After making his entry into the film industry and gaining significant recognition with films like Risky Business, Tom Cruise had his major breakout in the 1986 action drama Top Gun, portraying Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchel. He later reprised the role in the 2022 sequel, which has since become the highest-grossing film of his career.
However, the foundation for a successful franchise, which has a third installment on the way, might never have been laid without Ridley Scott’s 1985 film Legend, which inspired the action star to explore adventurous stories such as Top Gun.
How Ridley Scott’s Legend Shaped Tom Cruise’s Path to Top Gun?
In 1985 Tom Cruise starred in Ridley Scott’s epic fantasy film Legend, a film about Jack, a forest boy who becomes a savior after a night-dwelling demon threatens to envelop the world in eternal darkness by killing unicorns and kidnapping a princess.
The film, however, ended up being a huge disaster, failing heavily at the box office and was panned by critics, who criticized the story’s dullness and its inability to resonate with the audience.
However, despite the initial poor recepti on, Legend has since become a cult classic and the film also holds special significance in Cruise’s career. Talking about the movie in a previous interview, he shared, “Ridley [Scott] made a fairy tale, a breakthrough visual film.”
He also noted that the movie faced delays due to some adjustments as the studio believed that the final cut was a “little too romantic.” The Mission: Impossible star shared,
I think the studio thought the whole piece was a little too romantic. So instead of just releasing it, Ridley said, “Okay, let’s go back and rescore it and give it a little harder edge.” Now it’s ready to go.
However, despite everything, Cruise described it as a unique and challenging project. He also shared that working on such a “stunning and gorgeous” narrative inspired him to pursue more action-oriented roles, like Top Gun, a film he was initially hesitant about.
Tom Cruise Had Initial Reservations About Taking on Top Gun
Released in 1986, Top Gun became a massive hit and has since earned its place as an iconic piece of cinema, celebrated not only for its commercial and critical success but also for its lasting cultural impact.
It catapulted Tom Cruise’s career to new heights, but the actor wasn’t initially eager to accept the role of Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer revealed that Cruise was always their top choice for the part.
“He was the only actor we talked to,” he told Variety on the film’s 35th anniversary. However, Cruise, who was working on Legend at the time, was initially reluctant about the film, as he shared in an exclusive clip from the 30th anniversary digital HD re-release.
They first offered me the film, I think it was the beginning or the end of 1983. And at this time I was off in London working with Ridley Scott — And I remember I didn’t really address Top Gun during that time period.
Cruise had a valuable learning experience while working on Legend, as the actor immersed himself in learning as much as he could about the craft of movie-making. He shared during the interview,
The sets were huge. Sometimes we would be working on a scene that might last 30 seconds in the film, but it took a week to shoot it. It’s stunning and gorgeous and poetic and most of the time I would be looking at a piece of black tape and having to imagine all of it. It was exciting.
The actor further shared, “It made me hungry to do a piece like Top Gun.” In the 30th-anniversary clip, Cruise shared that Legend’s director, Ridley Scott, encouraged him to meet with his brother, Tony Scott, who directed Top Gun. “It was aligned with the things that I love; movies and aviation,” he shared while reflecting on what inspired him to accept the offer for the movie.