Glen Powell Reveals Tom Cruise’s Terrifying Prank That Had Him Fearing For His Life While Filming ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

Though Tom Cruise became a valuable mentor to Glen Powell while the pair were filming 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, the emerging leading man revealed that Cruise once played a wicked prank on him while filming.

In an interview with GQ, Powell recalled a terrifying experience when Cruise was flying them back to London in a helicopter after they reshot a couple of scenes for Top Gun: Maverick.

“Tom goes, ‘Oh no, oh no,’ and he starts dropping the helicopter over London,” Powell recalled. “I was like, ‘Am I about to be the unnamed guy that dies with Tom in a smoking hole in the middle of London?'”

The enlightening interview featured several similarly interesting anecdotes about their friendship and Cruise’s mentorship. While reflecting on Maverick, which proved to be the film that effectively launched his career, Powell revealed that he initially intended to turn down the movie after he lost out on the second lead role, Rooster, which eventually went to Miles Teller.

The actor revealed that Cruise took Powell’s input and reworked his character, Hangman, to better serve Powell’s abilities and the film.

“Tom’s a listener. He listens to the crew members, he listens to his collaborators, and he hears people,” Powell said of the blockbuster star.

After Maverick, Cruise took Powell under his wing. Cruise reportedly sent him to a movie theater in Los Angeles to watch a “film school” movie he had made. Powell expected there to be a crowd, but instead he sat alone in the cinema for six hours to watch the entire production.

The movie, which Cruise allegedly made “just for [his] friends,” shows Cruise breaking down filmmaking and flying, arguably two of his specialties.

“[In the movie, Cruise] is like: ‘Do we all agree that this is what a camera is? This is the difference between a film camera and a digital camera…,'” Powell shared. “The funniest part is on flying. It was like he put together this entire flight school. So he would literally go ‘OK, this is what a plane is. Here’s how things fly. Here’s how air pressure works.’”

Cruise’s influence doesn’t end there. The Anyone But You star even got his pilot’s license in 2021.

The actor has been acting since 2003, when he made an appearance in Spy Kids 3: Game Over, but Maverick, which earned $1.5 billion in the box office, proved to be Powell’s big break.

Powell is now booked and busy with the recent release Hit Man, which premieres on Netflix June 7, and Twisters, which premieres July 19.