which is a really cool book about the making of Top Gun! I did my best to make this post accessible, but please tell me if something could be better. Emphasis is mine.

This is a part 2, find part 1 here!

Tom Cruise almost fucking died. And "self-induced CPR" is my new favorite phrase.

(Transctiption: “It was a really nice sequence that Tony designed, and we executed, and it didn’t get into the film.”

Robert G. Willard, who worked on special effects, said the dummy made to look like Goose helped pull Cruise underwater. “They just got a dummy, and stuffed a picture in the face card, behind the glass, and it was enough to look like Goose.” It was made of foam, and when he saw them adding water to make it sink lower in the raft, and even weights, he said he warned them. “I told them, too much weight and you will lose it. I was overruled.” End Transcription.)

(Transcription: He saw what happened from the ship. “All of a sudden the dummy starts to sink, waterlogged, and Cruise’s leg is wrapped around one of the shrouds of the parachute.”

Kauber saw it happen but was too far away to react. Two other Navy rescue swimmers, Daryl Silva and John Butler, were closer. “They free-dove down there and cut Cruise loose. It’s lucky they got to him in time.”

They had knives as part of safety gear, which they used to cut him free.

In the roughly 40 seconds it took to bring him back up, Kauber had swum closer to the life raft, and was there when they surfaced. “Cruise had inhaled a lot of salt water and we threw him up into the Zodiac. “He looked like he was unconscious, but he came to. I think he landed either on his stomach or his chest, because once he hit the side of the rubber boat, it was like a [bold] self-induced CPR, [end bold] and it forced all that water out.”

They got Cruise to the ship and out of the costume. The actor was still struggling to regain his strength when Scott — unaware of the severity of what had occurred — yelled that he wanted to get another take. Cruise began yelling at the director that he wasn’t going to do it, using some “choice words” for Scott. “It’s the only time I saw Cruise lose it with Tony Scott,” said Wade. “He was pissed.”

“I remember Cruise being adamantly opposed,” said Kauber, with a degree of understatement. “He was raising his voice to Tony Scott. As far as the actual conversation, it revolved around whether he’d get back in the water,” said Kauber. “It scared the heck out of Cruise. He was that close to being crab bait in San Diego Bay.” End Transcription.)

2. He isn't making a documentary, you guys.

(Transcription: It was also out of the realm of possibility, which irked the Navy guys.

Technically it was possible for an F-14 to fly inverted, but it wasn’t something they would do and they would never be that close to another aircraft. The pilots — increasingly comfortable around the director, who was in their milieu — told him as much. Scott revived the line he’d used earlier in production: He wasn’t making a documentary. [bold] Pilots would sometimes restate it to each other: “He isn’t making a documentary.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

3. Again, I need to know who. Just for my personal amusement this time.

(Transcription: Everyone was shown aerial clips, without sound, including film shot of the actors when they flew in the F-14s. G-force had not been kind to them, and the shots documented a fair amount of airsickness. Baranek said he could hear the young men in the room cajoling each other. [bold] When one of the images showed a particular actor vomiting, another called out, “That’s some of your best work, right there.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

4. On shooting the cockpit close-ups.

(Transcription: Meanwhile, something had gone awry with the gimbal, which controlled the cockpit set. They had designed it to operate hydraulically, Willard said, “but we bent something the first day.” That didn’t change the fact that the heavy cockpit set had to be moved, and with an actor inside. “We ended up doing it all by manpower,” Willard said. The faux cockpit was held up mechanically but shifting it was hard physical work.

[bold] “There were six guys jockeying Cruise and Edwards around like Egyptian pharaohs,” [end bold] recalled Heatley, who was there to help work on dialogue. “There was a circular light around them and Art Scholl’s photography in the background. It was incredible.” End Transcription.)

5. Now I want to watch it again, just to see if I can hear this.

(Transcription: Hall began building a library of “great animal sounds” that were more dynamic. She focused on animal roars, specifically lions and tigers, and mixed in monkey screeches and parts of an elephant trumpet to get a slight scream. [bold] “So if you see a jet flying across the screen it might be a mix of 15 or 16 monkeys and elephants,” [end bold] she recalled. “It was a lot of fun.” End Transcription.)

6. The only sex scene I ever felt the need to look away from didn't need to happen.

(Transcription: Exhibitors thought the relationship with Maverick and Charlie was too light. [bold] “We felt we needed that sexual thing, for Maverick to bonk Kelly,” [end bold] Scott said in an interview years later, although by all accounts the director was not part of the “we” when it happened.

[bold] “Nobody thought it needed that,” said Weber. “‘We’ were done.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

7. Reviews!

(Transcription: “An empty-headed technological marvel,” wrote Michael Wilmington in the Los Angeles Times. The overall impression left by the movie was that of a “Disco War,” he continued. “Like disco, it evaporates from your mind minutes after you leave. Even though it’s an irresponsible movie (but one that has hit written all over it), it’s hard to get offended. [bold] The deepest impulses behind Top Gun are not political but sexual. You can tell by the number of scenes set in the shower.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

(Transcription: Reviews abroad echoed a similar theme to the early reviews stateside, but with some cheeky British perspective. “For a classic American hero, you couldn’t find anyone better than fighter pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell,” columnist Pauline McCleod wrote when the movie was released in Great Britain on Oct. 3, 1986. [bold] “He’s about as manufactured as American processed cheese and his fellow countrymen just LOVE him!” [end bold] Cruise had played the role “with great skill,” she wrote, noting it was the No. 1 film in the U.S. End Transcription.)

8. Is Tom Cruise one of the most hated men in the American acting community? It's not impossible!

(Transcription: During a 2014 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Kimmel asked Cruise about the first time he had traveled the world to promote a movie.

Val had a pic of Cher in his cell in top secret 😂

From ET on youtube

Credit : 📷 Nievecitas on Twitter

In the twain white suit

Val and Cher ft. Tom cruise, Don Simpson, Barry tubb at the top gun 1986 NewYork premiere

New Age Comics #01 Cover

Original Art

Art by Will Eisner, Jaime Hernandez, Peter Poplaski, Don Simpson And Dennis Fujitake

Fantagraphics (1985)

From Heritage Auctions.

The Savage Dragon 14 Issue Lot, Special Issues and Crossovers (1993-2002) Comic Books