The making of Top Gun: Maverick

Top gun: Maverick is considered one of the best aviation movies. This is due to the movies’ realistic air stunts. The movie plot revolves around Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who is the Navy’s top aviator. He lands an ideal post as a test pilot after dodging advancement in rank to avoid being grounded. Developing one of the best aviation movies required stunts and training that have never been attempted before. It also required the corporation of the United States Navy. This created some of the most fantastic heart-stopping movie scenes

Training of the actors

Due to the intensity of the stunts to be conducted by the actors, rigorous training was required before the pilot actors could undertake the task at hand. The lead actor, Tom Cruise, is well known for wanting to conduct his stunts. Tom Cruise wanted to shoot scenes in which the actors convincingly look like they are flying the fighter jets. To create scenes where G-force is contorting actors’ facial features the actors will need to fly for real. The actors who played fighter pilots were put through intense training for around 4 months. Tom Cruise developed the entire flight training specifically for the movie, with the help of the Navy aviation department. Tom Cruise wanted to create movie scenes so realistic that he wanted the true effects of the G-force to be experienced by him and his co-star.
The syllabus that Tom Cruise and his costars had to complete is known as the Aviation Survival Training Curriculum. The aviators in Top gun: Maverick had to complete the curriculum to qualify for the aviator acting gig. The training included withstanding G-force, altitude physiology, reduced oxygen breathing flight seat ejection, and parachute training.

Water Training

One of the more physically demanding aspects of the training was the water training. This part of the curriculum was done in a large outdoor pool. This part of the training taught the actors underwater problem solving and how to use survival gear. What made the course so rigorous was rotating the actors underwater in an ejection seat and dragging them across the pool whilst they were still attached to a parachute. The less rigorous part of the training was the actors disentangling themselves from their parachutes whilst in water.

G-Force endurance training

Navy pilots are trained to endure G-forces of up to 9 Gs, however, in the making of the movies, the actors were trained to withstand 8 Gs. They also wore G-suits designed to prevent G-locks and blackouts.

Where was the movie filmed?

When it comes to making of Top Gun: Maverick, real Navy bases were used. This gives the movie another realistic touch. The Navy bases used were: Naval Air Station North in San Diego, Naval Air Station Lemoore in the Mojave Desert, Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada, Naval air weapons station in California, and the Naval Air station in the State of Washington.

How did the director make the movie realistic?

Joseph Kosinski, who was the director, shared Tom Cruises’ desire of making the movie as realistic as possible. As the pilots were preparing to act like real pilots, Kosinski spent around 15 months with the navy trying to figure out the best place to set the Cameras. He ended up determining that IMAX cameras were the best solution for the task at hand. Kosinski set up the cameras in the cockpit himself to get the best scenes.
During the making of the film, several aspects were considered by the director before filming. Kosinski states that the movie could have been done using CGI, but it wouldn’t have been as realistic as the real experience.