The MiGs in the movie are actually all F-5 Tiger, an American plane that it uses as a trainer & sells to other countries. In reality, there is no MiG-28. It is just an F-5.
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In nearly every cockpit scene, regardless of fighter airframe, you can see that half or more of the lights on the caution lights panel on the lower right-hand side of the cockpit are lit. These lights are the illuminated names of all the systems that are not currently operating, ergo if the "Engine 1" light is lit, then Engine 1 is not running. If over half of the lights are lit (as in the cockpit scenes) then the pilots must be flying without half of their systems running, including engines, hydraulics, and radar. None of these lights should be on in flight. This makes it obvious that the scenes were shot on the ground using external power. See more...
Movie Mistakes blog
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Top Gun (1986) - 11 trivia entries
Directed by Tony Scott, starring Anthony Edwards, Kelly McGillis, Michael Ironside, Tom Cruise, Tom Skerritt, Val Kilmer (add more)
The MiGs in the movie are actually all F-5 Tiger, an American plane that it uses as a trainer & sells to other countries. In reality, there is no MiG-28. It is just an F-5.
Goose's real name is Nick Bradshaw. You can see it after he dies, it's among his belongings Maverick is going through.
Charlie's date in the first bar scene with her in it is the REAL Viper, from the real Top Gun school. He was the consultant on the film.
The scene where Maverick is making love to Charlie was shot in the dark for a reason. When reviewing the movie, the producers and critics felt that the movie needed a love scene after it was originally finished. Unfortunately, Kelly McGillis (Charlie) was doing another movie and had red hair. To shoot the scene, the dark was used to subtly cover the fact her hair isn't blonde, not just for the romantic effect.
Val Kilmer did not want to be in the film, but was forced to by contractual obligations.
After the (in)famous scene in which Maverick and Goose sing to Charlie, she leaves the bar (actually, the rear bar area of the Miramar Naval Air Station Officers' Club) and goes to a restroom some 20 miles away (a men's restroom in the lobby of an administration building at Naval Training Center, San Diego). Maverick follows her, and after their exchange they both head back up I-15 to re-enter the bar at Miramar. I assume that the rather cramped restrooms at the Miramar O-Club were inappropriate for the scene (no counters, either, when I was there).
Ally Sheedy was the first choice for Charlotte 'Charlie' Blackwood but turned the part down because she thought that no one would want to see a movie with Tom Cruise flying a fighter jet.
One of the pilots was killed during the filming. At the end of the film there is a reference in the credits to Art Scholl. He was an acrobatic pilot who flew the planes during the filming and was engaged to fly the difficult "flat spin" scene. During this scene, Scholl reported a problem with the plane. All contact was then lost and neither Scholl nor the plane were ever recovered.
When Maverick tells Charlie that he was flying inverted when flipping the bird to the MiG, Iceman coughs "bullshit" and gets a laugh from the others. That was actually an ad-lib from Val Kilmer.
At the beginning of the class, Charlie tells the students that they will be using F-5's and A-4's as MiG simulators. Nowhere at the school do we see F-5's being flown by instructors as aggressors. The instructors only fly A-4's. The "real" MiG's are F-5's.
Matthew Modine was originally selected to play Maverick but he turned the part down because he disagreed with the film's cold-war politics.
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