Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick was released in 2022, and it was undoubtedly one of the best movies of the year. The action-thriller film was directed by Oblivion fame Joseph Kosinski and was the sequel to the 1986 movie, Top Gun. In the plot, Maverick has to confront his difficult past and train a group of younger Top Gun graduates for a dangerous mission. The young pilots also included the son of his departed best friend.
The movie was a massive commercial and critical success with a gross of $1.493 billion worldwide. However, during the casting of the film Tom Cruise had to convince actors to do it.
Miles Teller refused to work in Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick
Miles Teller is a popular actor known for his work in Whiplash, Bleed for This, Thank You for Your Service, and Footloose, among others. After the box office failure of his Marvel film The Fantastic Four, he chose to stay away from mega-budget films. Hence, when he was offered a role in Top Gun: Maverick, he was not very inclined towards accepting it.
On the other hand, Cruise was sure that Teller was perfect for the role of Rooster. As per reports by Men’s Health, Mission: Impossible star had the script couriered to Kauai, where Teller was enjoying vacation with his wife. However, when he got to know that Teller was not interested in the role, he flew down to Florida to convince him personally. Teller said,
“You wanna give a voice to these guys … In the wars that we fight now, our military comes from very specific parts of the country and socioeconomic classes. We’re losing that connection between civilians and military and our veterans.”
Tom Cruise was finally able to bring Only the Brave Star onboard.
Rooster was shown as a little child when his father died in the original Top Gun. The trailer of Top Gun: Maverick highlighted his anger towards Maverick for his personal loss.
Glen Powell was not interested in the role of Hangman in Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick
Hollywood actor Glen Powell had already created a name for himself in the industry before he was offered the role that boosted his career. As per reports, the actor originally auditioned for Goose’s son, Rooster. However, the role was played by Miles Teller.
Glen Powell was asked to audition for another character Hangman, also called Slayer. Powell shared in the interview with GQ,
“He was there to add conflict to Rooster’s character, which is a good thing, but he wasn’t three-dimensional and he had no payoff. I didn’t know why he existed. It was a leap of faith. In hindsight, I’m like, God, I can’t imagine if I missed out on this one, but it wasn’t so obvious.”
He shared that he was not interested in the role because it was a d**k garnish and Navy Draco Malfoy. Nevertheless, Cruise, Kosinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and writer Christopher McQuarrie convinced Powell to take up the role, which was highly appreciated later.
Top Gun: Maverick is available for streaming on Prime Video.
Source-Slash Film
