‘It looked like Star Wars on Earth’: the making of Top Gun at 40

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and co-writer Jack Epps discuss how the smash hit action drama came to be, from Tom Cruise vomiting on himself to ruling the box office It would be one of the most important flights in film history. When a young 5ft 7in actor with long hair and ponytail rocked up on a motorcycle, a group of US navy pilots were all too happy to test his need for speed. “They look at him and they don’t know who Tom Cruise is,” recalls screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. “They do what they like to do: they took him up, they shook him around, he barfed on himself, and he came out and said, ‘I love this.’ From that moment, he was on.” Continue reading...

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According to The Guardian’s linked item, ‘It looked like Star Wars on Earth’: the making of Top Gun at 40, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and co-writer Jack Epps discuss how the smash hit action drama came to be, from Tom Cruise vomiting on himself to ruling the box office It would be one of the most important flights in film history. When a young 5ft 7in actor with long hair and ponytail rocked up on a motorcycle, a group of US navy pilots were all too happy to test his need for speed. “They look at him and they don’t know who Tom Cruise is,” recalls screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. “They do what they like to do: they took him up, they shook him around, he barfed on himself, and he came out and said, ‘I love this.’ From that moment, he was on.” Continue reading…

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The development sits in VINI’s Culture coverage for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The linked item is dated 2026-05-16T09:00:06+00:00.

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Primary source: ‘It looked like Star Wars on Earth’: the making of Top Gun at 40 via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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