Cruise is filming on an aircraft carrier, and the crew is not to make eye contact with the holy one.
I’m not sure I buy into this story, but …
by the way, how much does the Navy charge to use a Nimitz-class carrier for a freakin’ movie? I hope it’s a shitload so I’m not picking up the tab through my taxes and the military budget.
Update from the comments section:
How much they charge depends on how valuable to the cause of the military they think the movie might be. In the case of a Top Gun II, given Top Gun was the single best Navy Recruitment movie ever made, I’d be willing to the navy paying *them*!
But a story that was on the LD release from the navy liaison about the opening scene of flight ops preparing as the sun rose is interesting. The carrier started to turn into the wind and the sun went sailing off the side of the ship. The director was all ‘My light! I’ve got to have that gorgeous light, we need to then the ship back.” The liaison told him that he could request it of the captain, but he’d have to charge him a per hour fee for interfering with operations, and quoted an enormous number. The director said he only needed 15 minutes. They pointed out the aircraft carrier was the size of a town and would need to stop, maneuver back. Wait, maneuver back again, and it was going to use up most of an hour. I think they quoted him 100K+ for it. He “had to have his light” and agreed. But he said that he was pretty sure the navy decided that if it was that important to him he’d pay 100k, they could let it go this time, and he got his shot.
Yeah, same story made the rounds about Elton John, 15-20 years ago: said he had instructed the organisers of an AIDS charity that he’d attend their benefit as long as there were strict instructions that no one was supposed to talk to him. Turned out to be totally false, and he won a big libel judgment in the UK (where celebs can still bring such lawsuits).
So this story sounds like an urban legend to me. Bet it is sourced from “a friend who this happened to”.
How much they charge depends on how valuable to the cause of the military they think the movie might be. In the case of a Top Gun II, given Top Gun was the single best Navy Recruitment movie ever made, I’d be willing to the navy paying *them*!
But a story that was on the LD release from the navy liaison about the opening scene of flight ops preparing as the sun rose is interesting. The carrier started to turn into the wind and the sun went sailing off the side of the ship. The director was all ‘My light! I’ve got to have that gorgeous light, we need to then the ship back.” The liaison told him that he could request it of the captain, but he’d have to charge him a per hour fee for interfering with operations, and quoted an enormous number. The director said he only needed 15 minutes. They pointed out the aircraft carrier was the size of a town and would need to stop, maneuver back. Wait, maneuver back again, and it was going to use up most of an hour. I think they quoted him 100K+ for it. He “had to have his light” and agreed. But he said that he was pretty sure the navy decided that if it was that important to him he’d pay 100k, they could let it go this time, and he got his shot.
FWIW, years ago when I was in high school I went to a Navy recruitment thing because they were showing the original Top Gun and I figured it was worth putting up with the sell job to see the movie. Anyway, long story short this is basically the same story the Navy guys said about him even then…