This is how the cast of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ trained before the scene on the beach

One of the things that made Top Gun: Maverick a success of audiences as a sequel was the way in which viewers were indulged in nostalgia for the original film. And it was never made clearer than in the scene where Tom Cruise’s Maverick gives a team-building task to the new generation of fighter pilots: a football game, played shirtless on the beach in homage to the sequence. volleyball player from ‘Top Gun’ in 1986.

“When everyone found out I was doing this movie, they said, ‘You know you have to have a volleyball scenel. It’s not a ‘Top Gun’ movie without it,'” director Joseph Kosinski told USA Today. “Everyone had their calendar marked with, ‘This is football dogfight day.’ Get out the coconut oil and spray tan, let’s do it!”

Actors Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jay Ellis and Danny Ramirez had spent months perfecting their physiques. before filming, and this moment of frivolity within the larger action of the film offered them the opportunity to show off the results of all their hard work.

Speaking to Men’s Health, Powell admitted that as soon as he found out he’d been cast, he started thinking about the football scene, and that aesthetic issues became a priority in his training, along with functional fitness. required. “I knew the stakes were high,” he said. “In the days before, there was more male insecurity than you’ve seen on any set… And probably more coconut oil than even Magic Mike.”

In a new behind-the-scenes clip posted on the official Top Gun: Maverick Twitter account, the actors can be seen on the beach. doing band curls before filming the scene. It’s pretty common practice for actors to do this right before they go on camera shirtless, but those curls alone wouldn’t make much of a difference if there hadn’t been constant hard work leading up to the big day. One could even argue that these exercises don’t do anything physical, but they are great for the actor’s mindset as they give him a lot of confidence before the shoot.