talk about your friends over here you are you are a good
friend with matt berry can you give us an absolute radio before we let you go
see if you can take his gig absolute radio fantastic he's got the gig
john hamm welcome to home time thank you it's great to have you on the show let's just start
straight up top gun maverick what an amazing movie thank you yeah we're very very proud of it it's
been a minute uh we had to kind of push pause on on the release of this film we were meant to
open in uh the summer of 2020 and the world had other plans so yeah can i tell you why
i think it's so amazing is that is i think it's an incredibly difficult sequel to make
because there's a load of like minefield stuff to deal with if you're gonna go make a top gun
sequel so you got like uh not the least of which was waiting 36 years 36 years that's hard
american power masculinity macho and tom cruise being older and you know the the rest of the cast
may be being younger etc so i feel like there was like a lot that could have gone wrong but they
handled it so perfectly yeah part of part of i think why people are actually responding to the
film the way they are is that we we took that that time is is a real part of the movie and getting
older is a real part of the movie maverick aging and like having having to deal with the things
that you deal with as you get older because we've all gotten older as we've watched time has has
worked its wonders on all of us i'm not 15 years old anymore when i wa the age i was when i saw
the first film yeah it's kind of a cool experience and and we we took it in stride it was very cool
but with that time that passes miles teller giving us a little wave from outside the studio
with that time that passes um it's the same for us like the the excitement builds so when you go into
the project if there was a split uh percentage of excitement but also fear at what you're going to
take on and knowing knowing how precious it is to us as an audience what would that smell for
you you know i will say you're in pretty good hands with jerry bruckheimer and tom cruise
joe kaczynski chris mccrory the incredible team they had behind making this film there
was very little fear good trepidation because you knew they weren't gonna make this movie
unless they could make it the right way yeah and part of that is having tc right front and center
playing the character that essentially defined his career yeah coming back 30 some odd years
later and you know the same set the same leather jacket the same deal and it was like wow this is
this is a this is a mind-blowing uh experience and it works like that's that's the really great
part of it is that it works and not only have they made a wonderful continuation of this story
but they've also kind of paid homage to the tony scott film you know a lot of the images in it
i'm telling you like within 30 seconds of the beginning of this movie if you don't get chills
like you need to call your doctor because it's like it's a real like it's it's a real moment i
felt almost i was welling up at times i feel like i wasn't completely in control of my own emotions
but is that something you surprise yeah 45 to be fighting tears
um are you surprised at this the reaction i know i know it's so early you know so many
people still to see this but are you surprised pleasantly so yeah for sure i mean it's uh it's
because it is you know it's a blockbuster it's a it's a summer movie it's a it's a popcorn
movie it's all of those things and it has all of those elements it's satisfying in that way
yeah you know it's it's an action film like it's very much that thing see it big and
loud or imax whatever the largest screen you can wasn't it filmed for is it 40 40
something k yeah four 6k i don't know there's a lot of k's a lot of cases i'm not sure exactly
uh i'm not sure exactly what what that entails how many k's there are but uh plenty of cases but yeah
it's it's it's it's breathtaking and it's in its movie-making but it's also the the story is there
the continuation of these characters maverick iceman like all of these things that that are
so kind of beloved to a certain generation are are very much um given their full faith and credit in
this in this story you know what was interesting as well particularly because obviously you you you
filmed this back in 2018 so you wouldn't have known what's going on in the world at the
moment as we stand you know with the trouble in ukraine and all that kind of stuff but it was very
interesting that there's no named enemy in top gun yeah and part of that is you know i'm not sure
exactly obviously the the first film takes place very much in a cold war kind of a sensibility and
this is obviously we're not in that world anymore um but there's still sort of danger out there
um you know and i'm not gonna make a danger zone joke right now but i could um but yeah like it is
you're correct we didn't make this movie to in response to any sort of particular geopolitical
moment yeah just these things happen and part of what what the movie really does is like highlights
the fact that the men and women of the u.s navy the armed services like the sacrifices that they
actually make are incredible and they keep us all safe and that's a great thing to have and it's a
it's very much a a tip of the cap to them as well you speak of danger um vice admiral cyclone has a
non-flying role in this particular movie thank you very much are you are you very smart are you happy
or jealous at that fact because i remember seeing you in a film that i cherish so much
earlier in your career a smaller role uh in space cowboys i know that you have that flight in you
look i would have loved to have uh gone down that path i am very glad that i did not have to
uh miles and a lot of the guys that that and and gals that had to go through that flight training
it was serious like they did four and a half to five months of training 40 to 50 hours in
a cockpit part of why they had to do that was not just for you know insurance purposes and
what have you but like they their bodies needed to be in the shape to withstand the rigors of
what that what it is to be in in a plane doing those things and you can see that on their faces
in the film it's like it is it is really it is visceral like it hits you right in the chest it's
very very cool to see tom cruise obviously is in in those jets you'll see him you know flying them
and all that kind of stuff you've probably had this put you before once you're talking about this
film but you know genuinely he doesn't look any different is he is he drinking anything he's got
a potion if you're on set with him do you see him drink a vial of something that's around his head i
know for a fact that he is older than me and yet on screen he looks younger i don't know how it
works what's going on there but he's like um he's like a film cristiano ronaldo isn't he in that he
doesn't seem to change doesn't get older he's very uh focused laser focused on what he needs to do so
you kind of respect and slightly fear him at the same time you know he is a professional movie star
and there there are very few of those guys left the very few of those guys that get their name
above the title he loves what he does that energy his enthusiasm is infectious it's it's everybody
on set knows that they're in a tom cruise movie and is thrilled to be there are you on your
toes because of that though because you like you nobody wants to be the one the one guy that sucks
now my next question is is based on a fact that may or may not be true
but what has given you more joy uh the reaction the early reaction to top gun maverick or celtic's
recent scottish premier league triumph because i read that you are a fan and here you are over in
the uk at the time when they're trophy lifting i was uh i was very pleased to be in in attendance
at uh celtics played uh hibernian i believe uh the very first game where they had a full uh crowd
again and it was it was stirring for sure and it made me a fan and i was very pleased to see them
to lift the cup that was very very cool yeah you narrated one of my favorite uh sports
documentaries all or nothing the nfl you guys uh and they're right there the celtics story even for
next season listen hey i'm i'm not amazing i'll just just go back to the movie uh scottish accent
so the the final half an hour of the film again we don't give away anything but the final half an
hour of the movie is probably one of the greatest action sequences i've ever seen and agreed but i
would say again another inadequately defended ventilation shaft if you're a star wars fan
when when it when are the enemies the ventilation shield always the baddies
are never going to learn from that well listen you know i guess you gotta you have to vent
you've got to vent you've got to vent in some way but it's amazing the and the stunts isn't this is
no cgi thing this is real flying real planes and everything is um some of the photography
in this is i think um never before seen i think that people are genuinely going to
you know look we've all taken two years off from going to the movies and i think this is a real
welcome back to seeing movies big and loud and in full format in the whole thing that's what
joe and jerry bruckheimer and tom everybody involved in making this movie wanted
they wanted this thing to be seen in theaters and we that's why we waited yeah you know we they
could have put this out you know people wanted to see this movie back when it was ready in 2020 but
the world like i said had different plans so we are thrilled that it's only in theaters and
i'm very very excited for the world to get to see this i haven't seen it on the imac screen
i mean it is the one that has to this is not one to wait for this is one that has to be seen if you
see anyone watching it on their phone because they rendered it later on down and slapped their face
just slapped their phone out of them it was very poignant i mean it was very emotional movie for
many different reasons but it's poignant to see val kilmer uh reprise his role as iceman what
was it like seeing him obviously he's got health battles of his own going on you know val's val's
struggles are are very real as we all know i thought the the filmmakers handled handled
his uh sort of uh situation incredibly well and and you're you're correct in saying that
there's a there's a scene in the middle of the film with with iceman and maverick that is
uh it hits you right in all the fields for sure it's an impressive scene and it really does
kind of kind of tell the story of how these how these uh characters are growing up and getting
older as you say iceman is in the film there is no viper in the film so kind of cyclone as you play
it's actually a critical part because you are kind of the moral compass for a little bit kind of
showing how you're underselling yourself you are you are that moral compass that tells the audience
hey maverick is still a maverick does that involve sort of like you and tom sort of sitting down at
any point and say like you know this is this is how we're going to play these things together and
it's an important and by the way that's for me as a as a you know as a just a working actor
to get to do that across the table from tom cruise is a is a once-in-a-lifetime moment
not for nothing since i've been 15 years old i've been looking at this guy going like that's
a movie star that's an actor like oh my gosh and if my you know 51 year old self could could talk
to my 15 year old self i mean my 15 year old self would probably be like hey dude what do you do
go away but it is a career moment and it's a it's wonderful to be a part of this particular story i
made the cristiano ronaldo analogy earlier on about tom cruise and people say that uh if you
if you're in a team with cristiano he'll stay out practicing free kicks until he goes dark
and all that kind of stuff is there something that tom cruise does that you think oh i might
that's something i might try and do is he do something different to the normal kind of other
people that you've worked with in the past his energy and enthusiasm is incredibly infectious but
he is his work ethic is inspiring i mean he's the first guy on set he's the last guy to leave and he
works harder than anybody else that makes you want to do the same makes you want to work just as hard
be fit be ready to go be on top of it there's no like lag time it's just it's all work but it's fun
like that's the other part of it tom loves making movies and like that's a great energy
to be around i don't know whether talking about the movies once you've made it is
is a fun part but here you are in the uk at the moment you know talking to us about
top gun maverick what's your favorite thing about being over here i mean there's a jet
in leicester square right now like they're this transport for london have done some amazing stuff
i don't know how they landed in there but i've worked over here on multiple occasions i love
being over here i have tons of friends over here it's great to be here with something this
big and brash and bold and american and exciting and it's like don't talk about tom like that
talk about your friends over here you are you are a good friend with matt berry can you give us an
absolute radio before we let you go see if you can take his gig absolute radio fantastic he's
got the gig uh john on behalf of all our top gun fans can we take a huge thank you for what you
guys have done with a movie that means a lot to a lot of people it's in very very good hands and
we just urge people to go and see i've been i was texting my dad and my brother this morning on the
way and just saying you've got to go and see this film because it's fantastic so thank you so much
thank you very much for having me and uh yes i'm very excited to show this to the world there's
very few titles that don't get translated top gun is top gun in every language it's pretty cool