Very perfectionist, Tom Cruise asked the young actors of “Top Gun: Maverick” to return to the scene of the American football match a week after the end of filming!
The feature film Top Gun: Maverick, in theaters now, contains a scene during which Pete Mitchell and the young pilots under him play American football on the beach. A sequence which is obviously a nice nod to the iconic one of the beach volleyball match in the 1986 Top Gun.
Even if it is joyful and ultimately quite anecdotal, this US football scene in Top Gun: Maverick paradoxically required a lot of effort from the young actors. Particularly perfectionist, Tom Cruise indeed asked them to return it a week after the end of filming because he was not satisfied with the result!
“We shot the scene and in the evening, we all went out to drink milkshakes and beers”says Glen Powell, the interpreter of the lieutenant Jake “Hangman” Seresin. “A week later, Tom said, ‘We have to do it again. It wasn’t good enough. We’re going to do it again. Everyone has to come back to the gym, day and night.” And the young actors to have to redo a physique in express mode to satisfy the Hollywood star.
To prepare for this very muscular scene, Glen Powell used and abused coconut oil in order to have a perfect physical appearance on the screen. “The make-up artists in charge of applying the oil had to stop me. I was too slippery”, laughs the American. And he was not the only one to want to appear on top, a healthy rivalry having settled according to him between the actors, each one being eager to be the sharpest. “There was an incredible degree of male anxiety when guys took off their t-shirts”says Powell. “I can tell you that the gyms were full day and night.”
Tom Cruise’s masterclass at the last Cannes Film Festival: