‘Top Gun’ sequel shot more footage than entire ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy combined
A monument to 1980s cheese and Hollywood fantasy, Top Gun is not only a cultural relic but also a cracking homoerotic thriller at the same time. Ahead of the release of the film’s sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, it has been revealed that the brand new film shot as much footage as all three of the Lord of the Rings movies combined.
The technical film statistic came to light after an interview between Tom Cruise and Empire magazine, with the star and producer telling the publication, “Out of a 12- or 14-hour day, you might get 30 seconds of good footage”.
Continuing, he adds, ”It was so hard-earned. It just took a very long time to get it all. Months and months of aerial shooting. We shot as much footage as the three Lord Of The Rings movies combined. I think it was 800 hours of footage”.
It’s no surprise, really, with the cast and crew of the new Paramount movie having to adapt to a new style of filmmaking that utilised external plane footage as well as in-cockpit sequences that involved cast members using the camera equipment.
“We had to teach the actors about lighting, about cinematography, about editing,” Cruise adds, explaining, “I had to teach them how to turn the cameras on and off, and about camera angles and lenses. We didn’t have unlimited time in these jets. If they were going up for 20-30 minutes, I had to make sure that we got what we needed”.
Along with the returning cast members Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, the film also stars Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris. Joseph Kosinski takes over from Tony Scott, the director of the original film, who sadly passed away in 2012. Kosinski has been previously responsible for 2013s Oblivion as well as 2010s TRON: Legacy.
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