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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Tina Campbell

Tom Cruise's Top Gun co-star Glen Powell reveals actor pretended to nearly crash helicopter in prank

Glen Powell has revealed the hair-raising prank Tom Cruise played on him while they were filming Top Gun: Maverick together back in 2022.

The rising star, 35, has told how he and veteran actor, 61, were filming reshoots at Pinewood Studios in London when Cruise decided to fly them back in his helicopter.

All seemed to be going fine, when Cruise pretended that they were about to go down. 

Speaking in a new interview with GQ, Powell explained: “Tom goes, ‘Oh no, oh no,’ and he starts dropping the helicopter over London.

“I was like, ‘Am I about to be the unnamed guy that dies with Tom in a smoking hole in the middle of London?’” 

Glen Powell also gave an update on the long-gestating Captain Planet movie (Tim P. Whitby/ Getty Images)

Thankfully they got to their final destination safe and sound.

It wasn’t the only time that he fell foul to prankster Cruise however with him recalling another incident when box office favourite sent him to a cinema in Los Angeles to watch a "film school" movie he had put together for his friends. 

While Powell anticipated a crowd, he quickly discovered he was the sole attendee. For six hours, Powell watched his co-star discuss everything he knows about filmmaking.

According to Powell, Cruise had no intention of putting it out into the public but instead said, "This is just for my friends."

Elsewhere, Powell has issued an update on the long-gestating Captain Planet movie, which has been in development since 2016.

Speaking to Collider to promote his latest movie, Hit Man, Powell said he remained hopeful that the project would still come to light.

“God, I freaking hope so,” he told the publication. “Trust me, we have been working hard on that one for a long time. I’m optimistic about his future, but you never know the timeline.”

Based on the 1990s cartoon series, Leonardo DiCaprio is attached through his Appian Way production company with Powell set to co-write the movie’s screenplay with Jono Matt.

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