By Sondra Barr
Tom Cruise returns to top form as the world’s number one action hero. His latest film, Top Gun: Maverick, raked in a record-breaking $157 million its opening weekend and continues to lure people into theaters with high-intensity aerial footage, nostalgia, and the reemergence of Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (aka Tom Cruise, in full beefcake glory).
A testament to his enduring movie magic, the popularity of the film is especially epic considering Cruise is pushing 60 and still committed to doing his own stunts––flying included.
“The P-51 Mustang you see in the movie is actually my plane, so I got to pilot in those sequences,” he said to Hello Magazine. “I also got to be in the jet fighter a lot more this time, which was thrilling.”
A skilled aviator, to kick off the Top Gun: Maverick premier at the USS Midway in San Diego, Cruise arrived in dramatic fashion piloting his own helicopter to meet awaiting fans.
The film has generated glowing reviews, with many saying the film is better than the 1986 original, as is its star. “If anything, he’s more chiseled and iconic than he was in 1986,” said critic Ty Burr.
This bright moment is an enviable one for Cruise, who’s had his share of bad press. While his acting rarely misses the mark, Cruise’s personal life was tabloid fodder for years. From his Scientology ties, lambasting the use of antidepressants to Matt Lauder on the Today show, to jumping on Oprah’s couch declaring his love for now ex-wife Katie Holmes, Cruise has come across as unhinged more than once.
Yet when it comes to acting, Cruise is the consummate professional. In the 36 years it’s taken to bring the Top Gun sequelto theaters, Cruise has honed his craft to a finely sharpened edge. The worldwide gross of his more than two dozen movies is well over $8 billion and guaranteed to climb with his upcoming movie, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One.
Not bad for a kid who grew up dominated by a father he coined “a merchant of chaos.” In an interview with Parade, Cruise detailed his troubled childhood.
“He was a bully and a coward,” said Cruise. “He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life––how he’d lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang! For me, it was like, ‘There’s something wrong with this guy. Don’t trust him. Be careful around him.’ There’s that anxiety.”
Born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, Cruise spent his formative years moving from place to place while his father searched for work.
“I had no really close friend, someone who understand you. I was always the new kid with the wrong shoes, the wrong accent. I didn’t have the friend to share things with and confide in.”
Cruise says he was bullied regularly in the 15 different schools he attended in 12 years. And, being diagnosed with a reading disability at 7 didn’t help matters. “They said, ‘Oh, he’s dyslexic.’ I’m labeled. It instantly put me into confusion. It was an absolute affront to my dignity,” said Cruise.
Watching his mother navigate the tough times and work hard to support Cruise and his three sisters inspired him to pursue his dream of acting.
Rather than attend his high school graduation, he went to Manhattan in 1980 with the goal of making it as an actor within a decade. In typical Cruise style, in less than 12 months, he was in in the film Taps, followed by his breakout roll in Risky Business two years later.
In 1986 Top Gun made Cruise a superstar. He’d go on to star in a slew of hits including Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, and the Mission: Impossible franchise. But, it’s the release of Top Gun: Maverick that holds a special place in his heart, which is why it took so long to get the film made.
“I would go to bed at night for decades figuring out––how could I do it? How could I match this? What would that be? So interestingly enough, artistically I thought, ‘This is really a tremendous challenge’ – and that appealed to me,” he said.
“I was always thinking of the technology, how it would evolve to be able to give the audience that kind of experience. And everywhere around the world they wanted to see this movie,” he told Beverly Hills Magazine. “And finally, the story came together and technically the things that I felt we could get to an audience, a global audience, was something that I thought, ‘Ok, well, if we’re going to go in, we’re going to go in now.’”
To make the movie as realistic as possible, Cruise insisted that the cast train as pilots able to withstand and recreate the rigors associated with flying F-18s. “And I had to sit down when we were hiring the actors, I said, ‘We’re going to teach you how to become a pilot’ and I had to teach the pilots how to become filmmakers also,” explained Cruise. “Because when you’re up there, you’ve got to know what shots are going to look good when you’re flying and also the actors have to give performance.”
According to Men’s Health, Cruise personally designed a rigorous monthlong program that introduced his co-stars to different jets and instructors as they learned to fly and slowly built up their g-force tolerance. The aspiring aviators eventually had to sustain up to eight g’s, or around 1,600 pounds of pressure. The cast filled out daily forms for Cruise to review until they were ready for real Navy pilots to take them up in F-18s equipped with six IMAX-Quality cameras.
Capturing lighting in a bottle for a second time is never easy, especially with the added difficulty of a pandemic. The film’s release was delayed multiple times. Cruise telling his Top Gun co-stars, “I’m sorry guys, we’ve gotta do it, this is for the big screen, we’ve got to hold it.”
Seeing the movie in a theater with full surround sound brings the action to life and validates Cruise’s decision to postpone the release. It also cements another milestone for Cruise, who worked closely with the Navy to get the film made.
“I was honored with becoming the 38th civilian to be an honorary naval aviator. They gave me that commission. I was very touched by that, to have that. And also, TOPGUN school gave me a plaque that only the TOPGUN graduates get, certain pilots get,” said Cruise about the debt he owes to the Navy.
“Look, I’m fortunate, I’m lucky. This is my dream. I’ve wanted to make movies since I was four-year-old and I’m lucky, I’ve spent my life on movie sets and travelling the world, which is what I always wanted to do,” he said to Beverly Hills Magazine. “I wanted to travel the world and be part of different cultures and celebrate them and have that experience. So this is not work––this is living the dream.”
