The buzz around Top Gun: Maverick hasn’t even been out for a day, and it’s already obvious that it won’t go away. Top Gun 2, the follow-up to Tom Cruise’s 1986 blockbuster of the same name, is breaking box office records and even taking the top spot on the list of all-time largest domestic box office runs.
The action movie, which is set more than three decades after the original, stars Cruise as Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who accepts a post as a teacher for a fresh class of top TOPGUN alums, among them Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, played by Miles Teller, who was Cruise’s old wingman Goose.
Maverick must choose whether or not to keep a promise to Rooster’s mother to never let her son become a pilot. Maverick teaches the crew the importance of speed and his “don’t do, just think” approach in preparation for a hazardous mission.
Where was the movie Top Gun: Maverick shot?
According to IMDb, the majority of Top Gun: Maverick was shot in California, with a few scenes also shot in Nevada and Washington. The picture covers a wide range of landscapes, from deserts to snowy mountains. Several scenes were also filmed at the Naval Air Stations in Fallon, Nevada, and Whidbey Island, Washington.
The majority of the California sites are found between San Diego and South Lake Tahoe. Tommy Harper, the executive producer, said, “The one thing we all discussed in our conversations with the Navy was the need to locate the jets. You don’t want to establish a base of operations and then go to the jets.
In order to control the shot and schedule, you need to be where the jets are.
We were grateful that the entire movie could be filmed in California, with a small amount in Nevada and Washington, according to The Hollywood Reporter. They “ended up flying a lot in the Death Valley area,” he claimed, including several sequences that were flown out of Fallon, Nevada, and the “deep, deep valleys” encircled by 12,000-foot mountains in the Cascades on Whidbey Island.
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A Northmont Alumnus Oversaw the Naval Installation Where “top Gun” Was Filmed.
Tim Slentz was motivated to join the Navy by the first “Top Gun” movie. “I wanted to set down on an aircraft carrier after seeing the original. He recently commented, “That is the coolest profession,” while visiting his family in the Dayton region.
Slentz, a 1989 Northmo]nt High School alum, went on to earn his degree from the University of Notre Dame before entering the Navy. Capt. Slentz, who played the commander of the Naval Base Coronado outside San Diego, was there for the filming of some of the “Top Gun: Maverick” sequel more than 30 years later.
He had to approve the use of base facilities and grounds for the movie shoot in 2018 and met the cast and crew, including Tom Cruise, while acting as an extra in a few sequences. Slentz remarked, “I never in a million years believed I would be talking to Tom Cruise about a movie on the base I was running.
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The movie’s release was postponed until this year due to difficulties, most notably COVID-19. On the same day as the public premiere took place in San Diego, the film’s creators staged a premiere on the base. Slentz, who is currently retired and works for Boeing, was present.
“The wait was well worthwhile. He praised the film, saying, “It was wonderful.
Several bases were used for filming, but Naval Base Coronado, which is made up of eight bases including Naval Air Station North Island, was used for the beach shots, the bar scenes, and Cruise riding a motorcycle next to an airplane on the runway, among other things.
As the location of the first Navy airplane flight from North Island in 1911, the installation is “extremely iconic” for aviation, according to Slentz. We expressed to the film crew our pride in our heritage.
you stay out of trouble, and we’ll remain out of your way, I told them.
An estimated 1,000 individuals worked on the film during “a tremendous production” of the filming. Before they could enter the base, everyone had to go through a background investigation. On any given day, there would be about 200 at the base. Every day, they went through security like everyone else, including Cruise, who commuted by motorcycle.
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The base’s routine operations were not to be interrupted, and that was against the guidelines, according to Slentz. The movie didn’t cost any money to the Navy. They paid for everything (Paramount Pictures).
Due to the size of the base, filming could be done alongside several daily operations, such as Navy Seal training. “There was one more” (activity). They integrated perfectly with what we were doing, he remarked.
Slentz took time off while spending a few days working as a movie extra with his wife. He ultimately failed to recognize himself in any of the scenes. He said, “I got left on the cutting room floor.
His helmet was the closest thing to his appearance in the film. It is perched on the bar’s mantel. “I know that’s my helmet, but the way they filmed it was unclear. It’s the closest I ever got to stardom,” he laughed.
