When Tom Cruise first stepped into the cockpit as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in 1986's Top Gun, the name of the game was taking the highway to the danger zone, flying high against burnt-orange sunsets, and feeling the need for speed – but it was also about remembering who you are and where you came from. In other words, character mattered too. And that remains the case in Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel that’s been 30 years in the making.
In the new issue of Empire, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski explain why it was crucial to introduce a new generation of fully fleshed-out pilots – including Rooster, played by Miles Teller, and Monica Barbaro’s Phoenix, who you can see below – in the next chapter of Maverick's life story. “We were always going to do a character piece,” says Bruckheimer. “The mantra from everybody was following the Maverick story, and where he is in his life. And we explore his character through the younger pilots, and what he’s searching for.”
Have a look at Rooster and Phoenix taking a quiet moment here:
If the dizzying flight setpieces brought their own challenges, so did the prospect of delivering gripping, human drama – particularly as Maverick trains up Rooster, son of the original Top Gun's fallen wingman Goose. “As hard as the aerial sequences were to pull off,” says Kosinski, “the most difficult thing was honing those relationships on the ground. And the notion of Bradley following in his father’s footsteps as a naval aviator, and the jeopardy that puts him in, felt like the kind of problem that would put the emotional hooks into Maverick.” Hopefully, the character work will take our breath away just as much as the aerial action.
.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
Read Empire’s full Top Gun: Maverick story in the upcoming Tom Cruise issue, on sale Thursday 13 May and available to pre-order online now here.