Most people can’t wait to take a day off work. Tom Cruise isn’t most people.
The actor recently told Bella magazine (via Uproxx) while on his “Top Gun: Maverick” press tour that he never takes a day off work, which somehow makes sense considering he’s often always filming a movie, promoting a movie or prepping for a movie. The way Cruise sees it, heading out on a press tour for one of his films is his time off.
“This is a day off for me, because I am not shooting!” Cruise said when asked how he spends his time off from work. “I’m just chillin’ now. I don’t have days off. Look, I’m fortunate, I’m lucky. I’ve spent my life on movie sets and traveling the world, which is what I always wanted to do. So this is not work – I’m living the dream.”
Cruise has been jet-setting around the world this month promoting “Top Gun: Maverick,” which has earned critical acclaim. The actor attended the Cannes Film Festival, where the action sequel got a five-minute standing ovation, before flying over to London and then Tokyo for more of the film’s international premieres.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is set 30 years after the 1986 original. Cruise reprises his role of test pilot Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who is now put in charge of training a group of younger Top Gun graduates. Teller stars as Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, a pilot trainee who is the son of Maverick’s late best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw.
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Reviews for “Top Gun: Maverick” have been stellar across the board. Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge named the film a Critic’s Pick and a “stunning sequel” in his review. The film has garnered attention for its spectacular aerial sequences, which contain many shots that do not rely on digital effects.
“These days, videogame-styled blockbusters rely so heavily on CGI that it’s thrilling to see the impact of gravity on actual human beings, pancaked to their chairs by multiple G-forces,” Debruge writes in the review. “Sophisticated movie magic makes their performances seamless with the exterior airborne shots, while the commitment to filming practically everything practically feels like the cutting-edge equivalent of Howard Hughes’ history-making ‘Hell’s Angels.’ The result is the most immersive flight simulator audiences will have ever experienced, right down to the great Dolby roar of engines vibrating through their seats.”
“Top Gun: Maverick” opens in U.S. theaters on May 27 from Paramount Pictures.
