Paramount Pictures
Warning, spoilers for Top Gun 2: Maverick follow!
In the finale of » Top Gun 2: Maverick «, Maverick, played again by Tom Cruise , and his team have to destroy the nuclear weapons facility of an enemy country that remains nameless. In fact, it seems a hopeless endeavor. It hasn’t worked in any test before, but this time the Mission Impossible works. On the way back, however, Maverick sacrifices his plane to save his young protégé, Rooster ( Miles Teller ). Because he returns for him, he too is shot down, so that both find themselves on the ground in enemy territory. There they come across an old F-14 Tomcat on a military base, which they steal and save themselves. And exactly this part of the finale is based on a true story.
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As the screenwriter Zack Stentz , known for «Thor» and «X-Men: First Class» , revealed on Twitter , «Maverick» producer David Ellison also wanted to pay tribute to a legendary pilot and close friend: Bob Hoover.
The pilot, who was born in 1922 and died in 2016, was taken prisoner by the Germans during the Second World War. After more than a year, however, he managed to break out of the Stalag and steal a German plane from an unguarded hangar. With it he flew to the Netherlands, where he got into a precarious situation because he was mistaken for a Nazi because of the plane. The finale in Top Gun 2 is said to refer to Hoover and his spectacular escape.
Hoover Hoover in the planning for over 10 years
As Stentz revealed, David Ellison commissioned him back in 2011 to knit the finale of the film based on the true story of Hoover. Back then, Stentz and his co-writer Ashley Miller were commissioned to develop a story for «Top Gun 2: Maverick» for Ellison, Jerry Bruckheimer , Tom Cruise and then-living director Tony Scott .
Stentz and Miller didn’t end up writing a complete screenplay, just a 30-page detailed draft of the story and plot points.
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They will no longer be credited as screenwriters in the finished film, but Peter Craig and Justin Marks , who were ultimately responsible for developing the story, and Ehren Kruger , Eric Warren Singer , and Christopher McQuarrie , who were successively responsible for revisions of the actual screenplay, borrowed at least some of the ideas. And after more than a decade, producer David Ellison managed to include the small tribute to the legendary pilot Hoover — even if the aviator unfortunately didn’t get to see it himself.
«Top Gun 2: Maverick» by director Joseph Kosinski is currently showing in German cinemas. The FILMSTARTS editors Sebastian, Markus and Pascal tell you why the action sequel is so great in our podcast, among others.
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