We’ve got the need. The need for speed. Nearly 30 years after the original dog-fought its way onto our cinema screens and into our pop culture addled brains, producers are still trying to make a sequel to the much beloved, strangely homoerotic, jet fuel and testosterone powered 80s classic, Top Gun. The original, one of the quintessential military-based bro-downs in cinema history, was one of the films that solidified Tom Cruise’s status as a Hollywood heavyweight. And if producer Jerry Bruckheimer has his way, Cruise will once again don the Maverick helmet for the second round of action.
Bruckheimer, himself a pretty big wheel down at the ole’ cracker factory, revealed that Top Gun 2 has been in the works, in one form or another, since the original was released. More to that, Tom Cruise – currently aged 51-years-old – will reprise the role of Maverick in a plot that allegedly will centre around drones, with the idea being that the very human Maverick will prove that man will always triumph over machine. Or, in Bruckheimer’s own words, “The concept is, basically, are the pilots obsolete because of drones. Cruise is going to show them that they’re not obsolete. They’re here to stay.” U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
No director is set for the role as of yet. The original film’s helmer, Tony Scott, died in 2012. The concept for the sequel was one that was broken by Scott, after years of struggling to find the right angle for it.
The continued momentum that the sequel has is said to be due to Cruise’s enthusiasm for the project, which if it were at even half the level of crazy that he’s been known for in recent times, would probably mean the film’s as good as made.
As for financing, we can only assume they haven’t actually pitched it to anyone yet, as no reports of volcanoes of cash shooting out of studio executive’s offices have occurred yet; the reaction we assume would happen the second the idea is pitched.
