The sequel to the hit film Top Gun is scheduled to shoot scenes in San Diego later this month.
Back in May, Tom Cruise tweeted out a photo of himself on the tarmac at Naval Air Station North Island with Cruise holding his iconic “Maverick” helmet. It tipped off filming was underway for Top Gun II.
The San Diego film office confirms that some of the principle filming for the sequel to the 1980s classic will happen in San Diego beginning later this month and going into October. The locations haven’t been revealed, but the Navy confirms some scenes will be shot on North Island.
“Production is underway now and will occur for the next several months at a number of installations on the west coast,” said Cmdr. Ron Flanders, spokesman for Naval Aviation. “Tom Cruise was here in May, aboard Naval Air Station North Island. And they did some filming here and I believe there will be more filming here in San Diego as well as North Island.”
The crew has also been filming on board the USS Abraham Lincoln on the East Coast. There could be additional carrier footage shot off the California coast.
Top Gun is legendary in the Navy. When the movie came out in 1986, during the Cold War, it created a boost for Navy recruiting, which is why the Navy was interested in working with Paramount Pictures on the sequel. It comes at a time when Naval Aviation is looking for pilots.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer for us to support this movie,” Flanders said. “It provided a huge boom in recruiting. Not just for Naval Aviation but for the Navy as a whole.”
In exchange for the Navy’s cooperation, Navy has to green light the script. Final approval came last week. Some of the more testosterone driven elements from the original film likely won’t fly in the sequel, like the flirting during preflight training.
The real life Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, nicknamed Top Gun school, hasn’t been in San Diego since 1996. The Fighter Town USA in the film was Miramar, which is now home to Marine Aviation.
Though filming is going ahead, the actual release date for Top Gun II has been recently pushed back from next year to June 2020.
