With director Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick now playing in theaters around the world, I recently got to speak with Glen Powell and Greg Tarzan Davis about making the phenomenal film. During the interview, they talked about what surprised them about working with Tom Cruise, how Cruise convinced Powell to play Lt. Jake 'Hangman' Seresin, and what they took away from the making of the film that they’ll take with them to future projects.
Top Gun: Maverick is one of those rare Hollywood blockbusters that nails every aspect of movie-making. The performances are fantastic, the action sequences are incredible, and it actually makes the original film better with the way it adds to Maverick’s story. For more on the film, you can read Ross' glowing review.
Top Gun: Maverick is also one of those movies that you really want to see in IMAX. That’s because Kosinski went out of his way to make this an IMAX experience. He did this by putting six IMAX-certified cameras into the real F-18 cockpits and the footage is incredible. You’ve never seen anything like this because Cruise and the cast were really in the planes and cameras weren’t small enough to fit in an F-18 cockpit until now. Also, the film includes nearly one hour of IMAX’s Expanded Aspect Ratio, which means you see up to 26% more picture in select sequences throughout the film. Trust me, Top Gun: Maverick is one of those movies you want to see on the biggest screen possible.
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gun: Maverick also stars Val Kilmer as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, Jennifer Connelly as Penny Benjamin, Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Danny Ramirez, Manny Jacinto, Jay Ellis, Jake Picking, Raymond Lee, and Jean Louisa Kelly. The film's screenplay is written by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, with story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks based on characters created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr.
Check out what they had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.
Glen Powell and Greg Tarzan Davis
- Powell talks about how he originally wasn’t going to play Hangman and it was Tom Cruise that convinced him to take the role.
- How Powell originally auditioned to play Miles Teller’s role.
- What did they take from working with Cruise that will go with them to every future project?