What did Goose think of Top Gun: Maverick?

Virgin Radio

11 Jun 2022, 18:57

The actor who played the iconic co-pilot in the original Top Gun has shared what he thought of the new movie.

Anthony Edwards, who played Goose in 1986's Top Gun, has revealed that though he didn't attend the recent world premiere for the 2022 sequel to the action drama, Tom Cruise arranged for a private screening so he could see the way the film dealt with the memory of his much loved character.

Goose, you will recall, through sadness and enduring misery, was Leiutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell's [Cruise] goofy flight school co-pilot, who dies tragically while ejecting from the F-14 jet that he and Maverick are forced to abandon during a training exercise.

"I was lucky enough that Tom called me up. He screened it for me in person," Edwards told Entertainment Tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday (June 9th) past. "So, we actually saw it at the Dolby screening room here in New York with the best sound ever, and there was just, like, eight of us watching it. It was fantastic."

Goose does not appear in the sequel, not even as a ghost, but his memory is carried on through images and flashbacks, as well as through his son, Lt Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw, played by Miles Teller.

"It's the biggest movie that I'm in that I never had to show up for a day of work, so it was fun," continued Edwards, who last appeared as Alan Reed in Netflix’s docu-series Inventing Anna.

He continued; "People had a certain feeling in the original one, and [Top Gun: Maverick] does exactly what it felt like seeing it the first time, only more so. As I said to Tom, mission accomplished. They did it. It's a lot of work that went into that. It had the feel, it had the tone, it had what people wanted."

Incidentally, Edwards has been a licensed private pilot since 2012. Which seems a bad idea.

'Top Gun: Maverick' is now playing in UK and US cinemas.