Top Gun: Maverick's Danny Ramirez Confirms What We Suspected About The Tom Cruise School Of Being A Badass

There's a lot of excitement surrounding "Top Gun: Maverick," and it's easy to see why. The film is the long-awaited sequel to the beloved Tom Cruise-led action film "Top Gun," which was originally released in theaters back in 1986. In other words, "Maverick" is the "Top Gun" sequel that fans have had to wait 36 years to see. For that reason alone, there was always going to be an added level of anticipation surrounding "Maverick." However, the film's creative team has also done a lot to raise viewers' expectations for it.

Not only will the sequel see Cruise reprise his "Top Gun" role for the first time in over three decades, but it also has the potential to deliver flying sequences that are even more thrilling than the ones featured in the original film. Indeed, the sequel boasts several flying sequences that were not only shot practically with real fighter jets, but also with many of the film's actual stars flying and sitting in the planes during the scenes.

A special featurette for the film has already highlighted some of the work that was put in by the "Maverick" cast and crew to make sure that the sequel's action sequences could be shot as practically as they were. The film's stars, in particular, were forced to train extensively for the sequel, and according to actor Danny Ramirez, that process was just as intensive and thrilling as "Top Gun" fans might assume.

Danny Ramirez recently opened up about what his experiences were like making "Top Gun: Maverick" in an interview with Men's Health. Ramirez plays Lieutenant Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia in the "Top Gun" sequel, and he says that the preparation process for the film was both predictably grueling and surprisingly fulfilling. Speaking with the outlet, Ramirez even cheekily referred to the training he underwent for "Maverick" as "the Tom Cruise School of Being a Badass." 

When discussing the five-week training course that he and his costars participated in, Ramirez said, "I learned the art of puking and rallying." In the same interview, Ramirez also recalled a moment when he was training underwater and his harness refused to unbuckle. According to him and his costars, he managed to keep his calm and composure and eventually freed himself.

Ramirez went on to say that his training for "Maverick" actually helped him form quick and deep bonds with the film's other stars. Discussing the moment when he flew for the first time with "Maverick" costar Glen Powell, Ramirez said, "Glen is all smiles, more smiles in a minute than you've had the whole week. The next thing I know, he's pushing the throttle forward and we're up in the sky. It's bigger than a trust fall. Way bigger."

In other words, it sounds like the "Tom Cruise School of Being a Badass" not only managed to teach the stars of "Top Gun: Maverick" how to pull off the film's difficult action sequences, but also resulted in them bonding before cameras had even started rolling on the project. Taking that into account, along with how positive the early reactions to "Top Gun: Maverick" have been, it seems safe to say that the hard work put in by Ramirez and co. has definitely paid off.