10 Strange Ways Actors Prepared For Recent Movie Roles
6. The Cast Were Put Through "Tom Cruise Boot Camp" - Top Gun: Maverick
He may be entering his 60s, but judging from the gruelling training the Maverick star put his fellow cast-mates through in the lead-up to the biggest unexpected hit of the year, Tom Cruise is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down.
The star of both Top Gun flights would explain to Total Film (via GamesRadar) that he "developed a whole program for the actors" in order to ensure "we could get them in the [F/A-18s]" for the sequel shoot, with Cruise explaining how "I had to teach them how to fly. I had to teach them how to handle gs. I had to get them confident in the aeroplane."
So, instead of just ensuring they looked the part for those all-important topless beach football scenes, the likes of Glen Powell and Miles Teller all found themselves fully immersed in what the latter described as "Tom Cruise Boot Camp":
"We were getting in killer shape. And also for the stunts and stuff that Tom does in movies, it’s usually a very specific type of training. You’re not just going into the gym and lifting some weights. We did flight training for three months before we started filming... We got put through the wringer."
Make no bones about, this lot were all on the highway to the Danger Zone from the get-go. And Cruise wouldn't have it any other way...