‘Top Gun’ star Tom Skerritt explains why the original movie was iconic, details
“Top Gun” star Tom Skerritt is sharing his thoughts on the movie’s sequel and reflecting on the original 1986 film.
Skerritt, who starred as Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf in the original, opened up about what made “Top Gun” iconic during a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
“The music had a lot to do with it by the way,” he said. “But the screenplay itself, which I’ve always honored as being the whole reason for a good show, and you just write the work … and do the job you have good material for the rest of us to work with. And I really believed in that screenplay.”
Skerritt starred in the film alongside a young Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and others such as Kelly McGillis.
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“Everybody was having a good time on this. We all knew, or maybe I just sensed it, that this was going to be a very successful film.”
As for working with the 25-year-old Cruise, Skerritt told Fox News Digital that he met the actor while still in talks with Tony Scott, the director, and the producers.
“He was clearly a nice young man, 25, aware that he was going to rise with this film. He didn’t say that, but I assumed that by discussion we had. He knew he was going to rise with “Top Gun.”
When it comes to the sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick,” Skerritt explained to Fox News Digital: “I think it’s going to be a lot of aeronautical engineering on display, a lot of going shooting straight up into the sky and going as high as you can go.”
“I think we’re going to just watch some guys do some crazy flying, and … they’re going to have a lot of fun, but it’s not going to have the storyline the original had. You can’t revive something that’s already been done.”
The film was released in theaters on May 27 after a two-year delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Before starring in the ’80s action-drama film, Skerritt spent time in the United States Air Force. The actor admitted he joined the United States Air Force with the intention of learning to fly a plane, but didn’t ever get to.
“Military’s military, whatever the service you’re in,” he told Fox News Digital. “One is a little rougher than others. That would be the Marines. But I never got to fly, which was something I thought would be a dream for me to do. I had an older brother who was a P-51 pilot in World War II, and I loved him and I loved him for what he did.”
“At 17, I enlisted right out of high school,” he continued. “I thought maybe I can sneak in and become a pilot, which was not possible. I had no math skills whatsoever, and I had a good four years of learning how to behave myself.”
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