Tom Cruise Up For ‘Top Gun 2’ But With A Catch

Tom Cruise last felt “the need, the need for speed” nearly 30 years ago, but he said recently that he’d dust off his aviator glasses for Top Gun 2 as long as the planes aren’t made with computers.

Reuters reports that Cruise spoke about Top Gun 2 while attending the premiere of his latest Mission: Impossible film. Cruise, now 53, was just 24 when he first appeared onscreen as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. So far there’s no word on what rank the character might have in Top Gun 2.

“It would be fun. I would like to get back into those jets,” Cruise said.

According to Extra, the jets would be of utmost importance to get Cruise on board for Top Gun 2. He said he wouldn’t want to take part if Top Gun 2 went CGI.

“If I can figure it out, if all of us can figure it out, it’d be fun to do, I’d like to fly those jets again, but we got to do all the jets practical, no CGI on the jet,” Cruise said of the Top Gun 2 project. “I’m saying right now no CGI on the jets. If we can figure all that out, and the Department of Defense will allow us to do it, that would be fun.”

Reuters notes that this isn’t the first time talk of a possible Top Gun 2. Film producer and Skydance media company Chief Executive David Ellison was quoted saying the writing of the Top Gun 2 screenplay was under way.

The Guardian reports the screenplay for Top Gun 2 is being written by Justin Marks, but was originally conceived by the late Tony Scott, who directed the original.

According to The Guardian, Top Gun 2 will be shot in 3D as well as in Imax format.

The London Evening Standard reports that Cruise also has a co-star in mind. According to the paper, Cruise would like Britain’s Prince Harry to appear in Top Gun 2, noting the royal has “real experience and knowledge of flying in combat.”

Although Cruise would be considerably older in Top Gun 2 than he was in the original, Reuters notes that his age hasn’t slowed him down in his recent films. The Mission: Impossible franchise, in particular, has seen the actor perform a number of his own stunts including jumping from buildings, climbing sheer cliff faces and even clinging to the side of a high-flying plane.

Fans won’t have to wait for Top Gun 2 to see Cruise in flight, however. The actor will reportedly play a pilot smuggling drugs for the CIA in his next project, a film called Mena.

[Image via Paramount Pictures]