One of the many stars of Top Gun: Maverick, Glen Powell, recently sat down to talk about the movie and hinted at a sequel to come.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Top Gun: Maverick star, Glen Powell, talked about the movie. Powell discussed what it was like working with Tom Cruise and Cruise’s work ethic/commitment to learning skills.
Glen Powell was also asked about the possibility of a sequel or spinoff to the newest Top Gun installment. He responded as such:
How are you feeling about a potential Top Gun threequel or spinoff?
(Laughs.) Well, I actually sat down with Joe, Jerry and Tom, and there’s no doubt that everybody would want to put the flight suit back on and return to this. I think it’s a question of, “Can we beat it? Is there a story to tell? Are there ways to push the limits in the same way that we did in this one and give meaning to returning to that world?” So I know that everybody’s minds are on it, and we definitely have the best minds in the world trying to figure it out.
I’ve heard Tom’s former co-stars say that when they see the lengths he goes for his art, it inspires them to up their game and acquire more skills for future projects. Since he gifted you flying lessons, did you also experience that feeling?
One-hundred percent. I talked to Tom about random skills and hobbies that I have from growing up in Texas, and one of my favorite movies is Singin’ in the Rain. So we talked about tap dancing because I can tap dance, which not a lot of people know about me. And Tom, before Tropic Thunder, took jazz lessons. He just wanted to learn how to dance in a way that was unique, so he took hip hop and jazz lessons for fun. He was like, “I wanted a new skill. I wanted to do something kind of different.” So that is why Les Grossman dances in that movie. He found a new skill and thought, “Oh, I can put this skill in this movie. It fits this character and adds a whole new dimension.”
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So I’ve actually gone out of my way since then to find those things and make myself more three-dimensional as a person. When you watch a movie and somebody’s playing a baseball player but they can’t throw a baseball, you’re like, “Well, they’re not good at the skill of the movie, and therefore I don’t buy into the movie at large.” So I always find that the best thing you can do as an actor is to be working on your upcoming movie’s skill. If you have a movie coming down the pipeline, you should be focusing and honing that skill as much as humanly possible so it looks effortless, like it’s just part of who you are. And that’s what Tom does in every single movie.
When I was talking to him about my pool lessons, I was like, “Yeah, I’ve been doing this pool thing.” And he was like, “Oh, let me see what you’re working on.” And then he was like, “Damn, that’s really good.” So then we talked about The Color of Money, and I was like, “How much pool were you playing in that movie?” And he was like, “14 hours a day.” I was like, “You were playing 14 hours of pool a day?” And he’s like, “Yeah, that’s what you’ve got to do, man. That’s what you’ve got to do.”
So that’s his level of dedication and absolute focus because he knows how important those things are to making sure that the audience believes who you are on that screen. That’s where his mentality is. Most people don’t realize the amount of work that goes into the smallest moments on screen. Even if it’s 20 seconds of a skill onscreen, he’s worked 20 months on that skill. It’s an unbelievable work ethic. I thought I was a hard worker until I met Tom Cruise.
