Having lived in California for almost twenty years, one question has constantly come up from those outside the state asking how many celebrities I’ve met. There is this idea that being in California, whether on the coast or the interior mountain range, movie stars simply wander across the state. The perception seems to be that most of us live either in Malibu or within sight of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. One tries to explain to those who take their view from mass media that no, California is a huge state with a variety of areas that do not fall within the sphere of Hollywood. To be fair, it is a popular trope that California is Hollywood. Just as Texas is full of cowboys or that lobster is the breakfast of champions in Maine. There are just some beliefs about US states that stick.
BUT THERE WAS THAT ONE TIME
With fame and fortune in the entertainment industry mostly a fleeting thing, the remarkable staying power of actor Tom Cruise is quite an achievement. He is arguably one of the most successful in the business, with a career that spans over four decades and 45 movie roles. While his talent was noticeable in the beginnings of his career in early roles, the one film pointed to as the vehicle for his launch into A-list movie star is Top Gun (1986). On a budget of $15 million, it went on to earn $357 million worldwide.1 Playing a young brash fighter jet pilot who is, almost by fate, selected to attend the elite US Navy fighter school Top Gun, the role fit Cruise like a glove. Interesting tidbit, the movie was such a success at portraying the excitement of Naval Aviation that the US Navy began setting up recruitment booths outside theaters that were showing the movie. While this author was only a small child when this movie opened, its impact on my perception of military service cannot be denied.
So, when news of the sequel Top Gun: Maverick was announced, there was considerable excitement to the upcoming project. This was made more so when it was discovered that the production would be filming many of the flight scenes on-site at the airbase. An armada of production trailers and crew soon descended on the base, making a mini-trailer park sprout up almost overnight.2
That excitement quickly faded.
TOM CRUISE, OR DARTH VADER?
As with any big announcement, a meeting of all hands was called in the hangar for the upcoming arrival of Mr. Cruise. A stern-looking production assistant was given the microphone to address us. It started out with much of the usual information we expected to hear; no asking for autographs, no pictures, etc.
But then it got weird. Hollyweird.
It soon felt as if instead of an actor being on the site, we were receiving an intergalactic dignitary who did not understand earth’s customs. The list of missives we were instructed to follow soon became hilarious. If Cruise was in the hangar, we were to pretend he was invisible. Try not to look in his direction, and so forth. We were waiting to be told do not look him in the eyes or face the wrath of Medusa, but they must have left that rule out.
“Is he like a Gremlin that comes with instructions?” a friend whispered to me.
Most of this pep talk proved to be unnecessary as he didn’t spend time in the hangar amongst the common folk. No meet and greets for the proles except one trip I recall him making through the hangar to go upstairs to the wardroom for a visit with the pilots and commanding officer.
Did I mention the Sardaukar ensemble constantly hovering him? Yes, a dedicated troop of handlers surrounded him whenever he was on the flightline to always ensure a ring of protection.3 Now, having bodyguards around a celebrity isn’t something new obviously, but these guys would put the security detail for someone like Jeff Bezos to shame. Picture the cast of The Expendables decked out in matching black shirts. There was no doubt top dollar was spent.
This level of enhanced security reached hilarity one day when a group of us were just outside the hangar watching them setup the stunt jet with Mr. Cruise alongside the aircraft with the camera crew. This was several hundred yards away, but suddenly a group of the crew began running across the runway to where we were standing.
“Who took the picture?” the largest one asked us.
Now, a no picture policy was put out at the Darth Vader welcoming speech a week earlier, so whomever took this phantom photo was not among our group. Apparently, a glint from a camera phone was noticed from our direction. Was a picture taken? Who knows?4 Probably someone taking a call at the time. Nevertheless, this kicked off the great detective trail throughout the squadron to “find” the culprit. Seriously. I’ve seen less enthusiastic searches for lost tools on an aircraft compared to the efforts put into the inquiry for this (alleged) breech of image taking. Every workcenter ended up getting visited gestapo style in an attempt to find this elusive (non) photo.
The production crew were there for about four months and except for PictureGate, nothing else really exciting occurred. The stunt jet fitted with the array of cameras would make its daily takeoff with the cast and return with footage. The only major change to the daily routine was the additional time it took to get onto base in the morning.
LESSONS LEARNED
Top Gun: Maverick turned out great and judging from the $1.5 billion box office many others thought so. A surprise for a sequel 30+ years after the original film. With respects to Tom Cruise, I have heard many wonderful stories how well he treats the crew on his movie productions, so this is not a hit piece, or meant as slander.
Yet one still ponders the price paid to reach such heights of fame requiring such measures taken around themself. To simply become a coveted product and brand encased in human form.5
Nearly $1 billion in 2025 dollars.
These were the nice trailers, too. Not cheap ones.
To be fair, when you have an actor with a lifetime box office gross over $13 billion, you’d protect that investment as well.
Didn’t see any pop up online, so I’m guessing there wasn’t a picture taken.
Not touching the Scientology aspects or anything related to that.
It's hard to tell whether the stories of Cruise being a nice guy is all part of PR. Most likely though he is a decent guy, but absurdly eccentric and prone to erratic behavior that his handlers try to keep a leash on
Confession: I’ve seen the movie 8 times. I was so captivated by it, it plays me like Pete Townsend plays his axe in Won’t Get Fooled again, which was brilliantly used in the dogfight training scene.
But Cruise is in a very cloistered world of Scientology and Hollyweird. And body guards on a military base. Just think if he came out for a half hour and just talked with everyone, it would have endeared people and they would have done anything for the guy, adhered to whatever requests.