Top Gun: Maverick: Miles Teller Details Intense Training for Real Flight Stunts

As we anticipate the upcoming 2021 release of Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount Pictures has been releasing trailers and featurettes for the long-awaited sequel where we learned that the film has taken the aerial action to a whole new level with the cast led by Tom Cruise participating in real-life flight stunts. In a recent interview with Men’s Journal, Miles Teller has finally opened up about Top Gun: Maverick‘s death-defying aerial sequences, revealing how he was able to fly a fighter jet by himself after three months of flight training.

“There is no green screen in a Top Gun movie,” Teller said. “Every shot, every stunt, was the result of the work, the real sweat, that we all put into it. The production was over the course of a full year, which was definitely the longest shoot I have ever been a part of.”

He continued, “I had about three months of flight training before starting the movie. That time was important to get comfortable with the crafts but also to build up our G-force tolerance, because all of the aerial elements were shot practically. The training started in a Cessna, and moved to an Extra 300, a single-prop aerobatics craft, where you start to improve your G-tolerance. From there we got into an L-39 Albatros, flying with these guys called The Patriots, who are the civilian equivalent to the Blue Angels.

Right off the bat, I am flying this fucking plane myself with The Patriots in formation with three other planes around, which just felt insane. I had one jet right above me, so close, and then planes on both wings, then we did a loop while holding that formation. I was holding the stick, and I landed the plane as well.”

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Teller also detailed revealing the intense training that the cast had to go through including having to pass a Naval Aviation Survival training course. “Before we got into the jets, we had to pass the Naval Aviation Survival Training course in San Diego. You learn all the protocols you need to go through if you ever have to eject over the ocean. They drag you across the water, they flip you on your bag, they want to see you able to get out of your harness and much more. That all leads up to the big test they put you through, which is called “The Dunker,” where they put you into a modified helicopter, strap you to a chair, and then submerge this tank underwater.

They blindfold you. Give you a chance to grab your last breath and then they take you down under the surface. Once you are under, they start to flip the tank and you have to prove you can go through the right operations to get out, as calmly as possible. Your partner is in there with you, and together you have to break open the hatch. It feels like some sort of torture chamber to a degree.”

The Whiplash actor also went on to confirmed that he has already seen the final cut of the sequel, describing it as something that fans would definitely connect with. “Playing Goose’s kid and getting to continue that storyline that was established in such a powerful way all those years ago, there is a lot of history there. I think when audience realizes the character I play is that tiny kid they saw in the original, it is going to hit. I was able to see it a couple weeks ago. The movie just blew me away, and my wife said, “That might be the best film I have ever seen.” She was crying multiple times.”

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Top Gun: Maverick is set in a world of drone technology and fifth-generation fighters along with exploring the end of the era of dogfighting. Maverick (once again played by Tom Cruise) is now a flight instructor, who takes Bradley Bradshaw (played by Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late partner Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, under his wing. The film also stars Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell and Ed Harris.

Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Cruise in Oblivion, will helm the sequel, with Peter Craig, Justin Marks and Eric Warren Singer penning the script.

A follow-up to Tony Scott’s 1986 hit has been in the works for quite some time, with Tom Cruise interested in reprising his role as United States Naval Aviator Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer previously outlined that the film will deal with the rise of unmanned drones and pilots becoming a thing of the past.

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The original Top Gun was directed by Tony Scott and also starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards and Tom Skerritt. The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Take My Breath Away” performed by Berlin. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

Top Gun: Maverick is currently scheduled for a July 2, 2021 release.