Latest news with #TOPGUN
AsiaOne
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
Christopher McQuarrie has plot for Top Gun 3 'already in the bag', Entertainment News
Christopher McQuarrie has a plot for Top Gun 3 "already in the bag". The writer and producer of 2022's Top Gun: Maverick said it "wasn't hard" to come up with a story for a threequel to the hugely popular action-adventure franchise, which follows fighter pilot Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, 62. Speaking to YouTuber Josh Horowitz on the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Josh asked Christopher, 56: "Is Top Gun 3 harder to crack in some ways than Top Gun: Maverick?" To which he replied: "No, it's already in the bag." Following up on the Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning director's answer, he then said: "You've cracked it?" Confirming that an idea for Top Gun 3 was nailed, Christopher added: "Yeah, I already know what it is." The filmmaker then went on to explain how F1 screenwriter Ehren Kruger, 52, suggested an idea for the upcoming third instalment to the Top Gun series, of which a release year has not been announced, and it ticked the "framework" boxes. Christopher said: "It wasn't hard. I thought it would be, and that's a good place to go from is you walk into the room going, 'Come on, what are we going to do?' and Ehren Kruger pitched something, and I went, 'Mhm actually,' and we had one conversation about it and the framework is there. "So, no, it's not hard to crack. The truth of the matter is, none of these are hard to crack." The original Top Gun movie — which shot Cruise to stardom in 1986 — follows Maverick as he is sent to the prestigious Fighter Weapons School in the wake of his dad's death, where he later battles through a "challenging training regimen", competes against rival Iceman (Val Kilmer) to clench the coveted Top Gun trophy, and strikes up a romance with civilian flight instructor Charlotte 'Charlie' Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). Top Gun: Maverick saw Cruise reprise his alter ego 36 years later, where Maverick trained TOPGUN graduates for a "high-profile" mission as Maverick "battles his past demons". But for Christopher, the key to a successful movie is emotion rather than action or intensity. He said: "It's as you start to execute it, and as you start to interrogate it, as you start [to think] why these movies are made the way they are. "It's not the action, it's not even the level of or intensity of or the scope and scale of the action [or] the engineering around the action, it's none of those things — it's the emotion." [[nid:718364]]
Perth Now
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Christopher McQuarrie says Top Gun 3 is 'already in the bag'
Christopher McQuarrie has a plot for 'Top Gun 3' "already in the bag". The writer and producer of 2022's 'Top Gun: Maverick' said it "wasn't hard" to come up with a story for a threequel to the hugely popular action-adventure franchise, which follows fighter pilot Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, 62. Speaking to YouTuber Josh Horowitz on the latest episode of the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast, Josh asked Christopher, 56: "Is 'Top Gun 3' harder to crack in some ways than 'Top Gun: Maverick'?" To which he replied: "No, it's already in the bag.' Following up on the 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' director's answer, he then said: "You've cracked it?" Confirming that an idea for 'Top Gun 3' was nailed, Christopher added: "Yeah, I already know what it is." The filmmaker then went on to explain how 'F1' screenwriter Ehren Kruger, 52, suggested an idea for the upcoming third instalment to the 'Top Gun' series, of which a release year has not been announced, and it ticked the "framework" boxes. Christopher said: "It wasn't hard. I thought it would be, and that's a good place to go from is you walk into the room going, 'Come on, what are we going to do?' and Ehren Kruger pitched something, and I went, 'Mhm actually,' and we had one conversation about it and the framework is there. 'So, no, it's not hard to crack. The truth of the matter is, none of these are hard to crack.' The original 'Top Gun' movie - which shot Cruise to stardom in 1986 - follows Maverick as he is sent to the prestigious Fighter Weapons School in the wake of his dad's death, where he later battles through a "challenging training regimen", competes against rival Iceman (Val Kilmer) to clench the coveted Top Gun trophy, and strikes up a romance with civilian flight instructor Charlotte 'Charlie' Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). 'Top Gun: Maverick' saw Cruise reprise his alter ego 36 years later, where Maverick trained TOPGUN graduates for a "high-profile" mission as Maverick "battles his past demons". But for Christopher, the key to a successful movie is emotion rather than the action or intensity. He said: 'It's as you start to execute it, and as you start to interrogate it, as you start [to think] why these movies are made the way they are. "It's not the action, it's not even the level of or intensity of or the scope and scale of the action [or] the engineering around the action, it's none of those things — it's the emotion.'
Perth Now
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Tom Cruise gives positive update on Top Gun: Maverick sequel
Tom Cruise has revealed he and the 'Top Gun: Maverick' team are 'thinking and talking about many different stories' for the sequel. The 62-year-old actor is set to reprise his role as pilot Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell in the upcoming follow-up to the 2022 blockbuster, and has now shared he and the creative team are currently exploring different avenues of where to take the 'Top Gun' story next. During an appearance on the Australian 'Today' show, Cruise said: 'Yeah, we're thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what's possible. 'It took me 35 years to figure out 'Top Gun: Maverick', so all of these things we're working on, we're discussing 'Days of Thunder' and 'Top Gun: Maverick'.' The 'Mission: Impossible' star added he was working on 'numerous other films' at the moment, including Alejandro Iñárritu's first English language movie since 2015's 'The Revenant', and other projects with his 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' director Christopher McQuarrie. He said: 'There's numerous other films that we're actively working on right now. I'm always shooting a film, prepping a film, posting a film. 'I just finished a film with Alejandro Iñárritu too, who did 'The Revenant', that was an extraordinary experience and [Christopher McQuarrie] and I are always working on several different films.' 'Top Gun: Maverick' - which is the legacy sequel to 1986's 'Top Gun' - followed Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Cruise) as he trained the next generation of TOPGUN pilots, including Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw (Miles Teller) Jake 'Hangman' Seresin (Glen Powell) and Robert 'Bob' Floyd (Lewis Pullman). As well as introducing a host of new characters, 'Top Gun: Maverick' reunited Cruise's 'Maverick' with Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky, as portrayed by the late Val Kilmer - who passed away last month at the age of 65 from complications related to pneumonia following a long period of ill health - which Cruise described as a 'very special' moment. Speaking with Sight and Sound magazine, the 'Jack Reacher' star said: 'To come back all those years later, and it was amazing being on set for 'Top Gun: Maverick' because it was like time had not passed. We were laughing and it was joyous. 'And then we started acting and it's just, you see it … he became 'Iceman'. The power that this guy has, even not saying anything, to become that character. You see how even the sniff that he gave. He was 'Iceman'. 'And you saw the dynamic between these friends. It was very special, to say the least, for me personally. 'I just tell people … you take Iceman from the first film and you look at it here, that whole journey, he became 'Iceman'. And he didn't even have to speak. 'That's what he's able to do. Beautiful, really beautiful. A gift that he had and that he shared with all of us.' Even so, Kilmer had initially rejected the role of 'Iceman' in the original 'Top Gun'. Cruise explained: 'I felt so grateful that he decided to make the film. We did a lot to get him in the movie. Originally, he just didn't want to make the movie, 'I don't want to be a supporting, I want to star in films.' 'I was calling his agent, and Tony Scott was hunting him down and meeting in an elevator with Val, and he was like, 'Please, Val, please.' 'You just see what a great actor, charismatic guy he was. And in that scene, what I love about what he did and how he played it, he just knew that tone to hit.'
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Yahoo
In first, Marine, Air Force pilots fight as joint force at Navy JSE
Marine F-35 and Air Force F-22 pilots operated for the first time last month as a joint fighting force in a digital training simulation that is soon expected to become standard for Marine, Navy and Air Force fighters, according to a release from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. As part of the exercise, F-35 aviators assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadrons 122, 225 and 311 partnered with four F-22 Raptor crews at the division's Joint Simulation Environment, or JSE, in Patuxent River, Maryland. The March 24-27 exercise saw aviators practice fifth generation fighting in 17 simulated combat missions comprising advanced warfighting scenarios, according to division commander Rear Adm. John Dougherty IV. Lessons learned after each mission were assessed via post-training evaluations of cockpit video and audio recordings reviewed by the pilots. 'This milestone is a game-changer that ushers in a new era of interoperability for aviation's combat community and served as a pivotal exercise getting NAWCAD ready to make this joint training standard for Navy and Air Force fighters,' Dougherty said. Integrated into the Navy's TOPGUN program, the JSE is one of the most technologically sophisticated training environments the Defense Department has to offer. It includes 'domed simulators with actual defense hardware, software, and adversary aircraft' that allow pilots to sharpen skills in a realistic threat environment, according to the release. The Defense Department is seeking to expand JSE capabilities and training, meanwhile, across additional warfighter programs, according to NAWCAD. Current expectations are that the JSE will soon welcome the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, an all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft designed to detect incoming airborne threats, such as missiles and enemy aircraft, and conduct ground and maritime surveillance. Next year, the JSE plans to add the F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter and the EA-18G Growler, the release said. 'At the end of the day, it's going to be the people that win our nation's wars,' VMFA-225 pilot Maj. Patrick Kaufer said in the release. 'Having those person-to-person connections between the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps [in the JSE] is the most important part and biggest objective that we're able to achieve.'
Fox News
10-02-2025
- Health
- Fox News
'Like a car crash': Navy fighter pilot describes brain injury phenomenon now at center of congressional probe
The U.S. Navy took on a secret project to learn more about brain injuries suffered by its most elite fighter pilots and now congressional lawmakers are demanding more information about the effort. The Navy's TOPGUN school launched Project Odin in the fall of 2024 to detect and treat an onslaught of symptoms consistent with brain injuries in fighter pilots, some of whom later died by suicide. But the program went on in secret, according to a New York Times report cited by House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and the rest of the Navy reportedly did not even know about it. "Landing aboard an aircraft carrier, it's literally a car crash. It's the equivalent force of sitting in your driveway, in your car, and having a crane take you up to the second story and dropping you," said Matthew 'Whiz' Buckley, a TOPGUN graduate and F/A-18 fighter pilot, who told Fox News Digital in an interview he suffers from the brain injuries scrutinized by the project. "The catapult shot, you go from zero to about 150, 200 miles an hour in a second to a second and a half. So your brain's kind of being jarred, you know, back and forward." "As a fighter pilot, pulling Gs, so I would fight the jet on the edge of consciousness," said Whiz, referring to the gravitational pull pilots experience when maneuvering tight turns in a jet. "I'd merge with a bad guy in training, pull seven, eight, nine Gs. When you do that, the blood rushes out of your head." Comer's investigation will look at the Navy's efforts to "mitigate possible physiological and psychological effects inflicted on certain naval aviators and flight officers, including those within the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program (TOPGUN)," as well as Project Odin's Eye. The project, which reportedly was adopted without formal approval from Navy Medical and Air Commands, "raises additional questions about the Navy's knowledge of potential issues and whether it is acting to mitigate these issues in a comprehensive and effective manner," according to the Oversight letter to acting Navy Sec. Terence Emmert. The letter requests a briefing of Oversight staff by next week and a litany of information on the mental health struggles and resources of aviators. The Navy did not respond to requests for comment before publication time. Buckley, founder of veterans' anti-suicide group No Fallen Heroes, said the Navy loves to capitalize on the "cool" factor of flying jets popularized with movies like Top Gun, but fails to warn pilots about the risks associated with years of high-speed flights. The recent New York Times report detailed how a number of F/A-18 Super Hornet crew members suffered brain injuries after years of catapult takeoffs and dogfighting training. Symptoms included insomnia, anxiety, depression and PTSD-like feelings. Buckley recalled feeling confusion, forgetfulness, and being quick to anger – symptoms he at first attributed to the Navy's drinking culture. He said many of those he flew alongside suffered back and neck injuries. "I remember really being hard on myself, like. Well, what is wrong with you, man? You're a fighter pilot. You're on top of the world. What's wrong with you? So that would cause its own spiral," he said. "In 15 years of flying fighters, I've lost three F-18 brothers to suicide." Many Navy pilots go on to seek jobs in the commercial airline industry, where they often fail to disclose suffering brain injury symptoms on applications since it would keep them out of a job. The Navy, of course, cannot stop training pilots under the brutal forces that air combat demands. But Buckley said it needs to do more to ensure former service members get adequate care for the toll of the job. "The military does an incredible job of training us to do some pretty awful things to another human," he said. "But when they're done with us, they do a pretty crappy job of transitioning us back to being a human." He said he fought the Veterans' Affairs Department for years after they classified his injuries as not service-related. "One day you go from flying an F-18 Hornet and having a top secret clearance, the highest level of trust of the government. And when you're out the next day, you're a liar, right?" Buckley continued: "When I heard Tom Cruise agreed to do Top Gun 3, I'm like, what is it going to be? You know, Maverick faces his hardest enemy, the V.A.? "Maverick had three ejections in combat experience, and still he's going to be some schlep in the V.A. waiting ten months for an appointment."
