While that sounds awesome, that authenticity doesn’t come without a cost. Flying a fighter jet is incredibly grueling, and it takes an insane amount of training to even step foot inside of a cockpit. That’s why Tom Cruise personally designed an endurance program to get his co-stars physically ready to fly. To prepare for his role as Goose’s son, Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, Miles Teller (Thank You for Your Service, Escape from Spiderhead) engaged in water survival training in a device called the “dunker” - a machine that essentially does its best to drown its occupant. Don’t worry about the actors too much, though: Tom Cruise was with his co-stars every step of the way. Talk about a great wingman.
