Tom Cruise Basically Got 'Top Gun: Maverick' Greenlit By Picking Up The Phone And Telling The Studio He Was Doing It
It’s become more common nowadays for popular movies to score sequels/follow-ups decades later. In fact, the most commercially successful movie of 2022 falls into this “legacyquel” category, with "Top Gun: Maverick" soaring over $1 billion worldwide on top of earning critical acclaim. So how did Tom Cruise arrange for his return to the role Pete “Maverick” Mitchell? According to producer Jerry Bruckheimer, it was as simple as calling Paramount Pictures and telling the studio he was doing it.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Jerry Bruckheimer on behalf of the "Top Gun: Maverick" digital rollout. After noting how the sequel had been in development since 2010 and hit a setback when Tony Scott, the original "Top Gun’s" director who’d been slated to reprise his helming duties, died in 2012, I asked Bruckheimer at what point he and the other creative minds behind "Maverick" decided that it was still worth moving forward with the movie.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Jerry Bruckheimer on behalf of the "Top Gun: Maverick" digital rollout. After noting how the sequel had been in development since 2010 and hit a setback when Tony Scott, the original "Top Gun’s" director who’d been slated to reprise his helming duties, died in 2012, I asked Bruckheimer at what point he and the other creative minds behind "Maverick" decided that it was still worth moving forward with the movie.
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00:00Joe had a lookbook and sat down with Tom and said here's a story I want to tell and here's
00:28what it's going to look like.
00:29And Tom looked at him and said, look Joe, we're going to make this, we're going to make
00:32it real.
00:33I want everybody in those planes, I want to feel it.
00:36And Joe said that's the only way I want to make it.
00:39And Tom picked up his phone and called the head of the studio at the time and said I
00:43want to make another Top Gun.
00:45And of course they were delighted.