Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell has high praise for Cyclone star Jon Hamm, sharing how he welcomed the younger actors to the set. Released more than 35 years after the original Top Gun hit theaters, Top Gun: Maverick continues the story of Tom Cruise's hotshot pilot, Maverick. The film, which is directed by Joseph Kosinski, earned rave reviews from audiences and critics alike and has now earned over $1.45 billion at the box office. While Cruise is the centerpiece of Top Gun: Maverick, the film also introduces some new pilots for audiences to become attached to.
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Unlike the first film, in which Maverick is a trainee at the Top Gun fighter pilot school, the sequel sees Cruise's character become an instructor, preparing a new batch of recruits for a dangerous mission. Despite his leadership position, Maverick continues to get flak from Hamm's Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson, who disagrees with Maverick's methods and cavalier attitude. In addition to contending with Cyclone, Maverick must also make a team out of a divided group of recruits, which includes Miles Teller's Rooster, Powell's Hangman, Monica Barbaro's Phoenix, Lewis Pullman's Bob, and Jay Ellis' Payback, all of whom play an important role in Top Gun: Maverick's exciting end sequence.
In answer to a tweet revealing that Hamm gave up part of his salary on Confess, Fletch to get a few extra filming days, Powell shares his own story regarding the actor from Top Gun: Maverick. Powell calls Hamm a "great teammate" and recalls that, upon arriving in San Diego to shoot the Top Gun sequel, Hamm treated all the younger cast members to dinner and made clear that they could approach him for advice anytime they wanted. Check out Powel''s tweet below:
Top Gun: Maverick Fighter Pilots Were A Team Off-Screen As Well
Powell's story is further proof of the collaborative environment on the set of Top Gun: Maverick and how close many of the cast members came because of it. In order to prepare for their roles in the film, the young actors had to undergo what has since been dubbed "Tom Cruise Boot Camp," which involved intense aerial maneuvers and fighter pilot training. In addition to the natural bond that would form between the cast after going through this type of training together, Powell's story about Hamm affirms that although many of the characters may have conflicts on-screen, the environment off-screen was nothing but positive and uplifting.
The journey of the actors before and during production on Top Gun: Maverick also somewhat mirrors the journeys their characters take. The Top Gun recruits start off as a disparate and competitive group of pilots but, over the course of the film, Maverick turns them into a tightly-knit team. While the actors could surely convey this change regardless of their off-screen experiences, their real-world bonding evidently enhanced their on-screen chemistry and further elevated Top Gun: Maverick as a whole.