He names an object and a Jerry Bruckheimer movie probably blew it away. For decades, the prolific producer – often working with his colleague Don Simpson – has defined what is the most successful film action. The films produced by Bruckheimer are almost unmissable, even among those who have not seen them: The Rock, Armageddon, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and National Treasure bear his stamp. Simpson died in 1996, but this month, his name appears on screen alongside Bruckheimer’s in Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to one of his definitive hits from the 1980s.
Maverick is a film with a tactile appeal, which uses every inch of the screen and every speaker in a theater to make the audience feel like they are on a fighter jet. It is very similar to its predecessor in this respect, but goes further, with abundant images filmed by pilots from their own planes. But in 2022, viewers will go to multiverses and go through superheroes on a regular basis. Is a vivid and real experience of a fighter jet enough to make a great production work?
In a conversation with Polygon, Bruckheimer had a simple answer: Yes, it is. The actors vomited to bring you this movie. The Navy got involved. You have Tom Cruise. That’s why you go to the theater.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Photo: Scott Garfield / Paramount Pictures
Polygon: It looks like Top Gun: Maverick is very excited about a sequel to a 36-year-old movie. Why do you think this is?
Jerry Bruckheimer: Well, I think here are the stars of the first movie. Many men have approached me and said: Look, my dad took me to see Top Gun when I was 10 years old. I want to take my son and daughter to see him. [Maverick]. It was a great experience for me when I was little and for my dad. I think that translates to a lot of people going to see the movie in a theater, which is the way you should see it.
What do you think people want to see in particular?
Well, first of all, it’s a very real movie. It’s a great character piece. It’s about the love of aviation. That’s what Tom [Cruise] he wanted, the story Tom wanted to tell. But also, we took so much care and effort to make sure we practically shot it. So when Joe [Kosinski, the director of Top Gun: Maverick] He spoke to Tom and said, “We need to make this a reality. We need to figure out a way to get these cameras on the plane.” So Joe had a camera built for the cockpit of the plane. He was able to put six cameras inside the cabin. And it took 15 months to do that, because you have to go through the engineers and the lawyers, because [what if] did the camera drop with the actors? All sorts of things could go wrong. But they figured out how to do it. So the next question is not What do you do with the actors? We put them there.
Is it similar to the approach taken in the first Top Gun?
For the first film, we put [the actors] in an F-14. And everyone vomited, their eyes went back to their heads, we couldn’t use any footage. We used a little picture of Tom, and that was it. He was the only one who could really keep him up there, because he was in such good shape.
So in the second, Tom designed a show where the actors had to spend three months in what they call G-force tolerance. We put them on a prop plane so they could feel the lightness of being in air. And we put them on an acrobatic strut, which could feel some of the G-forces. And then we put them on a jet, and the jet: they could really feel some G-forces. And then we put them on the F-18. , and the jump from previous aircraft to the F-18s was huge, because they are much faster and more agile.
It’s very exhausting for our actors. Joe spoke to all of them and said, “Look, this is what we’re going to do to get you to an F-18.” And some of the actors said, “No, I don’t think so, I’m afraid to fly.” So we lost some talented actors, but the actors who committed to the film did so wholeheartedly and gave up much of their lives to sit on these planes.
They had to remember everything: their lines and turn on and off the camera. And just like we couldn’t [monitor] the pictures up there, when they came back to the ground, we checked all the pictures. And if it didn’t work, or they didn’t get their lines right, they would go back up and do it again.
One of the things that the film makes very clear is the physical challenge of being on one of these planes.
I’ll tell you, the only real troops — they were all soldiers — were Monica [Barbaro]which I think was the only one that didn’t vomit.
Photo: Scott Garfield / Paramount Pictures
There aren’t many movies like Top Gun anymore, so how do you deal with people getting excited about a movie about fighter jets?
The Navy was very helpful in giving us their best pilots and the best engineers and crew members to keep these planes in the air, all the mechanics. They were a big part of the fact that we could show what happens to a fighter pilot. Because without your cooperation, this movie would not be the same movie you are watching. We should rely on visual effects. Tom didn’t want to do that. So the Navy was our partner in that.
We had to pay them as paying partners to help us bring this movie to the screen, but they were fantastic men and women. And we had a lot of female pilots working with us. They make a big commitment to be able to get one of these planes, and you can imagine what they have to go through, the physical rigors, just like the boys do. But they are ready. And they love what they do. I [some of them] they joined the Navy because they saw Top Gun. We heard it over and over again.
So, coming out of what could be a great blockbuster action movie like this, you’ve been producing blockbusters like Top Gun for decades. How do you think action movies have changed? Where do you think they are today?
It’s always the same. It’s always about your plot, your characters. Your message, if any, that I do not try to do, but its subject, I could say. And this is where it comes in handy. It’s not hard. You have to have a great idea, a great script, some great characters. And the characters drive through the plot. And if you’re lucky, it’s the excitement. The reason a Top Gun is effective with an audience is because it is emotional. It makes you laugh.
I don’t know if you’ve seen it [Maverick] with a large audience, but when they projected it on the exhibitors — which is the toughest audience ever to be found — there was laughter, applause, tears. We used to say that we are in the business of transport, we transport you from one place to another. My job is to take you a couple of hours and forget about everything that happens at home, in the world. And just focus on what we give you. Just have fun, tie yourself to this seat and take a walk with us.