20 Things You Somehow Missed In Top Gun

12. Some Shots Are Repeated

Top Gun
Paramount Pictures

Tony Scott relied on using miniatures for most of the missile-shooting sequences since he was only allowed to use footage of two real missile launches.

Even though these props and special effects look fantastic, Scott believed they weren't as convincing as the real thing. Sure, using fake planes here and there would fool the average audience member but viewers would catch on quickly if the film was littered with miniatures.

To get around this, Scott simply reused footage of the two missile launches for each dogfight. He also filmed these shots at different angles to hide the fact he was using the same launch over and over.

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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows