Ahead of Top Gun: Maverick’s cinema release, we had the pleasure to sit down with some of the cast to talk about the long-awaited sequel. Whiplash star Miles Teller is up next!
Miles Teller, who plays Goose’s son Rooster in the new film, has had quite the career, but nothing seems to compare to working with Tom Cruise himself. The actor tells us about working with Cruise, Rooster’s motivations and filming up in the air in a real jet.
First of all, congratulations on Top Gun Maverick. Absolutely insane. I wanted to start by asking you, you play Rooster, the son of Goose, who has, shall we say, a little bit of a strained relationship with Tom Cruise’s Maverick. Is it easy to act like you don’t like Tom Cruise?
No, it’s very hard. Tom is the best. But to be fair, I think Tom is such an extraordinary dramatic actor. So in the scenes where we do kind of go at it a little bit, that was really enjoyable.
Is there something, like a trick or anything that you learned from him during filming?
I think we all picked up some tricks of the trade as it were, but I guess I’ll have to keep those a secret. You got to work with him and then you’ll pick them up.
And you obviously had extensive training. Despite that training, was there ever a moment up in the air, like this is it, I’m gonna die?
Yeah, there was like one or two moments. Look, these pilots are the best in the world. And the things that we’re doing with them, they have done countless times. But yeah, there’s one or two moments where I completely stopped acting, looked at the ground, because I thought we’re gonna hit it.
And why do you think Rooster went for this career? It would have been easy for him to probably go into something else for the fear. Why do you think he went for the Top Gun programme?
I think there’s a lot of, especially within the military and military families, it really is a legacy. And there’s something to be said about these jobs and these careers in service. I think he felt like that would make his dad really proud. And I think he also wanted to prove something to himself.
And it’s a very emotional film as well. Did you feel the emotional weight?
I felt a lot of emotion while I was reading, just really because you get so attached to your characters and stuff. So I was just really proud of Rooster because I think the arc that he goes on, and the circumstances that he’s in, based on what happened with his dad and what’s going on with him and Maverick, I was just really happy for him.
Absolutely. And it’s a very masculine film, and you’ve got the beach scene but everything else as well. Was there a lot of competition? Was there a little bit of flexing?
Maybe for some of the stuff, but if anything, because we went through a really extensive kind of boot camp for this, with all the flying and the flying was so tough. It was something that every time another actor went up in the jet, you’re really just rooting for them, because you knew how tough it was. And the worst thing that could happen was that you would come back after shooting a scene up in the air and the light was a little off or your strap was down the whole time or something didn’t match and you would have to do it again. That was always the worst part.
Just lastly, what do you want people to take away from Maverick?
I think it feels like a bit of a throwback. It’s a big summer blockbuster. That’s why it’s coming out and the spectacle of it. But it’s a really heartfelt story, like you said, and I think it was so hard to make a sequel to something 30-some-years later, and to have it feel like it is a continuation and also at the same time puts a bit of a punctuation on it. I think you can put Top Gun: Maverick right next to the first Top Gun, all that space in between and it still really works.
Top Gun: Maverick is exclusively in cinemas May 25, in 4DX and IMAX
