Can 'Top Gun: Maverick' Show You What It's 'Really Like' to Be a Top Gun?

What's the biggest difference between "Top Gun" (1986) and "Top Gun: Maverick" (2020)? It's not Tom Cruise, because that guy pretty much looks the same now as he did 34 years ago.

The right answer is: advances in camera technology and visual effects technology. The original film was a triumph of editing, combining stock footage and a limited amount of dogfight action staged for the film to create pure movie magic.

In the 21st century, the tools now exist for the filmmakers to create something they hope will be far closer to the actual flight experiences of the Navy aviators the movie celebrates. Now Paramount has released a new behind-the-scenes video to get everyone even more jacked for the summer 2020 release.

The filmmakers offer some bold predictions. "Top Gun: Maverick" producer Jerry Bruckheimer says the upcoming movie is a "love letter to aviation" that will "show you what it's really like to be a Top Gun pilot." (He really said "pilot" and not "aviator." Sorry, Navy.)

Producer Tom Cruise (who also appears in the movie as "Maverick") is a man who's known to be incredibly exact with his choice of words. He says that the filmmakers worked with the "best fighter pilots in the world" to create the movie's action scenes. The. Best.

Related: ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Reveals a Navy in Crisis

Director Joseph Kosinski is excited about the brand-new camera system that put six IMAX-quality cameras inside the cockpit with the actors and Tom challenged the younger actors to join him in experiencing the same g-forces that a real aviator would experience. All distorted faces in the movie are created by actual g-forces and not CGI effects.

Bruckheimer chimes in one more time with a bold promise: "An aviation film like this has never been done and chances are that it will never be done again."

The most shocking reveal in the video is that there's a company called Cinejet, which seems to be in the business of using jets to film movie scenes that involve other jets. Obviously, you'd need a jet to keep up with a jet if you're filming more than jet fly-bys, but who knew that could be a real business?

We've got six months to wait and there will certainly be more surprises to come as we pursue our mission to be your #1 source for everything "Top Gun."

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