‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is a cinematic reunion of actor Tom Cruise and filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, who joined forces again after ‘Oblivion’, but this time, brought in Miles Teller, the guy who starts off by making a bar full of people sing ‘Great Balls of Fire’ and then ends up in Maverick’s cockpit towards the end of the action sequel. 

Teller, who worked with Kosinski in ‘Only the Brave’, was apparently the 48-year-old filmmaker’s first casting choice while the latter was formulating a storyline for Cruise’s Maverick. He starred in the film as Bradley Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s radar intercept officer Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.

“I was actually in post on ‘Only the Brave,’ this was May 2017, so Miles Teller was on my mind,” Kosinski told Vulture. 

“The relationship in that movie is a very paternal one with Josh Brolin’s character. So I showed Tom a picture of Miles because Miles has blond hair in that film. And I think I’d Photoshopped a mustache on him. I’m like, ‘I just worked with this kid. He’s really good.’ We still went through the audition process, and Miles won the role on his own,” he revealed. 

Kosinski, who came up with the idea of highlighting Rooster and Maverick’s complex dynamic in the film, said that the element played a major part in helping Cruise decide that it was time for a sequel to the 1986 blockbuster hit ‘Top Gun’.

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“But because I had made a film with [Tom] before, I knew I had to grab him emotionally,” Kosinski said. 

“So I opened with the idea that this is a rite-of-passage story like the first film. The first film is a drama, even though it’s wrapped in this glossy action film. This would be the same thing, but it would be Maverick reconciling with Goose’s son set against this mission that would take them both deep into enemy territory. And as soon as I said that, I could see the wheels in his head start to turn,” he added. 

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‘Top Gun: Maverick’, which has topped several box office records since its release, effortlessly cruised through a record-breaking $160 million during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. It is speculated to hit the $250 million mark towards the end of its second weekend.