Top Gun 2 Shot As Much Footage as Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Says Director
Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski reveals that they shot as much footage as the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy combined for the upcoming sequel. First released in 1986, the original Top Gun, which stars Tom Cruise as Maverick, a hotshot pilot in the revered Top Gun pilot training program, was a big hit with audiences. Now, more than 30 years later, sequel Top Gun: Maverick is finally set to hit theaters next month.
Initial trailers for the film tease plenty of impressive aerial combat sequences, many of which were captured practically. Cruise returns as Maverick in Top Gun 2, this time in a teaching role, starring opposite Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, and Jennifer Connelly, with Val Kilmer also expected to reprise his role as Iceman from the original film. Much of the Top Gun 2 cast is said to have had to go through «Tom Cruise boot camp», which included three months of actual flight training.
Related: Top Gun 2 Trailer Proves Maverick Hasn't Learned His First Movie Lesson
In a new interview with Empire, Kosinski reveals that getting usable footage for Top Gun: Maverick was often difficult and that, in total, they ended up filming more than all three Lord of the Rings movies combined. Due to the extreme nature of some of the shots being attempted, Kosinski explains that during a 14-hour day, they sometimes only got 30 seconds of usable footage. In total, the director estimates the team shot 800 hours of footage. Check out Kosinki's full comment below:
“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 three Lord Of The Rings
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