Exclusive! Tom Cruise can do everybody's job, he is terrific, says 'Top Gun: Maverick' producer 

Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer has collaborated with Tom Cruise after 35 years to create the sequel of the 1986 classic ‘Top Gun’. The sequel ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ hits screen this week, worldwide and has Bruckheimer and Cruise as co-producer.

In an exclusive chat with WION, Bruckheimer gave credit to Cruise for being the ‘better producer’. “Tom can do everybody's job. He is a terrific actor. He is a better producer than I am and surrounds himself with great people,” said the producer praising his leading man.

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ has Cruise reprising his role as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchel who is summoned by the US Navy to train a new batch of fighter pilots who have to go on a mission in eight weeks. Considering it's the sequel of sorts to the 1986 classic, was it a risk that Bruckheimer took?

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“Of course,” said Bruckheimer. “We had to make sure that it’s as good as you can make a film. Tom always said 'You gotta hit a bullet with a bullet'. So we all worked very hard. We had terrific writers, Joe Kosinski is a fabulous director to have directed the movie.”

“When you have excellent people around you, you can make a make a really good movie,” the producer said with a smile.

Apart from Tom Cruise, the only other actor who has been retained from the original film is actor Val Kilmer who played Ice Man in the original. Bruckheimer considers the scene between Cruise and Kilmer in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ as his favourite one.

“It's a terrific scene. It's all about emotions. Storytelling is an emotional ride. We want the audience to experience what we experienced while making this movie which was so much fun.”

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When he was asked why the team took so long to come up with a sequel, Bruckheimer said, “It’s not that we didn’t try. We just never came on with the right story. But we all went off to make other films. You've seen my filmography, you've seen Tom's filmography. So we went to work with other people and finally came together thanks to Joe who figured out a story that Tom and all of us wanted to make.

Jerry Bruckheimer is one of the most prominent producers in Hollywood. He has given the world some iconic action films and popular franchises like ‘Bad Boys’, ‘Days of Thunder’, ‘Armageddon’, ‘Pirates of The Caribbean’ among others.

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Considering he has been behind some of the most popular films in a career spanning over four decades, he surely knows what works with the audience.

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Bruckheimer though states that he chooses a script based on whether he as an audience would want to watch it on screen.

“Do I want to see it? I don't know if you want to see it or the audience wants to see it- I know what I like. Someday what I like - maybe the audience won’t like and I’ll be out of the business. But right now I still think I can make films that audiences will enjoy,” he said.

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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ has been in the making for a long time. Some of the cast members including Cruise went through training inside actual planes. Some of the actors were made to go through vigorous training inside the cockpit as well. “It took 15 months to figure out how to get the cameras inside the cockpit,” revealed Bruckheimer. “What you are seeing is what they experienced on screen. It's all very real,” he added.

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Will, there be a third part in 'Top Gun' series, we ask. “Let's enjoy this one. Let the audience experience and then see what happens. We are thrilled to bring this one to the audience. It took a long time,” the maker added without indulging more.

We want to take you away from your life for a couple of hours to enjoy what we do and so you can feel better when you walk out than you walked in."

'Top Gun: Maverick' releases in India on May 26.