What do Mary Poppins Returns and Top Gun: Maverick have in common – you know, aside from airborne characters and that palpable sense of nostalgia?
Each sequel arrived long, long after its predecessor – precisely 54 years and 120 days lapsed between the release of Mary Poppins and Disney’s recent sequel. And while Maverick falls just short of that immense time gap (it’s arriving 33 years after the fact), many are still feeling a little anxious about Pete Mitchell’s second coming.
Can Paramount really deliver the goods? Is it possible to capture lightning in a bottle twice? These are the kind of questions that were posed to Jennifer Connolly during a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight and, frankly, she didn’t think twice before reassuring fans that Top Gun: Maverick is everything we hoped for. And more.
I’m so excited about it! I’m making it, and I go to work and I’m like, ‘This is great’. It was wonderful and it was reassuring because I felt like, ‘Oh yeah, this is gonna work, because, the way they’re approaching it, the way they’re talking about it, the way they’re shooting it, it made me happy and I think it’ll make fans happy. It really feels… I really believe in the direction they’re taking it.
Also starring Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Jon Hamm and Ed Harris of Westworld fame, Top Gun: Maverick is undoubtedly a star-studded affair. But in the eyes of Connolly, there’s only one person that matters – Tom Cruise, who is back, back, back as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
It’s been really fun. He’s so passionate about what he’s doing. He’s so committed. He’s so dedicated. I have so much respect for that. It’s really been a privilege.
Top Gun: Maverick touches down in theaters June 26th, 2020 – more than 30 years after its pulse-pounding predecessor. Can it possibly live up to the sky-high expectations? We’ll find out in due course.
