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Why Kelly McGillis Isn’t in Top Gun: Maverick: “I’m Old and I’m Fat, and I Look Age-Appropriate”

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The post Why Kelly McGillis Isn’t in Top Gun : Maverick: “I’m Old and I’m Fat, and I Look Age-Appropriate” appeared first on Consequence .

Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer returned to the Navy for Top Gun: Maverick ,  but one familiar face missing from the sequel is Kelly McGillis , who played Cruise’s love interest in the 1986 original. According to McGillis, she wasn’t asked to join the film, and she matter-of-factly cited her appearance for her exclusion.

Entertainment Tonight asked McGillis way back in 2019 if the makers of Top Gun: Maverick had asked her to be in the film. “Oh my god no. They did not, nor do I think they would ever,” she replied, almost laughing at the idea. “I mean, I’m old and I’m fat, and I look age-appropriate for what my age is, and that is not what that whole scene is about.”

Fortunately, McGillis didn’t seem to be upset by her very realistic explanation. “I’d much rather feel absolutely secure in my skin and who and what I am at my age, as opposed to placing a value on all that other stuff,” she said. The 64-year-old actress told ET that she left Hollywood to get sober and focus on raising her family, and isn’t necessarily itching to see the sequel anyway.

“I guess it depends on what kind of reviews it gets,” she said. “I’m not racing to the theater, and I’m not racing away from the theater to see it.”

McGillis played astrophysicist and training school instructor Charlie Blackwood in the original  Top Gun. In this iteration, Jennifer Connelly portrays Maverick’s new love interest, Penny Benjamin. The long-awaited sequel was directed by Joseph Kosinski and also stars Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, and Glen Powell.

Why Kelly McGillis Isn’t in Top Gun: Maverick: “I’m Old and I’m Fat, and I Look Age-Appropriate” Carys Anderson

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Who Is Top Gun: Maverick’s Penny and Is She in the First Film?

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• Kelly McGillis' portrayal of Charlie in the original Top Gun brought a sense of equality to her relationship with Maverick, dictating the terms of their romance.
• In the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, Jennifer Connelly's character Penny Benjamin replaces Charlie as Maverick's love interest, addressing outdated attitudes and reflecting on Maverick's advancing age.
• Penny's inclusion adds dramatic weight to the film, helping Maverick reckon with his choices and make peace with Rooster, while maintaining the essence of Charlie's role in supporting the male protagonist.

Kelly McGillis' Charlie was one of the big reasons the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun worked so well. A smart, capable woman in an era of token girlfriends, the Top Gun actress brought a surprising sense of equality to her relationship with Tom Cruise's Maverick. She dictated the terms of their romance, she was presented as the more emotionally mature of the two, and, at the end of the film, he came to her rather than staying out with the boys and their shirtless volleyball games. Her status as an instructor keeps her in Maverick's orbit without much effort, and she was a shoo-in for Top Gun: Maverick , the 2022 sequel that turned into an even bigger hit than the first film.

Yet McGillis didn't appear as part of the cast of Maverick , citing ageism as the cause. Her absence left Maverick without one of the key ingredients to its predecessor's success. Instead, Jennifer Connelly joined the Top Gun: Maverick cast as the new love interest: Penny Benjamin, who, as it turns out, is really the only other viable option for the part. Penny Benjamin appeared in Maverick's life before the smash-hit sequel that saved theaters and cemented Cruise's status as one of the last bankable movie stars in an era defined by franchises and high-concept films. Her appearance in Maverick plays off of a minor subplot in the first Top Gun, which develops into a solid romantic relationship in the new one. Connelly's casting indicates that the filmmakers needed more than just lip service when it came to replacing a figure as important to the first film as Charlie was.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on April 4, 2024: Top Gun: Maverick was one of the biggest hits of 2022, and it brought the series back in a big way. Alongside familiar faces, it also introduced new characters such as Penny Benjamin. Though only hinted at in the first movie, she has a history with Tom Cruise's Maverick, making the Jennifer Connelly character something of an old flame. She's also a key part of the popular movie's story, and with a sequel on the way, she may likely return.

Who Was Penny In the First Top Gun Movie?

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While Jennifer Connelly wasn't a part of the Top Gun 1986 cast , her character was mentioned in the film. The original Top Gun framed Maverick's bad-boy heroics as something of a backlash against his father's reputation. The elder pilot was killed in Vietnam, and held accountable for a mission failure that wasn't his fault. Maverick, in response, tends to color outside the lines, using his piloting skills to get away with stunts like ignoring orders and buzzing the tower. It impedes his career advancement and ultimately costs him the Top Gun trophy to his best frenemy Iceman, though it's a big part of what makes him such an effective pilot. (That includes his unauthorized test run of the supposedly impossible mission in the new film: breaking the rules and somehow demonstrating his indispensable nature in the bargain.)

His antics involve plenty of ground-based shenanigans, including an infamous incident with a woman (Penny Benjamin) referred to as "the admiral's daughter." It starts when his commanding officer reads a litany of his bad-boy behavior as exposition, including "high-speed passes over five air-control towers and one admiral's daughter." At the accusation, Goose whispers the woman's name: Penny Benjamin. Meg Ryan's Carole Bradshaw also mentions the incident later in the film, teasing Maverick about the time he went "ballistic" with Penny Benjamin, the admiral's daughter. It's presented as part of a pattern of womanizing and one-night stands that Charlie breaks with true love, and quietly contrasts the comparative maturity of their romance with the adolescent flirtations of his past.

Penny Benjamin becomes a ready way to address it without creating a new character out of whole cloth. Like Maverick, she comes from a military family, and presumably grapples with the expectations that come from a "legendary" father. With Charlie gone -- rightly or wrongly -- she's the only other love interest with a presence in the series. Including her provides context that Maverick can build upon, instead of trying to squeeze an entirely new character into a film already packed to the gills with content.

How Penny Replaces Charlie in Top Gun: Maverick

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Maverick suggests Maverick and Penny have maintained an on-again, off-again relationship for many years. That downplays the notion of Maverick as Lothario, and further implies that -- infamous tryst aside -- the two had genuine feelings for each other. It explains their rekindled love interest in the film, with Penny now a bar owner and single mom who reconnects with Maverick as he struggles with the consequences of his choices. Specifically, he blocked Goose's son Rooster from joining the Naval Academy at Carole's behest before she passed away. Penny helps Maverick to reckon with that, which allows him to make peace with Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick 's third act.

In addition, it gives the Top Gun universe a past with a history that audiences can relate to. The sequel portrays Maverick as someone still dedicated to his job. Most of his friends are colleagues in the military, and many of them have died over the years: including Carole and Iceman, whose passing from cancer constitutes the film's most gut-wrenching moment . Penny lets Maverick connect with a romantic interest without having to spend screen time filling out her backstory.

Since the original film declined to elaborate on her personality, Maverick's filmmakers have an essentially blank canvas to work with. Like Maverick, Penny has clearly experienced her ups and downs in life, including a marriage that didn't work out and a son whom she's presumably raised on her own. Her occasional flings with Maverick mean that she knows at least a little of what he's lost over the years, and that the two have been there to support each other in the past. That connection provides both a solid background for the pair and commiserate experiences that allow them to become a couple quickly and organically.

It also gives her some dramatic weight beyond just being a replacement for Charlie, as well as reframing Maverick for an era when "scoring" has a very different connotation. Penny still serves the same purpose she did -- supporting a male protagonist without generating any energy of her own -- but bringing in a previously established figure at least organically addresses the specifics. It's a testament to the care Maverick has put into its story, and it helped keep the Top Gun franchise flying high after 35 years. The film quite likely wouldn't have succeeded quite as well without her.

Jennifer Connelly is an Oscar-Winning Actor with a Long Career

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Jennfer Connelly was a Hollywood veteran long before her role as Penny Benjamin, with a career stretching back to Once Upon a Time in America in 1984. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2001 for the Ron Howard biopic A Beautiful Mind alongside the actor Russell Crowe, and has worked on an impressive array of projects in the four decades since she began. Though she's appeared in her share of big-budget Hollywood projects, she's known for truly daring performances in smaller films, such as Requiem for a Dream by iconic director Darren Aronofsky , in which she played a clothing designer who destroys her life through drug addiction. Comic book fans know her as the original Betty Ross in Ang Lee's 2004 film Hulk .

Though not directly connected to the first Top Gun, Jennifer Connelly does have an oblique off-screen link. The same year it was released, Connelly starred in the Jim Henson fantasy Labyrinth . The film bombed that summer against the original Top Gun and other militaristic films like Aliens , but quickly gained a cult following, and today is considered an indispensable fantasy classic. Her performance in that film -- made at the tender age of 15 and opposite no less a presence than David Bowie -- is as much a signature role for her as Maverick is for Cruise.

Top Gun: Maverick

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After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.

• Movie Features

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Star Jennifer Connelly on Love Scenes With Tom Cruise and Learning to Tend Bar

By Matt Donnelly

Matt Donnelly

Senior Film Writer

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Despite the optics of shirtless volleyball games and locker room sparring, you can’t make a “Top Gun” movie without a strong and emotionally centered woman. For “ Top Gun: Maverick ,” a sequel 36 years in the making, the successor to the original film’s Kelly McGillis is Jennifer Connelly . She plays Penny Benjamin, a character referenced in the first film, and love interest to Tom Cruise ’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Playing a single mom who owns an Air Force watering hole, Connelly brings new dimensions to an ’80s classic.

It’s hard to believe you haven’t worked with Tom Cruise before.

I had never even met Tom Cruise before. He’s so exceptional. Spending time with him, you understand how someone has been such a movie star for so many years. It was clear to me what the franchise means to him, so I felt beholden to him, [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer and the audiences who love the film so much.

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Your character isn’t active military. Does that mean you were spared the grittier action scenes?

Popular on Variety

I have a sailing scene, and it was a very distracting environment. We were on a boat shooting up in San Francisco; it was incredibly windy, with big waves. The boat was at an impossible angle, moving so fast, and we had to play the scene at the same time. I was so paranoid that I was going to forget something with all those distractions. I found myself standing on the coffee table in my living room, practicing with my kids spraying water at me and blowing on me while I ran my lines. I have video of it.

You have a love scene in this, which is not something we see often from Cruise at this stage in his career.

We focused on the intimacy of how they fit into each other’s lives. I think those characters have a really tender relationship, the way she understands him. They share a moment in bed chatting, and it tells as much about their relationship as the scene that is the preamble to that. Clearly, they have some unresolved business between them, and she navigates that with humor and playfulness. I feel like she’s someone who is positive and is moving toward happiness.

Did you go Method for this? Were you on set making drinks?

We had a working beer tap on set, and I spent a lot of time pouring. I practiced a lot because I thought that would be a terrible giveaway if I couldn’t do it properly.

If you had a “Top Gun” pilot nickname, what would it be?

I do have a nickname, but from way back when I was in college. I run, but casually. I thought, “I’d love to be on a team, but I don’t play sports.” I am really stubborn and determined, so I thought maybe I could will myself to run really fast. In retrospect, I was more of a mascot. I never competed, and I was the slowest on the team. My nickname on the roster was Death Grip.

Similar to “Top Gun,” a lot of the work you’ve done has cultural staying power, like “Labyrinth.”

Yes, wow. I was 14 when I made that movie. I attribute that staying power so much to Jim Henson — those exquisite, huge practical sets. It was a wonderland. And, of course, David Bowie. So all of those elements: amazing sets, puppets and Bowie.

Things you didn’t know about Jennifer Connelly

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Head of class: Attended Yale and Stanford universities, studying English literature and drama, respectively.

Man on the street: The movie most people approach Connelly about is not her David Bowie romp “Labyrinth” or the awards player “Little Children” from Todd Field. “‘Requiem for a Dream’ is a big one,” she says. “That movie had a profound impact on people.”

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Why Top Gun: Maverick Decided To Change The Romance Between Tom Cruise And Jennifer Connelly’s Characters Halfway Through Filming

They took our breath away.

Top Gun : Maverick was the smash blockbuster movie hit of Summer 2022 , and reached yet another pinnacle of recognition by nabbing a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. The movie is a fast-paced good time, but wouldn’t quite complete the sequel equation without the central romance between Tom Cruise and Jennifer Connelly ’s characters. Now, director Joseph Kosinski has shared how their characters’ relationship changed throughout filming the movie to better suit the story Kosinski was going for. 

The Oblivion director sat down with Vanity Fair to detail behind-the-scenes factoids about the most difficult scenes to bring together for Top Gun: Maverick , and how the different character relationships were established. The action filmmaker revealed that Cruise and Connelly’s relationship was approached much differently as written in the original script, and he explained why changes were made while filming, revealing that establishing scene between the characters at her bar was just as hard to capture in some ways as the high-flying stunts. In his words:

For sure, the bar scene is as intricate if not more than any action scene. You’re introducing all of those people, but you’re trying to maintain Maverick’s point of [view] throughout it. So all those eyelines, making sure that you’re clocking him, watching him observe all these people come together. That was the probably the scene that we spent the most time writing and rewriting, and probably changed the most over the course of the film. Because we really changed the Maverick-Penny storyline halfway through, and that’s the scene that sets it all up.

This is such an important scene in the film because it not only pull the audience into Penny and Mav's relationship, but also the various dynamics between other characters, as well as Maverick’s internal battles concerning his past. The scene is doing a lot of heavy lifting in terms of exposition, and was likely very difficult to achieve due to changing dynamics between the characters. Kosinski further detailed how the central romance became reworked throughout the production process by explaining:

Well originally Penny and Maverick had not seen each other since 1985. So you ended up with him seeing a character that he hadn't seen since she was 18 or 19 years old. And after shooting it that way and putting the film together, there was too far for that relationship to go from not having seen someone in 36 years to where we wanted to get to at the end of the film. So that's when we came up with the notion of this is a relationship that's been on and off for decades, and Maverick and Penny would be ready to finally connect in a more meaningful way. The bar scene is the kickoff for that, so that's, that's why it required kind of so much tweaking to get it there.

The romance is the beating heart of the film, giving Maverick additional emotional stakes, and other plot elements populating Top Gun: Maverick may not have worked as well without that being handled properly. Kosinski clearly made the right decision by tweaking the dynamic between these two characters. Their love story is totally believable as an on-again, off-again relationship that's spanned many years, and Cruise and Connelly's chemistry makes us root for them.

RELATED: How To Stream 1986's Top Gun And 2022's Top Gun: Maverick  

The actors are also clearly supportive of each other off-screen as well. Connelly has described Cruise as “extraordinary” for his work throughout the film, and stated that she believes the megastar deserved an acting Oscar for his efforts. Cruise was unfortunately snubbed for the acting nomination, even as the film received plenty of Academy recognition. Connelly has sung the Mission: Impossible star’s praises over and over again before and since the blockbuster hit theaters, and the experience was seemingly a blast for the actress. 

Cruise can be an intimidating actor to work with, due to his undying commitment to getting the intense action scenes perfect, but it seems like Connelly kept up just fine. Would she have been as enthused had their storyline revolved around re-building chemistry after reuniting for the first time in 30+ years? Impossible to say, and we thankfully don't have to worry about it. 

Anyone who missed the action flick in theaters can stream Top Gun: Maverick now with a Paramount+ subscription . For more fun popcorn movies coming to theaters and streaming in the near future, make sure to check out CinemaBlend’s 2023 movie release schedule.  

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Top Gun: Maverick's Jennifer Connelly On Learning To Sail, Flying With Tom Cruise And More - Exclusive Interview

If Jennifer Connelly 's character in "Top Gun: Maverick" could have a callsign, it might well be "Phantom."

Connelly plays Penny Benjamin, who was referenced but never seen in the original "Top Gun" as the "admiral's daughter" with whom Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) spent some sexy time. Flash forward 36 years, and Penny now appears in the flesh in "Top Gun: Maverick." It seems her relationship with Maverick has waxed and waned over the years even as she built an independent life of her own, became the owner of the local watering hole (The Hard Deck) and, in contrast to almost everyone who hangs out in her bar, learned to sail instead of fly.

The actor joins the "Top Gun" universe while continuing a career that began in 1984 with the crime epic "Once Upon a Time in America" and has included films such as "The Rocketeer," "Career Opportunities," "Requiem for a Dream," "Hulk," and "A Beautiful Mind," the latter of which landed her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress . More recently, she appeared in "Only the Brave" (for "Top Gun: Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski) and has spent three seasons as one of the stars of the sci-fi series "Snowpiercer."

Connelly tells us that she thinks the time is right for the world to revisit the lives of Maverick and the rest of the elite "Top Gun" pilots. "It's a spectacle of a movie," she says, "but it has a lot of heart, and it really delivers."

Who is Penny Benjamin?

Your character is mentioned in the first film.

She sure is.

Tell us a little bit about Penny .

She's Penny Benjamin, and clearly, in the original, Pete had been dating her. They've been in an on-and-off relationship all these years and have a lot of history. Then, he walks into her bar yet again, and they come back into each other's lives. I love the way she reacts to him and handles that unfinished business that they clearly have with so much playfulness and a little bit of mischief.

This is not a tortured relationship .

Not at all. She is someone who really wants to be happy and makes choices that move her in that direction. She looks out for herself. She's independent and strong, and she really adores Pete, but she knows him too, and she knows how to set her boundaries.

Jennifer Connelly learned to sail for a movie about flying

The sailing scenes are absolutely incredible. Did you have to go through training for that?

I did. I took sailing lessons, which was really fun and sometimes terrifying, because I live in New York City. I was taking lessons in New York Harbor, which is really insane. There's so many ferries and police boats and, believe it or not, kayakers and jet skiers in New York Harbor. Who knew? There's a lot of traffic, so that was pretty funny.

You also got to go up in planes .

I got to go up in Tom's plane, his P51, with him piloting , which was pretty extraordinary.

Would you have gone through the training if they'd asked you?

Yeah, I would have. I wasn't sorry that I wasn't one of the pilots, but I would have done it.

We do have to mention that you actually got to watch the beach scene .

I sure did. It was great. It was so important that they revisited that scene, because it's such an iconic moment in the original movie. They did a great job with this version.

Why the time is right for more Top Gun

Speaking of the original film, what sort of impact did that have on you?

The flying blew me away when I saw that. Tom Cruise is an amazing movie star. He was so charismatic as that rebellious Maverick. He made a huge impact as well.

He's very hands-on with his movies. Was there a good balance between Joe directing and Tom providing his input?

It definitely felt like a collaboration. Tom's also producing the movie with Jerry, who was part of the original movie. There was a team working on it, working together.

This was filmed in 2018 and 2019. How does it feel to finally have this movie come out?

It's great. Actually, it feels like such a great moment for it now. I know I'm so ready to be having a collective experience again. I feel like this is a celebratory movie. It's a spectacle of a movie, but it has a lot of heart, and it really delivers. If you want to go out and have an experience in a big theater with a group of people, it's so deeply satisfying.

So see this on the biggest screen that you can?

I think so. Absolutely.

"Top Gun: Maverick" is out in theaters this Friday, May 27.

• Entertainment

Why Tom Cruise's Love Interest in "Top Gun: Maverick" Looks Different

"Top Gun: Maverick" is packed with nostalgia and callbacks to the original 1986 movie, including some legacy characters and familiar scenes. One thing viewers have noticed has changed, however, is who plays the love interest to Tom Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. The sequel — which was nominated for six Academy Awards — sees Maverick, now decades into his career, wooing a bar owner (and daughter of an admiral) named Penny Benjamin. Here's what to know about Maverick's love interest.

Is Penny Benjamin in the Original "Top Gun"?

Penny, played by Jennifer Connelly, is not physically in the first "Top Gun" movie, but she does exist in it, though only mentioned in passing. She is never actually seen on screen.

In one scene, Maverick's past exploits are said to include "a history of high-speed passes over five air-control towers and one admiral's daughter," and Maverick's BFF Goose mutters Penny's name under his breath — making her the "admiral's daughter" in question. That's later confirmed when Goose's wife, Carole, teases Maverick about his romantic history, telling her that Goose "told me all about the time you went ballistic with Penny Benjamin."

While she never appears in person in the first "Top Gun," Penny becomes a major character in the sequel . Now played by Connelly, Penny owns a bar that is the downtime destination of choice for the TOPGUN crew. She's less than thrilled when Maverick shows up again, and their dialogue definitely implies that they've had a bit of an on-and-off romance throughout the years between the two movies.

"It started the first time when they were quite young. And you get the sense that they sort of come together, they have this sort of fiery romance, and then it falls apart," Connelly described in a 2022 interview with FilmIsNow . "But then they keep coming back to each other." She echoed those sentiments in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter . "I think that they had a few flings that didn't pan out particularly well in the years between," she said. "We talked about their backstory and what that history might have been."

The actor also recalled being 15 years old when the first movie came out. "I don't remember the exact moment, to be honest with you, but I remember the flying, Tom on his motorcycle with the aviators, and what a charismatic character he had created," said Connelly. "And of course, I remember the songs that got stuck in my head and never left."

Why Isn't Kelly McGillis's Charlie Blackwood in "Top Gun: Maverick"?

In the first "Top Gun," Maverick's love interest is Charlie Blackwood, an astrophysicist who crosses paths with him at the TOPGUN academy. Other cast members from the original "Top Gun" returned for "Top Gun: Maverick," like Val Kilmer , so what's behind this love-interest switcheroo?

Kelly McGillis played Charlie in "Top Gun," but when the sequel came around, according to her, she wasn't even asked to be part of the movie.

"They did not [invite me back], and nor do I think they would ever," she said back in 2019 when the first trailer for "Top Gun: Maverick" dropped and she was conspicuously absent. "I'm old and I'm fat and I look age-appropriate for what my age is, and that is not what that whole scene is about," she said. McGillis, who is now 66 years old, is almost exactly five years older than 61-year-old Cruise; Connelly is 52. McGillis had nothing but positive things to say about Connelly joining the cast, however, saying she's "so glad [Connelly] got that opportunity."

In contrast, director Joseph Kosinski said that bringing back Charlie simply wasn't in line with the story they were looking to tell in the sequel. "I didn't want every storyline to always be looking backwards," Kosinski previously told Insider . "It was important to introduce some new characters." This meant excluding some characters from the original, including McGillis as Charlie and Meg Ryan as Carole Bradshaw.

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Jennifer Connelly Describes Her 'Magical' Experience Flying With Tom Cruise (Exclusive)

The 'Top Gun: Maverick' actress opened up to ET on Tuesday about her high-flying adventures with her pilot co-star.

Jennifer Connelly's experience shooting Top Gun: Maverick was filled with some high-flying adventure -- even if she didn't initially know it was going to be.

ET's Nischelle Turner sat down with Connelly during a press event on Tuesday, on board the famed USS Midway aircraft carrier, and the celebrated actress recalled how co-star Tom Cruise took her on a totally unexpected aerial thrill ride.

"Originally, I wasn't supposed to fly in the movie, because my character is not an aviator," explained Connelly, 51, who played Penny Benjamin, a single mother, bar owner and love interest to Cruise' titular Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. "So I had no scenes, no scripted scenes, in an airplane."

However, things changed when Connelly was "in the plane with him shooting a scene" that was originally supposed to take place on the tarmac.

"He said, 'So Jen, have you ever been in a P51 before?' And I said, 'No, I haven't. It just hasn't come up for me.' And he said, 'Have you ever done any aerobatic flying at all?' And I said, 'No, why? Is this going somewhere?'" Connelly recalled with a laugh. "He said, 'Well, it's just going to be very gentle, we're gonna do some gentle rolls,' and so that's how he broke it to be that we're going to be flying in that plane."

"But it was really the most extraordinary experience," she added. "He's an incredible pilot and it was pretty magical getting to do that."

As Maverick's romantic interest in the long-awaited sequel, Connelly and Cruise also share a scene on the back of a motorcycle that is a visual callback to one of the most famous images from the original film, featuring Cruise and Kelly McGillis.

"It was so much fun. It was, for me, one of those moments from the original movie that you remember, them by the beach, the beautiful light, and then there we were kind of paying homage to that sequence in our own version," Connelly reflected. "It was really fun and, again, just not something that comes up in my daily life, riding a motorcycle with Tom Cruise."

Top Gun: Maverick  hits theaters May 27.

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'Top Gun: Maverick': Behind the Scenes of the Long-Awaited Sequel

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Why top gun's maverick has a new love interest in top gun 2.

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Top Gun 's sequel Top Gun: Maverick is introducing a new love interest for the iconic fighter pilot. Jennifer Connelly will romance Maverick, as a single mother who is the owner of a bar. No other details have been shared about the character, including her name. While there are theories that she might be Penny Benjamin , who is mentioned in the first movie but never shown, the addition of this new love brings up the question of why Top Gun actress Kelly McGillis won't reprise her role as Charlie.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight , McGillis was blunt about why she wasn't asked to join Top Gun: Maverick . " I'm old and I'm fat I look age-appropriate for what my age is, and that is not what that whole scene is about ,” she explained. “ But... I’d much rather feel absolutely secure in my skin and who and what I am at my age as opposed to placing a value on all that other stuff .”

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Though some fans might be disappointed Maverick and Charlie aren't together anymore, McGillis isn't hurt by the decision to not include her. The actress hasn't had many roles since the iconic '80s flick, and said in an interview with USA Today that having a new lifestyle has shifted her focus from her acting career:

"I think just my priorities in life changed .  It wasn't like a major decision that I made to leave, it was just that other things became more important. I love acting, I love what I do, I love doing theater, but I don't know. To me, my relationships to other people became far more important than my relationship to fame."

She also mentioned to USA Today that right now she's perfectly content staying at home with her children, rather than spending her time on set. " I am a home person. I'm really rooted in my home life ... I can't remember the last time I worked ," she said. " I feel really blessed that I don't have to work, you know? But I get the option to work, so I'm really blessed in that way. Not many people get that option later in life, so I feel very lucky ."

But, for fans who are concerned about Charlie not being in Top Gun: Maverick , there's still hope that they'll know what she's up to. The sequel will potentially explain what happened in their relationship and what Charlie is doing now. Though not much has been shared about the plot, it's expected that the sequel will update fans on what's been going on in the past three decades since Maverick returned to Topgun as an instructor.

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