As the 1986 classic turns 40, co-writer Jack Epps Jr. recalled the actor flying with the Blue Angels before officially signing on to the film.

Top Gun creators say Tom Cruise ‘barfed on himself’ during jet ride that sold him on movie: ‘They shook him around’

As the 1986 classic turns 40, co-writer Jack Epps Jr. recalled the actor flying with the Blue Angels before officially signing on to the film.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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May 16, 2026 4:28 p.m. ET

Tom Cruise on the set of 1986's 'Top Gun'. Credit:

Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

*Top Gun* just turned 40, and to commemorate the occasion members of its key creative team are recalling the first time its star Tom Cruise felt the need for speed.

Jack Epps Jr., the screenwriter who penned the classic action drama, and Jerry Bruckheimer, the film's producer, took a flight down memory lane in a new interview published Saturday. Its soaring highlight was Epps remembering a group of U.S. Navy pilots scooping up Cruise for a spin in a fighter jet shortly before he committed to doing the film.

"They look at him and they don't know who Tom Cruise is," Epps said of the pilots in a new story for *The Guardian*. "They do what they like to do: They took him up, they shook him around, he barfed on himself, and he came out and said, 'I love this.' From that moment, he was on."

Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun'.

Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

Bruckheimer added that he personally connected the *Mission: Impossible* star with the pilots. "We couldn't quite get him to commit [to the movie], so I arranged for him to fly with the Blue Angels in El Centro, California," he recalled, noting that Cruise looked quite different from his character in *Top Gun* because of his part in the 1985 movie *Legend*. "He had long hair and a ponytail, and they saw this guy walk up and they said, 'We'll get this hippy a real ride.'"

"They sure did," Bruckheimer continued, "and he got out of the plane, walked to a phone booth, because there were no cell phones then, called me up, said, 'I'm in.'"

** has reached out to a representative for Cruise for comment.

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Cruise offered his own perspective on the flight in a 2016 interview on *Jimmy Kimmel Live, *revealing that he'd already made up his mind to star in *Top Gun* after first meeting with Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott, but that he wanted to leverage his commitment so he could hang with the Blue Angels.

"I told my agent, 'I'm going to make this movie, but don't tell Jerry I want to make this movie because I want to fly with the Blue Angels,'" he said (via E!). "You've got work these things, you know? I'm a businessman."

The actor also admitted to losing his lunch during the flight. "I vomited with the Blue Angels," he told host Jimmy Kimmel.

'Top Gun' producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Nick Machalaba/Penske Media via Getty

Curt "Griz" Watson, a pilot with the Blue Angels, also detailed the flight with Cruise in a 2023 video interview. "We put him in the back of the 7 jet and I took him out. We basically did some rolls and some loops," he said. "I let him fly the airplane a little bit."

Watson echoed Bruckheimer's recollection of the flight inspiring Cruise to officially sign on to the film. "My understanding was that he came back from the flight and went directly to a phone booth and called the producer and said, 'I'll do it,'" he remembered. "And I got a really nice letter from him that said, 'Thanks for the ride, I appreciate it.' And something to the effect of, 'It really helped me with my character development for the movie.'"

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*Top Gun* and its sequel, *Top Gun: Maverick,* are playing in theaters now in celebration of the original film's 40th anniversary.**

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