Tom Cruise is lighting the fires on Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick, the highly anticipated sequel to the 1986 classic summer blockbuster that took our breath away, and made Cruise the iconic global star we know today.
To celebrate the first day of production, the actor tweeted a shot of himself on set as elite Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, gazing toward his aircraft — an F/A-18F Super Hornet — with his helmet in hand. The shot was taken on Naval Air Station North Island, that the Navy made available for production this week.
In addition to the caption reading “#Day1.”, the words “Feel the Need” were superimposed over the image as a reference to one of the original film’s most famous taglines, “I feel the need, the need for speed”. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Skydance’s David Ellison, both tagged on the pic, the sequel will be directed by Oblivion filmmaker Joseph Kosinski.
https://instagram.com/p/BjbjBaRjE7H/?utm_source=ig_embed
In response to the tweet, the Air Force’s official account playfully pointed out the less than outstanding high-speed performance of Maverick’s Navy jet, with a caption that implied the Super Hornet was much inferior to its own F-15 Strike Eagle: “If Maverick really had a need for speed, he could hop into one of our F-15E Strike Eagles! #DYK: They have a top speed of 1,875 miles per hour”.
The post started a light-hearted feud between the US Air Force and Navy.
If Maverick really had a need for speed, he could hop into one of our F-15E Strike Eagles! #DYK: They have a top speed of 1,875 miles per hour. https://t.co/RQtJoWfGJo
— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) May 31, 2018
.@usairforce Remember, boys, no points for second place. @flynavy
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) May 31, 2018
The F-15 knows nothing about this “second place” thing you speak of. Check the scoreboard! #Undefeated https://t.co/tOj6GZ9Ei4
— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) May 31, 2018
#Peace.Love.TopGun2
