I have seen almost zero hype or paid promotions for Top Gun: Maverick, but interviews and stuff in print suggest that there may be a new movie for demonstrating the awesomeness of a dude's surround sound system available on DVD real soon now! Apparently, the film about crackerjack F-14 pilot "Maverick" Mitchell, played by Cruise, will involve Maverick flying things! It sounds almost like a fun opportunity for Tom to get flight hours in, with a movie pasted around it.
Cruise apparently wanted to fly an F/A-18 Hornet, but shockingly the US Navy felt this would not be a wise use of a $66M airplane.
The big news is a quote from Bruckheimer: "The Navy wouldn't let [Tom] fly an F-18, but he flies a P-51 in the movie, and he flies helicopters. He can do just about anything in an airplane."
Depending on your perspective, it's either a relief that the Navy wouldn't put an actor at the controls of a $71 million aircraft or a huge disappointment that Maverick won't actually be piloting the plane in some of the movie's action sequences.
