During their filming Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise took Glen Powell under his wing, the latter being an aviation enthusiast. As you’d expect for any beginner taking up a life-threatening hobby, the inexperienced actor was testing the waters before fully committing to his adventures in the sky. However, knowing Tom Cruise, it is never easy to rub shoulders with the multi-faceted Hollywood star and not be swayed by him.
It turns out that Glen Powell, after receiving several pilot lessons, motorcycle lessons and a stunt driving certificate, was swept away by the unstoppable cyclone of Tom Cruise’s influence and almost risked his life trying to answer to the latter’s expectations.
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Tom Cruise, Glen Powell and their adventure in the sky
While on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Glen Powell has a treasure trove of stories to tell and not enough time. As he jumps from one Hollywood adventure to another, the Implement The actor transports audiences from the interiors of Jerry Bruckheimer’s billion-dollar party to the second most chaotic date of his life with third-wheeler Tom Cruise. Reflecting on a particularly tough day in London’s unpredictable weather, Glen Powell said:
“We were going to do a few covers in London. And I said, “Hey man, I want to go skydiving while I’m here, I hear skydiving is awesome.” He says “Yeah” and he sends me a helicopter. And it was so windy that the parachute team – I was with the British parachute team – and they said it was so dangerous, we shouldn’t be skydiving. And I was like, “Okay, I’m not a hero, I’m fine.” So we left it and went back.
And then Tom contacted me a few weeks later and said, “Hey man, what are you scared of?” And I’m like, “What are you talking about?” And he’s like, “You never took me skydiving.” I’m like, “Oh, I will when, man”… When I got there, I found out that Tom’s only request was that – Glen can’t go skydiving with another person, he has to going solo the first time.
So I literally had to jump out of that plane on my own, but the worst part was I couldn’t find my tab when I was falling. And my first thought, which isn’t like a selfless thought, but my first thought was, “Oh, Tom just killed me. He’s going to feel so bad. I was like, “God, he pushed me to do this thing.” I look for the tab and I’m like, “You’re not Tom Cruise. You will never be Tom Cruise. Why did you do this?”
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Even as Glen Powell recalls the chaotic adventure on the This evening show, which reads as one more day in the life of Tom Cruise, the story is received with laughter and applause among the audience. But beneath the comedy of adrenaline-filled adventure, the story belies the starkest facts about Cruise’s unpreventive actions, which might as well have landed his young co-star in a very serious fate.
Glen Powell’s fascination with all things Tom Cruise
Despite the dangerous plea to go skydiving alone, the overwhelming presence of Tom Cruise does little to deter Glen Powell who is all in on his once-in-a-lifetime adventure with the Hollywood megastar. With starry eyes, Powell recalls how Tom Cruise mentored him to be as accomplished as he was after witnessing the former’s potential and affinity for high adrenaline sports.
“While we were shooting Top Gun [Maverick], we flew in all these different planes. And I just had a real love for aviation. So for Christmas, he gave me my flying lessons, flying lessons. So while I was flying and getting that license, I was sending him pictures of all the different things I was flying in. So I was finally on my last check flight. I drop to the ground and walk back to the shed, and on the table is a note from Tom that says, “Welcome to Heaven.” And it was a certificate for stunt driving lessons. He made me go skydiving. He made me ride a motorcycle. The guy is just, you know, he convinces you to do all the most dangerous things on the planet.
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While admiration for Tom Cruise definitely tops the skydiving stunt, it also makes sense that the Superior gun the actor wouldn’t ask for anything that could potentially threaten the life of his fellow actor given Cruise’s responsibility during filming Mission: Impossible—Fallout. Henry Cavill, who plays the main antagonist in the film, recalled the immense maturity and authority shown by Tom Cruise when the former asked to be allowed to perform a HALO C-17 jump.
Top Gun: Maverick is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
