MOVIE NEWS – Tom Cruise “really didn’t want to make another Top Gun and [director Tony Scott’s suicide] made it even less likely,” the director said.

Tom Cruise “really didn’t want” to make another Top Gun movie, director Joseph Kosinski said in a new interview. But he was finally attracted to return after talking about script ideas for Top Gun: Maverick. It all worked out pretty well for Cruise and co, with Maverick grossing $1.5 billion worldwide. Cruise himself reportedly earned $100 million from the film’s success.

Speaking to Deadline, Kosinski said that the death of Tony Scott, the original 1986 Top Gun director, played a part in Cruise’s reluctance to return.

“Tom really didn’t want to make another Top Gun and [director Tony Scott’s suicide] made it even less likely. I’m sure for him, that’s probably another reason why he wouldn’t ever consider going back,” Kosinski said. “But I pitched the idea of this story being a reconciliation between him and Rooster set against this mission that would take Rooster into this very dangerous situation, that they’d end up together across enemy lines, having to resolve their differences and work together to get back home.”

Kosinski said Cruise believed there was a million-to-one chance of a new Top Gun being a success some 36 years after the original film was released.

“He kept saying, ‘Joe, we got to hit a bullet with a bullet.’ And that was his line on this movie. And so, I certainly heard that in my head every day as we were making the film. I think everyone who worked on this film felt like the bar was very high because we all were fans of the original,” Kosinski said.

Maverick was the number-one global film of 2022 until Avatar: The Way of Water dethroned it.

As for Cruise, he has several upcoming projects in the works. Among them are Mission: Impossible: Part 1 and 2. Also, a film with NASA and SpaceX that will be shot in space.

Source: Deadline