Top Gun: Maverick has been one of the most successful films of this year grossing almost $1.24 billion dollars around the world. The film has even managed to tackle many other giants which released against it at the box office.
Top Gun: Maverick is the sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun which followed the story of hot shot fighter pilot Maverick played by Tom Cruise . The sequel of the film saw Tom Cruise reprising his role as Maverick who would be training a brand new class of pilots for a very dangerous mission. The new cast members included Miles Teller, Glen Powell, and Jay Ellis. Glen Powell played a character called Hangman in the film. Hangman was originally auditioned for the role of Rooster in the film which was a much more major character compared to Hangman but that role went to Miles Teller and Powell received Hangman’s script.
Taking the role of Hangman to be a consolation prize, Powell decided to step away from the role as he didn’t want a minor role in the film however, a quick conversation with Tom Cruise changed Powell’s mind.
Christopher McQuarrie who will be directing Tom Cruise’s upcoming Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 and 2, has revealed the entire interaction between Tom and Glen Powell on the Light The Fuse podcast recently. He described it in the following words:
“Tom said – and [Powell] was being very frank with Tom about not wanting to be in the movie – and Tom said, ‘Glen, what kind of career do you want?’ And Glen said, ‘I want your career.’ And Tom said, ‘Well how do you think I got here Glen?’ And Glen said, ‘You chose great roles.’ And [Tom] said, ‘No Glen, I chose good movies.'”
It was this advice from Tom Cruise that got Glen to sign on to Top Gun: Maverick and sure enough Tom was right as Top Gun: Maverick not only became the highest-grossing movie of this year but also one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, giving Glen Powell’s resume a sweet boost as his role as Hangman ended up being one of the most memorable things about the film