Speed. Speed. And more speed. When you think of Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick, that is one of the things that comes to mind – and Tom Cruise, of course. The film, since its release earlier in the year, has gone on to score and earn new records at Paramount and at the box office, the latest one being earning its spot as the ninth-biggest IMAX hit of all time. The appeal of Top Gun: Maverick comes not only from those awesome fighter jets, but also from the characters that manned them — one of which is Devotion star Glen Powell, who recently revealed the advice he got from the film’s main man while shooting.
Naval aviator bad boy Jake “Hangman” Seresin was Powell’s role in Maverick, and the advice he got from Cruise is not what you might have expected. Speaking to Kate Hudson as a part of Variety’s Actors on Actors, Powell spoke on how he was able to pull out his performance at the film’s ending. “Sometimes you can fall into the trap of wanting to be liked on camera,” he said. “And in a movie like this, where you know there’s going to be a lot of eyes on it, you don’t want to be Draco Malfoy.” Powell was right to be wary of his performance, given how long the film lasted at the box office.
However, he did get some advice from Cruise to aid him channel his undeniable acting prowess to produce an epic performance. “For the ending to work, you have to completely lean into that. Everybody else in the movie is questioning their own ability. You’re the only guy that’s not questioning it. So if there’s any sort of apology in anything you say, the movie doesn’t work. Lean into the douchebaggery of it all,” Powell said, later quipping that he keeps “getting cast as a douchebag.” And it is fair to say Powell more than leaned into it — he owned it and it was brilliant to watch.
Top Gun: Maverick has the title of being the biggest movie of the summer, and it is a title well-earned. It has been such a brilliant hit for Paramount that the studio has opted to have the film premiere on its streaming platform Paramount+ on December 22, just in time for Christmas — the need for speed and happy holidays, coming right up. But before it flies onto the streaming service, the Cruise-led sequel made a return to theaters between December 2 and December 15.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Monica Barbaro, Manny Jacinto, and Val Kilmer. Check out a trailer below:
