Part of why Top Gun: Maverick had such a long production was due to Tom Cruise and company getting training to actually fly the fighters in the film, thus adding another element of deft-defying realism that has become prominent in Cruise's recent films. However, to capture this realism right in the cockpit, a new camera extension system had to be created that put six cameras in a fighter get with Cruise while he flew. Developed by Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda, the system is officially dubbed the Rialto (named for a bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy). Described by the director as “a very small version of the VENICE”, a replica of the cockpit was built on the ground and used for rehearsals, but then, in the actual cockpit, two of the cameras faced forward and four of them trained on the actor.
A new featurette was released today, which sees director Joseph Kosinski being interviewed in an aircraft hangar with YouTuber Vsauce3, has the filmmaker going into the importance of the system, particular given Kosinki's background was initially in engineering. He had this to day:
“I went to school for engineering. I thought I was going to be an aerospace engineer. Technology was something I always had a handle on but for me, it starts with the story, and then it’s figuring out what tools are out there or what tools do we have to invent to tell this story the right way. On Top Gun: Maverick, it was all about, how do we get movie cameras inside an F-18 Super Hornet with Tom Cruise?”
Check out the full featurette below:
Top Gun: Maverick co-stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer. It is set to be theatrically released in the United States and Canada on November 19th along with being available to stream on Paramount+ 45 days after its theatrical debut.
Wasn't it suppose to be out 2 years ago? Lol...