Tom Cruise was not interested in appearing in a sequel to Top Gun despite studio wishes, but Joe Kosinski’s 20-minute storytelling convinced him

Tom Cruise’s highest-grossing film happened only because the director was able to convey the emotional core of the film to the actor in 20 minutes. When Joe Kosinski approached Cruise for Top Gun: Maverick, he knew that a sequel wouldn’t be at the top of the mind for the Mission: Impossible actor. However, Kosinski’s pitch impressed Cruise, who immediately greenlit the film.

Tom Cruise in a still from Top Gun: Maverick | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun, was in development hell for years. Cruise dismissed the idea of a sequel in the ’90s itself. Tony Scott, the original director, was attached to the project in 2010, as development began at Paramount Pictures. However, Scott’s death in 2012 put the sequel in uncertainty for a long time before Kosinski took it up in 2017.

Tom Cruise Was Convinced For The Top Gun Sequel In 20 Minutes

Tom Cruise in Joe Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures had almost given up on the Top Gun sequel when they found Joe Kosinski as the director. His first assignment was to convince Tom Cruise of the project. He went to meet him in Paris, where he was filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Kosinski recalled how he got Cruise to do the project when he appeared at THR’s Director’s Roundtable.

Kosinski had the added advantage of working with Cruise on their earlier project. However, he knew that Maverick wasn’t a project that the actor would be interested in. He was accompanied by Jerry Bruckheimer when he went to pitch Cruise the idea. Kosinski shared that all he got was the 20-minutes time with Cruise in between the takes of his MI film. Kosinski shared on THR’s Director’s Roundtable:

That was my first assignment, to go to Paris and pitch Tom on the idea. This character of Maverick was one that he didn’t want to go back to because he doesn’t have to. It’s the movie that made him a superstar. So I went to Paris with Jerry Bruckheimer and got 20 minutes with Tom in between setups on Mission: Impossible, which is very typical with Tom. He’s always working.

Kosinski further shared that he started with the emotional core of the story. He told him that the sequel dealt with Maverick reconciling with his best friend’s son, who trains under him. He also explained how he was going to shoot the film.

Bruckheimer earlier told THR that they also provided Cruise with the lookbook, poster, and title of the film. Kosinski shared that Cruise immediately made a phone call to former Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos to greenlight the film. Kosinski shared:

I started with the story of this reconciliation with his best friend’s son and put that against this mission that would take them both deep into enemy territory where they’d have to work together to get back home alive. I could see the wheels in his head start to turn. Then I talked about how we were going to shoot it … but I think it was that emotional story that hooked him. He pulled his phone out and greenlit the movie.

Top Gun: Maverick received a great response from both critics and the audience, with praises directed at Cruise’s performance. The film went on to earn nearly $1.5 billion at the box office (via The Numbers). It was the highest-grossing film in Cruise’s career and even prompted him to sign a third film.

Warner Bros. To Produce Tom Cruise and Alejandro G. Iñárritu Film

One director who appeared alongside Joe Kosinski in THR’s Roundtable and heard his story about convincing Tom Cruise was Alejandro G. Iñárritu. It was confirmed earlier this year that Iñárritu had tapped in Cruise for a film, which would become the first in line of the actor’s new collaboration with Warner Bros.

According to Variety, the film is set to begin its shoot in the UK next month. The cast of this film also includes Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, and Sophie Wilde. DiscussingFilm reported that the film’s plot “follows the most powerful man in the world who tries to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.”

Top Gun: Maverick is now available for streaming on Paramount+.