Tom Cruise Agreed to Make ‘Top Gun’ After Puking During a Flight With the Blue Angels

Tom Cruise reportedly lost his lunch while flying with the Blue Angels ahead of his casting in Top Gun. Oddly enough, it was that experience that led him to agree to do the film.

Top Gun is about to celebrate 40 years since its original release in theaters. To commemorate the anniversary, screenwriter Jack Epps Jr. and producer Jerry Bruckheimer talked about Cruise’s casting in the hit movie during an interview in The Guardian published on Saturday, May 16.

As the story goes, Cruise, 63, was on the fence about starring in the movie, so Bruckheimer arranged for him to go on a test flight with the famous Blue Angels. However, at the time, Cruise was sporting a long ponytail for his part in the 1985 movie, Legend. So, when the Blue Angels saw him, the producer joked they thought, “We’ll give this hippy a real ride.”

“They sure did,” Bruckheimer added, “and he got out of the plane, walked to a phone booth, because there were no cell phones then, called me up, said, ‘I’m in.'”

This surprised everyone, including Epps, who remembered that the flight didn’t exactly sound fun for Cruise.

“They look at him and they don’t know who Tom Cruise is,” Epps recalled. “They do what they like to do: they took him up, they shook him around, he barfed on himself, and he came out and said, ‘I love this.’ From that moment, he was on.”

Speaking in 2016 during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Cruise relayed the same story but with a slight twist. As he told it, he’d already decided to do the movie, but knew if he kept that a secret for a little longer, he’d get to fly with the Blue Angels.

“OK, this is really funny. Jerry, I’ve never told you this story. The truth is that after the first meeting, I met with [director Tony Scott], Jerry and Paramount Pictures. I got in the car and I was flying to New York. I told my agent, ‘I’m going to make this movie, but don’t tell Jerry I want to make this movie, because I want to fly with the Blue Angels,’” Cruise told Kimmel at the time, per E!. “You’ve got work these things, you know? I’m a businessman. Also, I said, ‘I want to fly the F-14. I’ve got to have at least three flights in the F-14. I want all the training.'”

Regardless, in both versions of the story, Cruise puked on the flight with the Blue Angels and was undeterred by the experience.