Top Gun fans got excited earlier this year when Top Gun Maverick climbed to the box office and marked the return of the high-octane series. Tom Cruise led the film’s production by flying real planes and training his cast and crew to do the same.
But he didn’t get everything he wanted.
In fact, Cruz wanted a major sports star to replace one of the new recruits.
It was revealed that Cruz had originally asked Sir Lewis Hamilton to join Top Gun Maverick.
Hamilton has won seven World Drivers’ Championship titles and holds the records for most wins, first places and podium finishes to name a few.
He and Cruz become friends again on the set of Edge of Tomorrow. But long before he met the star, Hamilton saw the original 1986 movie Top Gun as a kid and “focused” on becoming a fighter pilot.
“So when I heard the second coming out,” he recalls. I told him, “Oh my God, I have to ask him.”
Hamilton approached Cruz – who was his close friend at the time – and asked him for a role in the film. Any role can be avoided.
“I don’t care what role you play,” Hamilton told Cruz. “I’ll even sweep something up, and be cleaner in the back.”
Cruz agreed, but decided to give the F1 winner a better role: he wanted him to be a fighter pilot.
In the movie, the team of fighter pilots were the stars of Top Gun Maverick. And the crack team was headed by Miles Teller, who played Rooster – the son of Gus.
Unfortunately, Hamilton’s day job got in the way.
Read more: Top Gun 3 talks begin with Tom Cruise and the new star
Shortly after Top Gun Maverick appeared in movie theaters, Teller talked about his future on the series.
In Top Gun 3, he admitted: “That would be cool, but that’s all up to TC [Tom Cruise]. It’s all up to Tom.”
Despite this vague idea, he added, “I’ve had some conversations with him about it. We’ll see.”
The Whiplash star added that he thinks there’s a good chance because of how well the movie was received.
Teller noted that Top Gun Maverick is Cruise’s first billion-dollar movie.
About this, he said, “That’s definitely what my team has said in these future negotiations.” (via ET)
He later added, “For him to share Top Gun with me, and so many of these other young actors. It was just a wild ride, and it’s still going on.”
Top Gun Maverick is in cinemas now.
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