How a Gut-Churning Test Flight Landed Tom Cruise in Top Gun
As Top Gun marks 40 years, the filmmakers recount the high-G origin story: real Navy pilots strapped a young Tom Cruise into the back seat, put him through the wringer, and he still came back for more — queasy, relentless, and destined to be Maverick.
It’s been 40 years since Top Gun first dropped onto screens and turned Tom Cruise into a sunglasses-wearing aviation icon. If that number makes you feel old, you’re not alone. But what’s even wilder are the stories coming out about Cruise’s first steps onto the tarmac—long before he became Maverick.
To mark this big anniversary, some of the people who helped launch Top Gun into the stratosphere have been looking back. Screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. and producer Jerry Bruckheimer sat down with The Guardian to talk about the moment they decided Tom Cruise was their guy. Spoiler: it happened somewhere between Cruise barfing and him signing on the dotted line.
Cruise Almost Flew Away—Literally
First off, Cruise wasn’t a lock for the part. The studio wanted him, but he hadn’t said yes. Bruckheimer—always the producer with a plan—decided to crank the whole “real Navy pilots” thing up to eleven and sent Cruise out to fly with the Blue Angels in El Centro, California.
Here’s how it went:
- Bruckheimer introduced Cruise to the pilots.
- At the time, Cruise had long hair and a ponytail (he was shooting Ridley Scott’s Legend—let’s just say it wasn’t a ‘Maverick’ look).
- The pilots took one look at “this hippy” (their words) and decided they’d give him a real taste of their world—turbulence and all.
- They took him up in a fighter jet, tossed him around, and sure enough, Cruise “barfed on himself.”
- He climbed out of the jet, immediately grabbed the nearest payphone (yep, pre-cell phone days), and called Bruckheimer to say, “I’m in.”
Cruise’s Real Reason: Not So Secret
The funny thing is, Tom Cruise wasn’t exactly mysterious about why he was interested. Years later on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he admitted:
'I told my agent, "I'm going to make this movie, but don't tell Jerry I want to make this movie because I want to fly with the Blue Angels. You’ve got to work these things, you know? I’m a businessman."'
Also, yes, Cruise confirmed it: he puked on that first Navy ride.
The Takeaway
So that’s how Tom Cruise, sporting a ponytail, got tossed around in a jet, threw up, and decided he had to be Maverick. Sometimes, the legend is even stranger than the movie.
In case you feel like revisiting the ride yourself—minus the motion sickness—Top Gun is streaming on Netflix right now.