimately dedicated to Scholl,
09:51with the last tagline mentioning him by name.
09:54Number one,
09:55Tom Cruise had to be convinced to star in the film.
09:58Risky business may have launched him,
09:59but Top Gun cemented Tom Cruise as a superstar.
10:03And while it's nearly impossible to picture anyone else,
10:06Matthew Modine was the studio's first choice,
10:08who rejected the role in favor of full metal jacket.
10:11Ah!
10:12That's a war face!
10:14Now let me see your war face!
10:15Ah!
10:16Despite an alleged list of other possible names,
10:19producer Jerry Bruckheimer told Variety that,
10:21quote,
10:22it was always Tom.
10:23Once we finished the screenplay,
10:25he was the only actor we talked to.
10:27According to Bruckheimer,
10:29Cruise, quote,
10:29hemmed and hawed about accepting the role,
10:31and convincing him, quote,
10:33wasn't easy.
10:34I don't know what the hell went wrong.
10:36But one ride on an F-14 instantly changed Cruise's mind,
10:40and he then called Bruckheimer up to accept the role.
10:42Turns out Maverick was always part of Cruise's identity,
10:45and all that was needed was bringing him out.
10:48You can be my wingman anytime.
10:51Bullshit.
10:52You can be mine.
10:54Can you think of any other Top Gun fun facts?
10:56Fly into the danger zone in the comments.
Comments