Gary Gershoff/Getty
Austin Butlernearly earned his flight leathers years beforeMasters of the Air,but another lifelong dream stood in the way.
During a conversation with Josh Horowitz for hisHappy Sad Confusedpodcast at The 92nd Street Y, New York on Wednesday, Butler, 32, confirmed that he had been in the running for a role inTop Gun: Maverickbut he ultimately chose another path.
“I ended up having to choose between going to the screen test forTop Gun: Maverickor saying yes toQuentin Tarantino,” he admitted.
After waiting to work with Tarantino, 60, “for so long,” Butler decided to go with the Oscar winner.
He previously said onHot Onesthat it was “always” his “dream” to work with Tarantino, before praising the director for the joyful atmosphere he creates on set.
Top Gun’s casting director, Denise Chamian, toldVarietythat the role Butler was up for was Rooster — the son ofTom Cruise’s late best friend Goose (Anthony Edwards), who died inthe original 1986 movie— which ultimately went toMiles Teller.
Austin Butler hugs Quentin Tarantino after he wins Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama award for “Elvis” at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California.Christopher Polk/NBC via Getty
Christopher Polk/NBC via Getty
DespiteOnce Upon a Time… in Hollywood’s release coming nearly three years beforeTop Gun: Maverickpremiered, they were filmed around the same time in the summer of 2018.
Brad Pitt, who played stunt double Cliff Booth in the film, wasseen on set in August 2018, while Cruise, 61,shared the first photos from the set of theTop Gunsequelthree months before that in May.
In a worlds-collide moment for Butler, Tarantino was outspoken in his praise of Cruise’s incredibly successful venture, which raked in$1.5 billion worldwide, as he admitted he loved the sequel.
“Normally I don’t talk about new movies that much because then I’m only forced to say good things, or else I’m slamming someone. And I don’t want to do that. But in this case, If—ing loveTop Gun: Maverick. I thought it was fantastic,” he said on CinemaBlend’sReelBlendpodcast in August 2022.
As part of the U.S. Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group, which was nicknamed the “Bloody Hundredth,” Butler’s character leads a group of elite soldiers through numerous “perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany” as they faced “frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air,” according to the official synopsis.
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At the Los Angeles premiere of the series earlier this month,Butler told PEOPLE he “would love to” learn to flyin real life.
“I’m rusty now, but I feel like I could,” he said of the skills he picked up while filming the show during the pandemic.
Butler also praised the series' producers,Tom HanksandSteven Spielberg, as he said it was a “pleasure"working with hisElviscostar again. “He approaches everything with such care and kindness and he does so much research and is just constantly reading about this period.”
source: people.com
