“Top Gun” was inspired by an article called “Top Guns” by Ehud Yonay in California magazine from the May 1983 issue. The article featured aerial photography by then-Lieutenant Commander Charles “Heater” Heatley. It detailed the life of fighter pilots at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The location has the nickname “Fightertown, USA.”
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer read the article and was inspired to turn it into a film. He pitched the idea to his then-producer partner, Don Simpson, as “Star Wars on Earth.” After several scriptwriters turned down the project, Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. were brought on board to write the script. The final script is reportedly very different than the final draft written by Cash and Epps.
Christine Fox
Kelly McGillis’s character, Charlie, is based on a woman named Christine Fox who, like McGillis is tall, blonde, leggy, and has a liking for clacking high heels. “They always know when I’m coming,” Fox told People in 1985, “because I'm one of the few people around here whose heels click.” The fictional Charlie is an astrophysicist, while Fox is a mathematician who worked at the Center for Naval Analyses.
From December 2013 to February 2014, Fox was the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, which made her the Defense Department's highest-ever-ranking female officer.
Sweet Meg
At the time of "Top Gun", Meg Ryan had played several small roles in various films. Because she hadn't yet been in many films, "Top Gun's" director Tony Scott was apprehensive about casting the future superstar. He was unimpressed by her and didn’t consider her the first choice for the role. One of the reasons why he wasn’t comfortable casting Ryan, is because she had just worked on the soap opera "As The World Turns".
In the end, she won the part as the wife of Goose in Top Gun. While the role is obviously not her biggest to date, she gave a flawless performance and fans adored her. Meg would soon star in several films that would make her a household name and the queen of romantic comedy. After "Top Gun" was released, Meg Ryan played an even bigger role in the film "Armed and Dangerous". Continue reading to see who Ryan was secretly dating during the filming of "Top Gun".
U.S. Navy Getting Involved
The scriptwriters and the producers wanted the U.S. Navy to be heavily involved in the making of the film. The U.S. Navy particularly had a strong impact on the approval of the script, which had several inaccuracies. One immediate alteration they made was moving the opening dogfight from Cuba to international waters.
They also ordered for the coarse language of the jet pilots to be toned down. Finally, they requested for one particular scene involving a crash on the deck of an aircraft carrier to be removed from the film. Many "Top Gun" pilots and assistants were key components in creating a lot of the cockpit dialogue seen in the film.
The $25,000 Change of Course
Cinematographer Tony Scott and his crew spent several days on board the USS Enterprise (hey, different movie!) filming aircraft as they landed and took off from the aircraft carrier while on an operational cruise. Scott wanted to capture some of the aircraft back-lit by the sun, but the ship had to change course before he could get all his shots in.
So, Scott approached the captain of the ship and asked him to turn the ship back around. The captain informed him that it would cost him $25,000 to change their route. Scott did what any great cinematographer with a vision would do; he wrote a check for $25,000 right on the spot. He was then able to capture the required shots over a period of five minutes. Imagine that — five minutes for twenty-five thousand dollars! Just a mere $5,000 per minute. Well, the decision was clearly a wise one.