Top Gun: Maverick featured a stellar sequel cast of up-and-coming stars, like Oscar nominee Monica Barbaro, Twisters' Glen Powell, Insecure’s Jay Ellis and more. As filming the anticipated sequel took 11 months, you better believe there are plenty of memories the cast cherished getting to work with Tom Cruise. Ellis has a really sweet one of the time his dad was “shocked” seeing the Risky Business actor hopping onto a FaceTime call with his son, and I wish I could see that video.
Jay Ellis getting to film Top Gun: Maverick (which can be streamed with your Paramount+ subscription) already flooded him with emotional memories coming from a military family. The sights and sounds he experienced while filming at the Naval Air Station North Island brought him back to growing up with his Air Force father. Another memorable moment Ellis recalled to THR was one he shared with Tom Cruise and his dad that makes me wish I saw a video of this:
I’ve got to do some really cool things that I take with me. I’ll say one of the things that jumps out is FaceTiming my dad and Tom Cruise taking the phone and talking to my dad on FaceTime while we were shooting Top Gun, that was pretty crazy. My dad was like, ‘Wait, Tom. What’s happening?’ He was so shocked.
I’d feel the same way too if an A-list celebrity interrupted my FaceTime call! Knowing myself, I probably wouldn’t be able to get a coherent sentence together with a surprise cameo like that. I’d like to believe that spontaneous FaceTime call made Jay Ellis’s dad’s day, and the actor's, too.
Ellis told THR one thing he learned from Cruise was the importance of servicing an audience through their storytelling. You better believe the Academy Award nominee takes that advice to a whole other level when he’s not filming.
For example, Tom Cruise made a surprise visit to the San Diego Comic-Con back in 2019 to introduce the Top Gun: Maverick trailer and surprised a crowd at the film's screening at London’s Royal Albert Hall that I’m sure made everyone happy. His spontaneous nature returned when the bankable actor flew to four cities in 24 hours to attend Mission: Impossible screenings to surprise fans. Seeing the smiles and cheers on their faces shows how genuinely connected Cruise is to his audience.
It’s clear that playing an F/A-18F pilot in Top Gun: Maverick had a profound effect on Jay Ellis. I’m sure that with Top Gun 3 reportedly in the works, the American actor probably can’t wait to be reunited with his acting family again. The cast already keeps in touch with their own group chats, updating one another on their upcoming work. Ellis has also expressed what he’d “love” to do in a third movie, like reuniting with the whole cast and getting back in those F-18s again. I can't say I blame him for his enthusiam to take to the skies once more with the Top Gun clan.
Jay Ellis’s dad being “shocked” having Tom Cruise show up in his son's FaceTime call is something I wish I could have seen. There’s nothing like using your star power to brighten up someone’s day and leave a lasting impression.
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