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When I last spoke toJoseph Kosinski,Top Gun: Maverickwas just hitting theaters.
Critics were raving, and audiences were elated.
Still, nothing could have prepared the director for what happened next.
Kosinski knew he was making something with genuine dramatic weight alongside spectacular action sequences.
As soon as it opened, it became very clear thatMaverickwas more than just a fun summer movie.
There were people crying in the theaters.
People were going to see it over and over again.
The first film, I always said, was a drama wrapped in an action film.
The drama was always at the forefront.
The execution of the flying sequences was in support of that.
We tried to do that not only in every sequence but every shot of every sequence.
Some guy came up to me other night, said he had seen it 32 times!
Its the emotion that brings people back.
And thats, I think, the key to giant hits.
We knew we were building to this third-act sequence.
The first film killed Goose.
So that was something we benefited from.
If you go back through the film, youll see that every scene is pointing in that direction.
Tom often talked about it as a sports-movie structure, and I think hes right.
That is probably the closest analog we had for how to construct the film.
So much of the film happens in close-up.
That was why we went to all the extreme effort to venture to shoot it that way.
And that was above and beyond the call of duty for an actor.
They all stepped up, and what they achieved is on film forever.
Because there was so much out of our control.
I had to shoot that scene three times in three different places before we got it.
I shot it off the coast of Los Angeles there was no wind.
Then two weeks later, I shot it off the coast of San Diego there was no wind.
Then we took the whole scene and crew up to San Francisco and the wind blew like hell.
We had an Americas Cup team stuffed into the hull of that thing in case anything went wrong.
And Claudio Miranda, the cinematographer, and I are on a boat next to it with a Technocrane.
So that was an extremely complex sequence to figure out.
That tells you how extreme the flying was for that sequence.
That was probably the most dangerous thing we did.
What are your thoughts on an Oscar for stunts?I think it would be great!
Also, it would promote practical filmmaking.
Because they feel that when there are great stunts, the CGI itself looks better.
Their work becomes easier.Top Gunhas a lot of visual-effects shots in support of live-action photography.
Our practical team worked with our digital team to create something that is just not possible otherwise.
Was there anything onMaverickthat you felt you werent ready for?I guess I was very lucky.
I havent had that on a film Ive done before.
But this is a whole other level.
This is a movie that was seen by everybody.
And the whole awards-season marathon is something I hadnt done before.
So that I didnt anticipate.
Its, what, March now?
And were still talking about it, and Ive still got a couple more things to go to.
So it has been quite a ride.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
