Tom Cruise is returning as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Picture: Paramount Pictures / BACKGRID UK)

It’s been over three decades since Tom Cruise first appeared in Top Gun.

And now the Hollywood actor, 57, is back playing Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell – having reunited with producer Jerry Bruckheimer for the upcoming summer flick.

Ahead of its July release, Tom has given fans a little preview into the gravity-defying stunts they should expect.

‘We just started talking and I realised that there were things that we could accomplish cinematically,’ he told Empire.


‘And I started getting excited about this big challenge of, “How do we do it?” So I said to Jerry, “I’ll do it if…” meaning, I’m not going to do the CGI stuff.’



The high-action flick even involved the cast taking to the skies in F-14 Tomcats for G-force-heavy action sequences.

Tom added: ‘I said to the studio, “You don’t know how hard this movie’s going to be.” No-one’s ever done this before.

‘There’s never been an aerial sequence shot this way. I don’t know if there ever will be again, to be honest.’

And the high energy stunts weren’t without some drama.

Tom previously revealed how filming for the scenes often left him feeling slightly queasy – and we’re not surprised!

Speaking to Jimmy Kimmel he said: ‘We did all the training and now came the day that we got to fly … we did nine-and-a-half Gs, very hard on my body.

He first appeared in the movie in 1986 (Picture: Rex Features)

The original film featured Kelly McGillis as Maverick’s love interest (Picture: Rex Features)

‘I had a vomit bag right here, so in between takes I leaned down to quickly empty my guts in the bag. The second I did that, he pulls up. My head was literally on the ground from the pressure.

‘I was pressed on the floor, holding my vomit. I kept going “Bozo! Bozo!” I was choking, and he just kept pulling up and up.’

While earlier this year, the film’s director Joseph Kosinski gave his first interview on the return of Maverick after 35 years.

The new flick is set to be released in July (Picture: Paramount Pictures / BACKGRID)

Speaking about the return of Val Kilmer, who plays Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, the director said: ‘The rivalry and relationship between Iceman and Maverick is one of those things that makes that first film so iconic.

‘It’s a relationship that is important to the Top Gun franchise and as a fan I would want to see how it’s evolved.’

The new installment follows on from Kilmer’s battle with throat cancer, with an operation on his trachea leaving him with a ‘rasp’.

Top Gun: Maverick is scheduled for release 17 July 2020.

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