Glen Powell, who plays Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick, reveals the surprising advice he got from co-star Tom Cruise regarding his performance.
Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell reveals that he got some really perfect advice from Tom Cruise regarding his character, Hangman. More than 35 years after Tony Scott's original Top Gun, Joseph Kosinski's sequel soared into theaters earlier this year, earning rave reviews from audiences and critics alike on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie of the year. The film sees Cruise's hotshot pilot, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, training a new batch of recruits for a dangerous mission over enemy territory. The new pilots include Miles Teller's Rooster, Monica Barbaro's Phoenix, Lewis Pullman's Bob, Jay Ellis as Payback, Danny Ramirez's Fanboy, and Powell's Hangman.
Hangman rescuing Maverick and Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick is one of the movie's most rewarding moments, and Powell now reveals in one of Variety's "Actors on Actors" segments that Cruise gave him some surprising advice to make the scene land. According to Powell, Cruise encouraged him to really lean into Hangman's more over-confident and arrogant nature throughout the movie. Check out Powell's full comment below:
"Sometimes you can fall into the trap of wanting to be liked on camera. And in a movie like this, where you know there’s going to be a lot of eyes on it, you don’t want to be Draco Malfoy. But Tom gave me this advice: ‘For the ending to work, you have to completely lean into that. Everybody else in the movie is questioning their own ability. You’re the only guy that’s not questioning it. So if there’s any sort of apology in anything you say, the movie doesn’t work. Lean into the douchebaggery of it all.’”
Top Gun: Maverick is 2022's highest-grossing movie at the box office so far, but a third movie in the franchise is not yet a guarantee. Despite fan interest and some enthusiasm from stars like Teller, the decision regarding whether Top Gun 3 happens is up to Cruise. With the Mission: Impossible franchise and his expected journey into outer space to shoot a movie with Doug Liman, it's not clear when the actor will have room in his schedule for another Maverick adventure. If Cruise does return for another Top Gun movie, however, the ending to the most recent sequel sets up a very different dynamic going forward.