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Charlie Blackwood is based on a woman named Christine Fox who is tall, blonde, leggy, and has a penchant for clacking high heels. At the time the movie was being produced, the filmmakers wanted the character of Charlie to either be a groupie or a gymnast, but when the producers met Fox-whose call sign was "Legs"- they changed the role.
Deputy Secretary of Defense, making her the Defense Department's highest-ever-ranking female officer. During a break in the filming of the hangar scene a group of Navy officers being used as extras approached Tony Scott and complained about the unrealistic collection of patches on the flight suits of the actors. He replied, paraphrasing, "We're not making this movie for Navy fighter pilots, we're making it for Kansas wheat farmers who don't know the difference.
In order to stay in character, Tom Cruise would sit far away from the rest of the cast in between takes. During the filming of some sequences from civilian aircraft, longtime Hollywood stunt pilot Art Scholl was killed. A Pits stunt plane he was flying crashed off the Pacific Coast.
The film is dedicated to his memory. A test audience, who saw the movie before it was released, were annoyed that there was no love scene. The producers obliged, and five months after the production had wrapped, they summoned Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis to Chicago to film the infamous elevator scene and the sex scene.
During their time away from the set, McGillis had lost approximately sixteen pounds, and Cruise was actually filming The Color of Money , so his hair was much longer in those two scenes. McGillis' hair was also much darker, hence why she hid it underneath a cap in the elevator scene.
Kenny Loggins was not the first choice to record the song "Danger Zone" for the film. Top Gun was the highest grossing film of It took in million dollars in the U. Australian hit Crocodile Dundee was the second biggest film of the year, with Platoon coming in third.
In preparation for his role, Tom Cruise was allowed to take three rides in the F Tomcat. He vomited during the first trip, but was okay during the other two. The signature volleyball scene featuring a glistening Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer has remained a pop culture fascination for 36 years. To capture the magic, Scott burned an entire day on filming, something the studio did not expect for the scene, which was only a paragraph long in the script. The head of production, Charlie McGuire, he said, 'I'm gonna fire him' because he spent a whole day shooting this scene.
Charlie's Porsche Speedster is a replica. Instead of a Porsche logo on the front, it appears to have an Intermeccanica logo. Intermeccanica is an Italian company that makes replica cars. An original draft of the script specified that the final showdown involved North Korean aircraft. The final script made the nationalities of the enemy planes unknown and simply specified they were MiGs over the Indian Ocean. Matthew Modine turned down the role of Maverick because he objected to the film's Cold War politics.
Fox, Scott Baio and Tom Hanks all turned down the role. Sheen who was deemed too young for the role would later go on to spoof the role in the comedy Hot Shots! Judas Priest were asked to contribute the song "Reckless" to the soundtrack, but declined because they thought the movie would flop. Two years later, they contributed a cover of Johnny Be Good to the movie of the same name, which turned out to be a flop. In early drafts of the film, the character Tim Robbins whose call sign is Merlin actually had the last name of Merlin, and his call sign was Wizard.
The restaurant housed many props and memorabilia from the film. However, on June 26, , Kansas City BBQ suffered a grease fire that destroyed much of the interior of the establishment. The restaurant has since been repaired to its original state, but much of the Top Gun memorabilia on display was damaged, and some destroyed.
The two most prominent pieces that remain are the piano relocated to another corner of the bar and one of the original Maverick flight helmets used during filming, which sits in a locked display case behind the bar. The helmet shows some slight damage, as the heat from the fire caused the plastic visor to bubble and warp. This movie was made with the close cooperation of, and script oversight by, the U. Military," Theo Zenou reports that the movie's producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson agreed to allow the military to have a say in the story line to get access to some of the planes, aircraft carriers, and other equipment they needed: "they needed military-grade equipment.
In exchange for DOD backing, the producers agreed to let the department make changes to the script. Maverick's buddy, Goose, no longer perished in a midair collision because, according to the Navy, "too many pilots were crashing. The call-sign 'Ghost Rider' that Maverick uses for his plane was the name of a real F squadron VF , and a model of a Tomcat from that squadron can be seen behind Sundown in the shot where Maverick tells Slider he stinks. In , jet fuel was pretty cheap - about 1 dollar per gallon.
However, Paramount still paid 10, dollars an hour every time they went up to film an F There is a W. Laurel Avenue in downtown San Diego, but it is several miles from the beach. The actual location used for shooting was S. The area has since been redeveloped for commercial and tourist uses, but the house was preserved as a landmark. It is locally referred to simply as "The Top Gun House", and until , was still a rentable property.
In , the house was moved to another location in order to undergo renovations. The original soundtrack release initially only included original songs written expressly for the movie. James Tolkan's character is referred to as "Stinger" in the credits, but is never addressed as anything other than "Sir" throughout the film.
Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis didn't get along during or after filming. Bryan Adams was asked to allow his song "Only the Strong Survive" on the soundtrack, but he refused because he felt that the film glorified war. While many terms used in the movie either match or are closely based on real terms used by naval aviators and the pilots in general, the term "going ballistic" is a real phrase that was incorrectly used to describe a pilot successfully reaching maximum speed, when it actually meant that the pilot was going too slow to maintain control of his aircraft, i.
The phrase is used in Air Combat Maneuvers where the aircraft is put into a vertical or nearly-vertical climb and slows below an acceptable control speed. The pilot is then just along for the ride as gravity takes over and the airplane begins to descend and accelerate back to flying speed. The call is given over the radio to warn other pilots that the aircraft cannot maneuver to avoid a collision.
In several locker scenes, one of the lockers is labeled as belonging to "TEX". Giorgio Moroder wrote most of the music for the songs on the soundtrack. Tom Whitlock, who wrote the majority of the lyrics to these songs, was the mechanic who worked on Moroder's sports car. Tom Whitlock wrote the lyrics for "Take My Breath Away" while driving home from the studio, and then spent a few hours at home polishing them. Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood's character metamorphosed out of a character called 'Kirsten Lindstrom' and was originally a classic bimbo.
Dawn Steel, then head of Paramount Pictures, allegedly refused to authorise the project until she was made a more real, intelligent woman. The producers knew the film was big when leather jackets and white t-shirts became "in" again. During the pilot briefing before the final air battle, Stinger mentions that the MiGs carry the Exocet anti-ship missile.
This is a real missile; however, it is of French manufacture and has never been used by the Soviet Union, nor any of the countries that made up the Soviet Bloc.
Louis Gossett Jr. Gossett, however, did play the older, mentor-type role in another 80s fighter jet film, Iron Eagle Two video games based very loosely on the movie were released on the Nintendo NES. While the first game really had no storyline, the second actually served as a "sequel" storyline, regarding Maverick going up against a new group of villains.
The exchange "call the ball", "[X] has the ball" is a part of real life carrier landings. The "ball" in question is a marker on the Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System, a set of lights on the carrier's deck.
The response "[x] has the ball" means "Yes, I do see the marker". This means the landing can proceed. Otherwise the LSO is very likely to call off the landing and the pilot will have to go around and try again.
Although the title is "Top Gun", the preferred usage in the military is "Topgun" as seen on the caps several aviators wear.
John Travolta was considered for the role of Maverick, but his agent's asking price for him was too high, especially in light of his recent box-office flops. Martha Davis from the Motels and Patty Smythe were in the running. But Terri Nunn from Berlin, who hated love songs and had never released a ballad before, took home the honors by performing the song tragically, like a desperate woman at the end of her rope, as opposed to passionately like the other women did; this won the producers over and landed her the song, which became her biggest hit.
To capitalize on the film's popularity, the Navy set up booths outside theaters in order to recruit moviegoers to join the Navy - and it worked. When recruiters talked to applicants, about ninety percent said they had seen the movie. During a appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Cruise said that it was during the foreign press junket tour for Top Gun, which he said took four months to complete, as he'd spend weeks in every city they visited in Italy, France, and Japan.
Cruise told Kimmel that he was the one who came up with the idea of premiering films in other countries, though he said that "It took me a few years to get it going.
Considering how the s were somewhat notorious for pushing out sequels to popular movies, "Top Gun" would not receive its first sequel until Set 36 years later, in real time, and within the story timeline. Only two of the cast members from the original would return; Cruise and Kilmer, although the "Admiral's daughter" Peggy was mentioned in this film. When the film was first released on VHS, it included a fighter pilot-themed Diet Pepsi commercial prior to the film.
When the pilot opens his bottle of Diet Pepsi, but is unable to release it from its cup holder, the pilot flies inverted much like Maverick does at the beginning of the film in order to pour the soda into his cup. Just before the film started production, one of the producers announced that they wanted to use the Bruce Springsteen song "Born in the U. This was fortunate, as the song was about a Vietnam war veteran's disenchantment with America.
Somewhat embarrassingly, the song was also a favorite of then-president Ronald Reagan who, like the Top Gun producer, was only familiar with the song's tag line and not the complete lyrics. Due to their roles as movie villains, the "MiG" pilots have no name or identity, never talk, and their faces are covered by their visors, giving them a more sinister appearance in order to be "the enemy".
Before the headquarters building could be inspected for demolition, the bathroom counter that "Maverick" leans on and "stress tests" was stolen. Brooke Shields and Debra Winger were strongly considered for the role of Charlie Blackwood, but producers wanted an unknown for the part: Kelly McGillis.
Don Simpson was known for being a very hands-on producer but was noticeably absent during the making of Top Gun. This was mainly due to the fact that he was in rehab, being treated for his major dependency on prescription drugs.
His use of illegal narcotics also led to him becoming increasingly paranoid, to the extent that he rarely left his home. Tony Scott was hired to direct because he filmed an ad of a car racing a jet, similar to one scene.
Charlie's house is actually located in Oceanside, California, and still stands today as a tourist attraction. Throughout the years many films tried to emulate various aspects of the movie in mostly failed attempts to copy its unprecedented success, one of the more notorious examples being Nicolas Cage's Fire Birds , a movie infamously known among its critics as "Top Gun with helicopters.
Tony Scott calls the film the "purest form of escapism" and says it "mainlines entertainment. It is reported that the title of the popular racing video game franchise Need for Speed was inspired by a quote from this film said by Maverick and Goose, "I feel the need Carrie Fisher was also considered for the role. One of the first films to be selected for the Cinema 52 project, in which a subject watches a film 52 times over the course of a year.
Revelations of note about Top Gun resulting from this experiment include: Tom Cruise blinks times, the word "the" is spoken times, and the average time between Air Boss Johnson coffee spills is 27 minutes and 23 seconds. The trick of hitting the air brakes and letting the MiG fly by was used by Robert L.
Scott in God is My Co-Pilot. While Navy squadrons do stencil crew names onto aircraft, the airplanes are not assigned for missions on this basis. They are simply rotated in a pool, and at any given time some number of planes are out of rotation for maintenance purposes.
Each airwing flew two squadrons of Fs numbered in the s and s. Other aircraft types had planes in higher ranges. The lowest numbered airplane in each squadron is nicknamed "nuts", and these are all stenciled with the airwing commander's name. Each squadron has its own commanding officer, and his crew's names would be on the plane numbered The executive officer is on aircraft , followed by senior officers in descending order.
There are more crews than airplanes, so junior officers are only on airplanes if they are crewed with a senior aircraft commander. In the case of the F, radar intercept officers "backseaters" are in the line of command all the way up to squadron CO, so it is possible to find an F with a senior RIO in the rear seat and a more junior pilot in the front. This was true in The call sign 'Sundown' is a reference to VF, a squadron of Fs called The Sundowners that have the same sundown graphic on their tail fins as on Sundown's helmet.
In some shots 'VF' is visible on the under-engine fins of the Fs. One of the unused call-signs 'Tombstone' can be seen on a black fighter pilot helmet with three red arrows in promotional photos featuring Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. Veteran stunt coordinator and helicopter pilot Monty Jordan was on set frequently during filming, and assisted pilot Art Scholl in the aerial sequences. He served as a stand-in occasionally for Michael Ironside, and was also cast unnamed as a U.
Navy Commander in several scenes during filming. An official release of Harold Faltermeyer's score for the film has never been done. Two pieces of score appear on the current soundtrack, but the complete score has yet to be released. Both aircraft are carrier-capable twin-turboprop craft. Lead singer Martha Davis knew the song would be a huge hit, but was ultimately satisfied that their version was passed over, as she wanted her and the band to be better remembered for the songs they wrote themselves.
In China Central Television News broadcast a training exercise by the People's Liberation Army Air Force with one plane firing a missile at another, however the resulting explosion matches a blast from Top Guns final fight scene. The colour balance also appeared to be somewhat darker overall than the earlier VHS and Analogue tv "pan and scan" versions. This was Tony Scott's first experience with filming in the Super 35 format. This was chosen due to the heavy weight of anamorphic lenses, which would cause the cameras to fall off the fighter jets when they turned on their corner and to allow the cameras to fit inside the cockpits of them.
Giorgio Moroder had Danger Zone written mostly but for legal reasons couldn't use his planned band for it, Jefferson Starship. Loggins also adjusted some of the vocals and added to the music for the final recording.
Instead of the songs from the film's iconic soundtrack, the first trailer for the movie only featured one unrelated number, The Cars' song "Stranger Eyes" from their album "Heartbeat City". Harold Faltermeyer's music score was the first to be performed and recorded on the polyphonic 16 bit stereo Synclavier Digital Music System.
This is the eighth acting credit of both Tom Cruise and Meg Ryan. They were the same age during the filming and both made their debut in Discussing a possible sequel was one of the last things Tony Scott did with Tom Cruise before he committed suicide in That sequel finally came to fruition ten years later.
Tom Cruise was initially reluctant to take on the film, thinking it would just be Flashdance in the sky. However, after having had some box office disappointments with All the Right Moves and Legend , he felt he needed a hit. Linda Fiorentino told Charlie Rose that she turned down the role of Charlie Blackwood because it glorified war. Eerily and appropriately, Otis Redding had died in an airplane crash.
Kenny Loggins's upbeat song Danger Zone is played three times in the film, which is more than any other song. There is even a thrilling scene in which Maverick races a Tomcat taking off on his motorbike with the song playing.
Most of the cockpit sequences were shot on the ground because most of the cast looked like they were about to vomit when they were filmed up in the air. This would be the only Top Gun game to feature an actor from the original movie, with James Tolkan playing the commander in the game, though his call sign was Hondo, not Stinger, as in the film.
The love scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis was included at the behest of the studio who were concerned about the degree of male eroticism in the movie.
During the opening dogfight, music from Thief of Hearts , also composed by Harold Faltermeyer, can be heard over-scoring action. The sequence had originally been temp-tracked to this music, so it was used when Faltermeyer had left the project and the score incomplete. His wife is played by Meg Ryan, who was married to Dennis Quaid.
Quaid played Lewis in the film Great Balls of Fire. The character of Charlie was originally written as just an accessory to the male lead. Then head of Paramount, Dawn Steel, refused to greenlight the film until the character was made more substantial.
Tom Cruise later objected to the film's sanitized portrayal of war. In a Playboy interview, he said "Some people felt that 'Top Gun' was a right-wing film to promote the Navy. And a lot of kids loved it. But I want the kids to know that's not the way war is The band played a demo of Danger Zone but the producers wish to added studio players to Toto's version resulting the the Band declining their version of Danger Zone to be accepted.
Rick Rossovich Slider co-starred in the 1st season of ER. A show Anthony Edwards Goose was well known for. First feature film role for Clarence Gilyard Jr. In the elevator scene as Maverick enters, there is a framed photograph of a ship on the wall behind him. When Maverick tells Charlie his name, she teasingly asks if his parents were being mean to him. When Maverick and Charlie are talking after their dinner at her house, she says Maverick is the only one who's been up against a MiG
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