Do you feel the need? The need for speed? What about the need for a Top Gun sequel?
Well, good news if you answered yes to the above – Top Gun: Maverick will be landing in cinemas in 2020. This sequel to the 1986 US military drama which shot Tom Cruise to fame sees rivals Maverick and Iceman don their aviator glasses once more.
The film was first announced 30 years after the original had hits cinemas – but we’ve had to wait even longer to actually see the new movie…34 years to be exact.
Maverick is centre stage again and he’s been busy. He’s now hung up his aviators (not literally we’d hope) and is set to share his top tips and tricks with the young recruits for a specialised mission.
Here’s everything you need to know about the journey into the “danger zone” and one of the biggest movies of 2020.
When is Top Gun: Maverick released in UK cinemas?
Top Gun: Maverick was set for release in cinemas on 23rd December 2020, but has now been put back to 2nd July 2021.
Top Gun is another one of the films that has quite the journey to the cinema thanks to the pandemic.
The film was originally scheduled to be released on 12th July, 2019 but was then pushed back almost a year to 26th June 2020 – and then again to 17th July 2020. However, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the entertainment industry, the film was then pushed back to 23rd December 2020 before it was moved again to 2021.
This means that the sequel will come out more than 35 years after its predecessor. The initial delay was due to Paramount Pictures wanting additional time to present flight sequences with new planes and technology, say Variety.
Tom Cruise shared the initial news saying: “I know many of you have waited 34 years. Unfortunately, it will be a little longer. Top Gun: Maverick will fly this December. Stay safe, everyone.”
If you’re wondering what took so long, Cruise said that he doesn’t “make movies just to make movies.”
Filming took place from May 2018 to June 2019.
Is the original Top Gun cast returning?
Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer are returning to their roles as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell and Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, with their developing relationship being one element of the new film.
Director Joseph Kosinski told Entertainment Weekly: “The rivalry and relationship between Iceman and Maverick is one of those things that makes that first film so iconic.”
“It’s a relationship that is important to the Top Gun franchise and as a fan I would want to see how it’s evolved.”
One original star who definitely won’t be back is Kelly McGillis who has confirmed she will not reprise her role as Maverick’s love interest Charlie.
Largely, Top Gun: Maverick will have a cast of new faces including Miles Teller (Whiplash) as the son of Goose from the first film and Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly as a new love interest (replacing Kelly McGillis). “Oh my God, no,” she replied when Entertainment Tonight put the question to her. “I’m old and I’m fat and I look age appropriate for what my age is and that is not what that whole scene is about. To me, I’d much rather feel absolutely secure in my skin and who and what I am at my age as opposed to placing a value on all that other stuff.”
Top Gun: Maverick cast
Tom Cruise will reprise his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, accompanied by Val Kilmer’s Tom “Iceman” Kazansky – although the latter has been mysteriously absent from the film’s early trailers.
Miles Teller (Whiplash, Fantastic Four) will also take on the role of Goose’s son and Maverick’s new protégé, Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw.
Ed Harris (playing a rear admiral), Jon Hamm (as a vice admiral), Lewis Pullman (pilot trainee Bob), Jennifer Connelly and Glen Powell (pilot trainee ‘Hangman’) have also joined the cast. Connelly is the movie’s lead playing a single mother who runs a local bar near the base. A new pilot with also be played by Manny Jacinto, from The Good Place.
At one point it seems Kilmer had confirmed the retired Gene Hackman would appear, but this isn’t the case. Michael Ironside also won’t be back as Lt Commander Rick ‘Jester’ Heatherly – apparently his relationship with the director Jerry Bruckheimer isn’t very good.
Is there a trailer for Top Gun: Maverick?
Yes, there are several! The latest trailer was released during the Super Bowl:
Here’s the first, released in July 2019, fans were quick to point out similarities to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Paramount released a second trailer for the film in December last year, featuring more Tom Cruise high-flying action.
Cruise appeared at 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con to release the new footage, taking the stage in a packed Hall H:
Thank you to all the fans who came out to Hall H today. It was great to share our first trailer for Top Gun: Maverick with you all. pic.twitter.com/akzi4AeC9Z
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) July 18, 2019
Top Gun: Maverick trailer controversy
One scene in the new trailer showed Cruise’s Maverick wearing the same leather jacket he sported in the original movie – but with a crucial difference.
While in the first Top Gun film, the piece of clothing displayed flag patches for Japan and Taiwan, the sequel has the same two patches showing unidentifiable shapes in a similar colour scheme.
There’s a new Top Gun movie coming out. And Maverick is wearing the same leather jacket – only this time it’s Communist Party of China-approved, so the Japanese and Taiwanese flag patches are gone (screenshot on right is from the new trailer)… pic.twitter.com/gUxFNFNUKX
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) July 19, 2019
The reason? Well, fans are speculating that it all comes down to China which has emerged as a huge movie market since Top Gun was released 34 years ago.
Add to that the fact that Tencent Pictures – the film arm of Chinese company Tencent – has co-financed the sequel, and many have come to the conclusion that the switch was made so as not to alienate Chinese powers that be and cinema-goers.
What was the original Top Gun movie about?
The 80s classic follows US Naval Aviator Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, a talented pilot with little regard for the rules and a close friendship with co-pilot Goose (played by Anthony Edwards).
He is recruited to an elite fighter school, where he clashes with fellow student Iceman (Val Kilmer) in the race to win the coveted Top Gun trophy. Oh, and he starts to fall for the beautiful instructor, Charlie (Kelly McGillis), as well.
What is Top Gun: Maverick about?
Rivals Maverick and Iceman return to the sky with the US Navy.
To adapt with the times, the film will focus on the waning days of dogfighting and the new era of drone warfare. It is being speculated that, just like in the original, our pilots will be facing off against the Russians.
Top Gun: Maverick also sees Tom Cruise truly in the pilot seat. He had expressed his desire to fly the fighter jets for real and demanded the stunts be “practical, no CGI.”
“Everything you see in this film is for real,” he later told the SDCC audience. “We’re working with the Navy, all of the flying you see in this picture is real, I really wanted to give you all an experience of what it is to be inside that aircraft.
“It’s a love letter to aviation.”
It’s not the first time Cruise has taken to the skies to perform his own stunts – he learned to fly a helicopter for 2018’s Mission Impossible: Fallout.
The full synopsis reads: “After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.
“When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialised mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt Bradley Bradshaw, call sign ‘Rooster’, the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt Nick Bradshaw, aka ‘Goose’.
“Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.”
Will Tom Cruise do his own stunts?
Jennifer Connelly revealed that Cruise was up for the stunts calling them “extraordinary”.
Jerry Bruckheimer, speaking to Yahoo, said:
“[Cruise] put the actors through this gruelling process over three months so they could take the G-forces when we put them in the F/A-18s. It was really a tough slog for these young actors, because they also had to go through water survival training, where they are blindfolded and put in a water tank that’s turned upside down and they have to figure out how to get out.
“And Tom went through all the same stuff! They told me he went through that training just like a 22-year-old would — that’s how good he is.”
He added that the main difference in the original Top Gun the team put the cast in the F-14s.
“We couldn’t use one frame of it, except some stuff on Tom, because they all threw up,” he said. “It’s hysterical to see their eyes roll back in their heads. So everything was done on a gimbal. But in this movie, Tom wanted to make sure the actors could actually be in the F-18s.”
Top Gun: Maverick is released in cinemas on 23rd December 2020.
from Radio Times https://ift.tt/2CMa9xA
