It may seem likeTop Gun: Maverickhas been heading to cinemas for years, which is not too far from the truth, but this summer Tom Cruise finally makes his return as the hotshot pilot last seen in the 1986 hit movie Top Gun. After a three-decade gap between movies, there is a lot of expectation now riding on the long delayed sequel to deliver, and director Joseph Kosinski has revealed just how much effort has gone into making the movie the best it can be. In a new interview, Kosinski toldEmpirethat he believes they shot more footage than Peter Jackson did for the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy.
While it seems unbelievable, theTop Gun: Maverickdirector said that he believes there were around 800 hours of footage recorded during the film’s shoot, with some days only resulting in 30 seconds of shots that were used in the final cut. While this may sound like an extreme amount of time spent for very small results, it should be remembered that unlike many CGI-filled movies where everything is corrected in post, the aerial acrobatics seen in the movie were all filmed as they happened. Kosinski explained:
“Out of a 12- or 14-hour day, you might get 30 seconds of good footage. But it was so hard-earned. It just took a very long time to get it all. Months and months of aerial shooting. We shot as much footage as the threeLord of the Ringsmovies combined. I think it was 800 hours of footage.”
When setting up theTop Gunsequel alongside the Peter Jackson’s fantasy saga, that is an incomparable final runtime of around 2 hours + for the former and around 12 hours for the extended cut ofLord of the Rings, which goes a long way to proving how difficult the shoot on Cruise’s high-flying return has been and fans of those dramatic flying scenes will be hoping some of the unused footage is included when the film releases on home media later in the year.
Related:Top Gun: Maverick Heads to Cannes, Will Be Tom Cruise’s First Film in 30 Years to Play at Festival
Tom Cruise Made Sure That The Cast Learned To Really Fly For Top Gun: Maverick
Known as a lover of doing his own stunts, Tom Cruise and many of his co-stars were really put through their paces ahead of filming on theTop Gunsequel, as they attended the “Tom Cruise boot camp.” While it sounds like a lot of fun, the tough work carried out by the main cast members included three months training to actually fly the planes used in the movie. As you would expect, having actors actually flying around in speeding jets causes all kinds of logistical nightmares for filming and explains why so much footage was required to get exactly the right shots.
We are now just over a month away from seeing how worth it that extraordinary volume of footage really was. The trailers have given fans a lot to look forward to, with the film seeming to bring the same thrills that made the original one of the most iconic movies of the 1980s, as well as the return of Cruise’s fellowTop Gunco-star Val Kilmer, who isset to reprise his role as Iceman.Top Gun: Mavericklands in cinemas on May 27.
