I always hated Kelly McGillis in “Top Gun” (1986)

A lot of conflicting stories on why she’s not in the sequel. Clearly Tom didn’t want her there. Probably because of her looks.

That's the last time I paid to see Tammy in a movie. I liked the movie, but after it I had no time for Tammy.

She was obviously so much taller than him. It was awkward.

She was very lesbian. Like Kathleen Turner.

R2 the last time you paid to watch a Tom movie was 1986???

Yes. The only possible exception is "A Few Good Men". I can't remember if I saw it in a theater.

When I was younger my eyes loved all the other guys but not Anthony Edwards but watching it now I find him so cute and I would probably prefer him to the muscle douche’s

Are you crazy? I thought she was extremely gorgeous and bad ass in the original movie.

This scene makes me cringe so much. I laughed.

Kelly took our breath away!

[quote]A lot of conflicting stories on why she’s not in the sequel. Clearly Tom didn’t want her there. Probably because of her looks.

I would bet $$$ that if Kelly McGillis had aged as well as Michelle Pfeiffer has, she would've had some kind of role in the new Top Gun. She's old, fat, grey-haired and very dykey now. That's why she's not in the new movie, it's because of they way she looks.

She was beautiful (except the hat scene in the elevator, I have to agree. By the way, that scene was filmed much later and she had already changed her hair, that's why she had to wear a hat.).

The problem was there was ZERO chemistry between her and Tom. And chemistry just OOZED between Tom and Val. They kept eyefucking each other throughout the movie. The most homoerotic film ever. I love Tony Scott.

She had a sultry vibe, as r4 said, like Kathleen Turner.

well, R5 the last time I went to a theater to see one of Tammy's movies was 1989 Born on the Fourth of July

I was a young teenager when this movie came out. I thought she was beautiful. R12 what movie stands out to you where Tom Cruise has chemistry with his female lead?

She was good looking in a realistic way for the character. Not too glammed up.

Tom has NEVER had chemistry with any of his female co-stars, especially -- ESPECIALLY - his wife Nicole Kidman. He had way more chemistry with Cuba Gooding Jr. than with Rene Zellweger, and more sparks with Dustin Hoffman than Kelly McGillis.

He's not even gay. He's asexual. I would bet the farm on it.

Dustin Hoffman wasn’t in Top Gun.

I thought he had great chemistry with Renee

No, he's gay. He always has really hot chemistry with his male co-stars. And chooses hot ones for his new movies. Like Henry Cavill.

Oh please

Val Kilmer and Brad Pitt had hot chemistry with Tom.

They made comparisons of Kelly to Grace Kelly at one point. No.

They said that about Gwyneth too. HELL no.

Kelly hat scene she was much thinner. Gaunt look is not attractive

R2 Me too. In high school, I saw Risky Business and then Top Gun. But his persona always turned me off. Incidentally, when I was 15 my older brother took me to see Risky Business but he hated it so much he made us leave halfway through.

I loved Risky Business. I never met a guy who hated it.

I'm surprised they cast her because she towered over him. She's 5'10! She said she had to slouch and do various things to make make him appear taller. In OP's photo she's sitting on the counter and he's standing on a low apple box to lesson the obvious height difference. Lol.

Her appeal is similar to Lizbeth Scott in this film.

I liked her style and I general, the 80s/90s we're some of the last times the hair and makeup on women accentuated them as women and not perfect little dolls.

That wasn’t Kelly in the pic

No chemistry at all but I loved her hair!

I love Kelly. She had a few hits through Paramount: Witness, Top Gun and The Accused and she was great in all of them.

Can’t recall the scene but at a certain angle she looked particularly dikey.

Tom doesn’t have chemistry with his female leads.

Op wanted to be G.I. Jane with long hair.

Thanks for repeating yourself yet again

She's a greyed bull Swyne

You're an idiot, R34

Jennifer Connelly > Kelly McGillis

At least it's not Denise Richards in a James Bond film.

She had her choice of roles in The Accused. She picked the wrong one. Jodie got an Oscar. (although I doubt Kelly would have even if she played the part as well, no Hinckley backstory sympathy vote.)

Her poorly dyed dried out hair reminded me of Shelley Hack's in Charlie's Angels.

There was no chemistry between her and Cruise. Come to think of it, I can't think of any actress who clicked with him.

r39 disparaged Miss Shelley Hack!!!! That is not allowed on the DL. We will hunt you down.

Witness was a terrific film. Holds up well years later because Peter Weir was the ideal director for the material and all the actors meshed with their roles. I think it was the only role McGillis excelled in because she played an unsmiling Amish woman.

From the article:

[quote]Kelly has previously stated that she thinks her looks had something to do with her not being invited back for the sequel.

[quote]“I’m old, and I’m fat, and I look age-appropriate for what my age is,” she told ET in 2019. “And that is not what that whole scene is about. To me, I’d much rather feel absolutely in my skin and who I am at my age as opposed to placing a value on all that other stuff.”

The Accused was really her last big film.

Odd. It started Jodie's career (as an adult) and ended Kelly's.

I think they cast her because they thought a chick in the armed forces would be a bit butch. In her next films she tried to act more fem with a higher, whispery voice. But it was so false it was detrimental to her performances.

Remember the phrase, "There's 3 stages to an actress's career: 1) babe; 2) District Attorney; and 3) "Driving Miss Daisy"? I guess her "DA" would be "The Accused". She sorta faded after that.

R42 A HOT "unsmiling Amish woman"!

What would they have done with her character though. In this day and age is it really that likely that a guy like maverick would have stayed with her all these years anyway like they were each other’s “one true love” I’m guessing they were together maybe 5 more years after the events in the first movie.

I haven’t seen the new film but it might have been nice if they referenced her at least just to give some closure to the character for fans of the first. Either way I wonder how devastating it is to not have been invited back to join a hit film you were part of for an actress like McGillis I guess there’s some consolation for her that Meg Ryan was also not included.

Miles Teller is playing Meg Ryan and Anthony Edwards son in the new one.

If she was back it wouldn’t be as a love interest, probably just a cameo.

Meg Ryan was a scene-stealer in this movie.

Good thing she only had like 3 scenes

[quote]Miles Teller is playing Meg Ryan and Anthony Edwards son in the new one.

I read this at first as your saying Miles Teller is playing Meg Ryan, and also Anthony Edwards' son, in this new one. Like it was some weird casting stunt where he played multiple characters, one of them female (like Alec Guinness in "Kind Hearts and Coronets").

I would totally go see this if that were true. He would make a memorably odd Meg Ryan.

I agree, OP. They had no chemistry and she was physically too big. I thought she looked too old for him too. I could see her in that sort of authoritarian role, but not necessarily in aerodynamics or whatever she taught.

I though TC had chemistry with Elisabeth Shue in Cocktail.

Meg Ryan should have more reason to be in the sequel than Kelly since Miles' character is her son. As with Kelly, I am betting Meg is also not in the film because of her looks (bad plastic surgery).

R52 he was best with Shue and DeMornay

OP, considering that many military men appear to fall in love with obese or plain women, she's more than average in looks.

I agree he has chemistry with Shue in Cocktail. Actually, I would even claim he has chemistry with Lisa Banes and even Kelly Lynch.

He has a lot of chemistry with Lea Thompson

No way were they going to bring KM back because what she said is correct. It might’ve been interesting if they did bring her back precisely because of what she now looks like. I’m ok with it though because the relationship in TG wasn’t built to last so why bother if they didn’t end up together. A little surprised MR was asked to cameo though.

Wasn't it just a recruiting film for Desert Storm?

Desert Storm was 4 years later.

I have to disagree about the no chemistry. I think young Cruise up until mid 1990s had a lot of chemistry with the female leads from deMornay to Kidman some very sexy scenes with a lot of heat. Altho the music was great too. Like the train scene in Risky Business. But I do agree that Cruise is A not gay.

Tammy is a "non practicing" gay, sweetie. That does not mean he;s NOT gay.

When i saw the original in the theatre thought it was over the top. The love story was a bit nauseating. Now that we know the 411 on the main players I totally appreciate the camp value. Kelly thinking when will I get to work with a real leading man. Don't worry honey Jodi is waiting in the wings just a few movies away. Your wish will be granted.

Kelly’s house is now a prop for a hotel where I live. They redid it and turned it into a dessert shop.

I swear this is real but it could be my faulty memory.

Anyway, Entertainment Tonight showed how they filmed a scene with Cruise and McGillis walking side by side, and they literally had to dig a trench for McGillis to walk in so she didn't tower above him.

But I can't imagine them messing with the illusion during the height of the film's popularity.

What I hated even more was all the gay men who started getting Top Gun haircuts.

Ah, the Reagan years....

[quote]r39 Her poorly dyed dried out hair reminded me of Shelley Hack's in Charlie's Angels.

Now, you watch where you’re going with that.

And don’t even THINK of starting on Tanya!

Kelly was a FTM trans cunt before it was cool. No way was she born with a cunt. That's a man, baby.

Tammy was so manly in that movie, opposite a dyke yet!

I watched The Accused recently and only found about a million things wrong with it. It was absolutely horrible. Every character, inc Kelly and Jodie, were fucking morons. Not one sympathetic charcater in it.

R69, you mean as a lawyer you found things wrong or just the movie is bad?

[quote] Kelly was a FTM trans cunt before it was cool. No way was she born with a cunt. That's a man, baby.

For a second I thought you were talking about Kelly Garret (!)

R70 I said all I need to say, moron. I found a million things wrong with it and every character was a detestable fucking moron.

It's ok, OP. She hated you too.

Funnily enough, DL fave Meg Tilly revealed a few weeks ago that she turned down "Top Gun." Meg also screen tested for "The Accused" but lost to Jodie Foster. The producers of "Silence of the Lambs" approached Tilly for a meeting but she doesn't like horror/gore, despite "Psycho 2."

Interesting how big women were in the 80s. Kelly McGillis and Elisabeth Sue were not exactly models, but normal looking women. I remember a producer called Margot Robbie during a production and scolded her bc she was photographed eating a burger.

R74 wow Meg Tilly in Top Gun would have taken the character in a whole different direction. I think McGillis was just about perfect, the role really belongs to her. I can’t imagine anybody else playing the part as well in the 80s. Michelle Pfeiffer could have been a good second choice perhaps or a Geena Davis type. But I feel Charlie had to be sort of aloof and then soften.

She looked much older than Tom.

^ Nothing wrong with that.

Exactly, r78.

Kelly didn’t want to play the rape victim in THE ACCUSED because she was raped in New York when she was just starting out as an actress. It hit too close to home for her.

R75 ask any straight man who grew up in the 80s, Elisabeth Shue is hot.

I liked her character in Top Gun. The character was supposed to be attractive and smart, and Kelly delivered. For some reason some of the posters on here think that they should have cast a fashion model for the role of an astrophysicist. Sure, Jen!

Shue is quite masculine too. Her measurements would be 30-30-30. She has a very boxy body, not feminine at all. Not as much as tranny Kelly. Maybe trans girls were just hot in the 80s.

All of these women are Blist mediocre actresses. Kelly was never considered a GREAT actress. She was an "IT Girl".

R84 no one here called her a great actress….

R83 Shue has a naturally pretty girl next door face.

Kelly was beautiful in Witness

OP, I well remember one straight guy after the next asserting Kelly's "hotness" after seeing this film, and believe me, that is ALL Hollywood cares about, then or now.

I think the subject of this thread is: These icky girls aren't good enough for my Tommy.

Tammy's success has always been inexplicable. He has horrible teeth. He is good looking in the way a million random guys are "attractive". I find someone like Scott Wolf back in the 90s far sexier than Tammy and Scott has proven himself as a hetero. He has a wife and biological kids. Adopted kids always scream homosexual. Like that Australian homo with the ugly beard wife.

Adopted kids scream homo? Dude. You need to grow up. Kidman and him tried to have bio kids and had miscarriages.

Scott's nose job is not so good.

[Quote] Adopted kids always scream homosexual. Like that Australian homo with the ugly beard wife.

Julian McMahon isn't adopted.

And Scott Wolf was a kid in the 80s when Tom broke out. Scott also isn’t a real actor and can only play one character. He’s a TV actor for a reason.

Tom had A List stardom because he had “IT” and came on the scene at the right time.

R90 Yes I am so sure. Tammy is and always has been a huge homo. I don't believe he has ever tried to fuck a gash in order to procreate. The though of it would make him puke or faint from disgust.

thought of it....

But he has a bio kid….

R93 Scott Wolf was a million times more sexy and more hetero than Tammy ever could be. He was hugely funny and sexy in the movie Go from 1999. I love that movie and watch it several times a year.

Ditto Sigourney Weaver in The Year of Living Dangerously. No sex appeal, too tall for Gibson, badly done English accent, and he was much prettier than she was.

R96 I have already said that Katie was fucking Chris Klein before her "performance" as Tammy's latest beard wife. That little girl 100% looks like Klein. A certified heterosexualist.

What about John Travolta?

AGAIN, Scott Wolf was 13 when Tom broke out in films in 1981.

He was 15 when Tom became Hollywoods biggest male Box Office star in 1983.

Why you keep bringing him up is strange. They’re not peers.

Cruise have chemistry with a woman? Not going to happen. Don't blame the actresses, it's him. Nothing sensual/sexual about him. Think about that scene in Eyes Wide Shut with his WIFE! I mean, if not then.

Travolta came LONG before Cruise.

Cruise happened because the public liked him. His movies put asses in seats. This was pre-internet. This was back when the public made you famous. Blame the world, who flocked to see his movies.

Also, Scott Wolf was probably the weakest link in “GO”.

R101 Are you a fucking retard? No one is comparing Tammy's success to a D lister like Scott Wolf! Fuck off, ya moron. Learn to read and get context. Fucking Generation Z moron.

I dislike Cruise in the extreme, think he can't act and has never been able to fake chemistry with any woman on screen, think he has been hogging up all too many of the meat film roles for the last 30+ years, that his public image is pure fraud and his "religion" proves he's a head case, and even I can admit he had a "hot" phase and a few good films (because they didn't rely on his acting "skills").

R105 you literally said Scott Wolf should have had Tom’s success. That’s LITERALLY what you said. And then get mad when someone tells you they aren’t even peers, Wolf was in fucking middle school still when Tom was getting cast in Hollywood films!

Seriously J, get help.

R106 that’s called an opinion. That is your opinion. Good for you. But millions went to see his movies over and over back then. He was beloved.

[quote]R75 a producer called Margot Robbie during a production and scolded her bc she was photographed eating a burger.

Can you imagine having a job where your boss chews you out for DARING to eat lunch??

R109 most models of the 80s/90s can

Quentin Tarantino had this thing about how she was dressed up to look like a man in the elevator scene and that's why Tom falls in love with her.

Always interesting to speculate on why a film with such a huge and obvious gay subtext proved so popular it caused a spike in airforce applications amongst US dudebros in the 1980s.

There was no gay subtext.

She’s dressed like a woman in the elevator scene.

R112 Mate there are literally lines like "The enemy must be getting closer, I'm getting a hard on" in it.

That’s not “gay” subtext though.

[quote] Tammy's success has always been inexplicable. He has horrible teeth. He is good looking in the way a million random guys are "attractive".

That was in some ways the point. He reminded so many people of the hot frat guys they knew in college. Plus he had a great ass and a great body, and his intensity onscreen was remarkable.

He was never a good actor, but he was a huge, huge star. Probably the biggest Hollywood star in the late 80s and 90s.

[quote] There was no gay subtext.

Oh, Mary.

I think she looks good in the movie but I think she looks even beter in The Accused.

There was an article in the MSN website that said that the movie had so much gay subtext.

Is this the movie set where Tom asked Bronson Pinchot to go for ice cream as long as "there are no gay people there"?

[quote] The producers of "Silence of the Lambs" approached Tilly for a meeting but she doesn't like horror/gore, despite "Psycho 2."

I think Meg Tilly would've been interesting in SOTL. The baby voice, though.

[quote] But he has a bio kid….

Lots of gay men have bio children involving penis in vagina.

I thought Kelly looked great in the elevator scene. She did look slimmer.

R118 cool. Care to provide the article?

[Quote] The baby voice, though.

That's Jennifer Tilly. Meg can modulate her voice.

Meg would never have been proper casting. I think she claims they wanted her when in reality they probably just asked her to come read. Not the same.

[Quote] Meg would never have been proper casting. I think she claims they wanted her when in reality they probably just asked her to come read. Not the same.

You think? She said Top Gun was an offer. Silence of the Lambs was a meeting, which she declined.

Meg Tilly also said her controlling husband talked her out of her callback for "Flashdance." She's quite specific when she refers to roles, those she was offered and those for which she was simply "in the mix."

She said. But has anyone else who worked on the movie ever said this or even acknowledged her saying this? A lot of actors claim to reject big roles after the fact.

They wanted someone who was hot and blonde for the part. Kelly was made to dye her hair for the role.

Sidenote: Michelle Pfeiffer was almost Agnes in "Agnes of God." She and Meg were the final two.

And Meg was a redhead in "Two Jakes"... What's your point?

[Quote] A lot of actors claim to reject big roles after the fact.

No they don't. Journalists tend to write articles about actors turning down roles when their availability was merely sought.

This idea that the public chooses any of this calculated and processed shit is mistaken.

It's there on offer, like fast food.

We consume it for lack of alternatives and achieve some simple utility without true satisfaction, merely satiation.

Show me the results of someone else filling all the spots Cruise filled--you can't because Hollywood execs decided he was "it" and would be in everything. Surely there's millions of other actors and even men in the streets who could have filled these parts to satisfaction, but they were not sought or promoted.

He's a product. Selling box office does not mean we "chose" him. It means we were killing time with friends on a Sunday afternoon.

Your point would make sense if Cruise lasted a few years, but he lasted much longer than that...

Oh, R122, that website is constantly changing and refreshing.

I couldn’t find it. Sorry.

Is it this?

I wonder why the gayhard Gaga fans in here aren’t praising her contributions to the new soundtrack??

Cruise craftily picks the shit everyone is going to go see anyway, and then Hollywood continues to cast him saying "see, he guarantees asses in seats".

It's a self fulfilling formula. Counterexamples aren't possible unless you invented time travel.

He doesn't pick loser shit, I will give him (or his agents) that. Him being good is another story.

[Quote] I wonder why the gayhard Gaga fans in here aren’t praising her contributions to the new soundtrack??

Because it's not 2009?

Friend of mine was in a production of The Merchant of Venice with her. She was known among the company as Toppy McGunniss. She wasn’t well liked.

[quote] Sidenote: Michelle Pfeiffer was almost Agnes in "Agnes of God." She and Meg were the final two.

Oh, God. Meg Tilly was perfect in Agnes of God. Michelle Pfeiffer would have been wrong for that role.

R137 that is meaningless to the DL. They cherish divas of the past and near past. This is the wrong forum for new artists.

R131 that’s nonsense. If nothing else is out, people don’t go see it if they aren’t interested. You really need to educate yourself.

People didn’t go see his movies throughout all of the 80s and 90s because nothing else was out. That’s not the case at all! Nor is that how it works.

“Oh, nothing good is out so we must go see Top Gun!”

No. And it came out summer of 1986. May-July is when you will get the most movies out.

Actually if anything I see most people saying they don’t like the new GaGa song and it doesn’t work well with the movie.

I agree.

I liked early Gaga, but she got boring to me pretty fast.

They should have used Jessica Simpson's recording of "Take My Breath Away."

The sequel pulled in $51.8 million on Friday, and already earned $64.7 million overseas.

R133 perhaps because it doesn’t exist?

The OG made $357,288,178 worldwide in 1986.

That’s equivalent to $942,474,706 in 2022.

It was a massive hit.

And these box office numbers are without China I believe.

R107 That is not what I said at all, fucking moron. Stupid and blind. Fucking troll.

Meg Tilley was probably approached when they were gonna go forward with the original script and screenplay. Originally the love interest for Maverick was a female enlisted member of the Navy, which then was changed to an aerobics instructor, which then was changed to the character we know, Charlie.

When it came to casting Charlie, they were looking for a "leggy" hot blonde who could play strong, independent and intelligent. Charlie was born after producer met Christine Fox, whose nickname in the Navy was "Legs", a civilian mathematician employed by the Center for Naval Analyses as a specialist in Maritime Air Superiority (MAS), developing tactics for aircraft carrier defense. Charlie is based off of a real person, who was a leggy tall attractive blonde but not your typical soft spoken feminine woman of the time, but an independent hard working intelligent badass.

So I believe Meg was reached out to, but I do not think it was for Charlie.

R141 millions of little boys with hardons for airplanes were going to see Top Gun regardless who was in it.

People we're going to see The Firm if they wanted a legal thriller. What else would they have seen?

Dustin Hoffman sold Rainman. Cruise's character could have been played by half a dozen men of the same age.

I have seen at least 7-8 Cruise films in my lifetime and I can't stand the dude, really. Why? He's in the blockbuster my friends want to see. Or he manages to get himself cast in something that might have been much more interesting if he wasn't in it, but was passable (Valkyrie, the Last Samurai). Not even Cruise would prevent me seeing a Kubrick film, but I in no way went for him.

That's not really "choosing" him. That is "nothing better on offer".

Charlie was "born" after producers*

I never met someone so in denial. r151, he was already the biggest draw in Hollywood by 1986. 1983 his name carried 3 films back to back to box office smashes. After that ever film he released was a smash hit. He did not have a single flop throughout the entire 80s.

They originally wanted Matthew Modine to play Maverick when casting started in 1983, but he refused to do it because it went against his Political beliefs. That is the year The Outsiders came out, followed by two movies where Cruise headlined, "Risky Business" and "All The Right Moves". Both films were box office hits, which led them to contact him and he was cast.

Julianne Phillips was contacted to play Charlie, and even did a screen-test with Cruise before they dropped her and went with McGillis.

You're hung up on the blonde part, which is strange as McGillis dyed her hair for the role. Meg Tilly was known for her body (The Big Chill). She was a dancer. It's not at all unlikely that she was sought for the female lead.

Tilley also looks Asian.... she was not getting cast as Charlie, the main love interest (and pretty much only woman in a movie made for men besides small supporting part played by Meg Ryan) to Tom Cruise for a major blockbuster in 1986

If Tilly could be cast as the love interest of Rob Lowe, Colin Firth, Matt Dillon etc. Why not Cruise? (I can tell you liked your own post, btw.)

Speaking of Rob Lowe and homoerotic...

Those weren’t major summer blockbusters and she wasn’t the only woman in the movie besides one other who has about 5 minutes or screen time.

What has "only woman in the movie" got to do with anything?

Something weird about the Tilley claim is that has never been mentioned anywhere ever by anyone but her. Official websites, anniversary commentaries etc. have stated other actresses in contention or reached out to (all white women) but Meg Tilley’s name has NEVER come up. Ever. Only from her.

Think about that.

You should also think about how many Asian women part Asian Meg Tilly has played in her career...

There aren’t even any articles about Tilley and Top Gun.

Did the poster just make that up and run with it??? It’s nowhere on the internet.

[Quote] Did the poster just make that up and run with it??? It’s nowhere on the internet.

I'll link to it presently, you tiresome bitch.

R164 let’s see this…please and thank you. I’m now doing research on this.

TC had excellent advisors re his choice of movie genres and roles. Plus the music often made the film. Tech experts should be getting all the credit in most cases too.

Fans knew what they were getting when seeking out a super action flick just like when they went to films staring Clint Eastwood Or Tom Clancy movies (which I really miss.

A tidbit about the elevator scene where some think she was dressed like a man: McGillis had since cut and darkened her hair for another role, and had to wear a military cap to disguise her hair in an elevator sequence.

They tried to revive Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan as a franchise with Chris Pine, but it bombed hard.

16:41

"I turned down... that one with the flight and Maverick, and Tom Cruise. Because I was, like, "I don't want to be the girl on the back of the motorcycle." But I didn't have to read for that.

From 13:48, she references the MEETING for Silence of the Lambs that she declined, and the SCREEN TEST for The Accused that led to the role going to other actress screen tested, Jodie Foster.

As I said upthread, Meg is specific in her recollections. She doesn't say that she was wanted/first choice for every role going in the 1980s.

[Quote] "But I didn't have to read for that."

That should have been inside the quotation marks.

Tilley was way too softly beautiful for that role.

Tilly also mentions falling in love with the script for "Working Girl" but not getting a meeting with Mike Nichols for the role. Funnily enough, I can see Jennifer Tilly in that part (Tess).

When was she an it girl? The early 80s?

Meg Tilley was WRONG WRONG WRONG for the role of Charlie in Top Gun role! No competent casting director world have cast her in 1985 for it.

R153 box office means nothing except they made money from him. It does not denote quality of material, actors chosen, or any of that.

I am not in denial that he has succeeded at box office. I am posing a counterfactual--it could just as easily been someone else in those roles and the films likely would have done fine.

I have never met a man that actually wanted to go see a Tom Cruise film because they just "love" Cruise. They went because it was the big action thriller of the summer, or whatever.

R174 exactly what I’m saying. I don’t think she’s lying but I also don’t think she was offered the role of Charlie. The love interest changed twice before they created Charlie, based off a real person.

R175 but you’re also CHOOSING to ignore FACTS. His name carried movies to big profits.

I could see her in Meg Ryan’s role, not McGillis’.

[quote]R156 Tilley also looks Asian

Meg Tilly looks Asian like Merle Oberon looked Asian.

They may have been half casts, but the public just thought of them as sloe-eyed brunettes.

[Quote] The love interest changed twice before they created Charlie, based off a real person.

Yeah, and Ethel Merman played Rose in GYPSY, based off a real person.

Whether Tilly was right for the role, she's hardly likely to be lying, especially when she mentions other roles that she wasn't even seen for, that she screen tested but was pipped at the post for, and that she turned down meetings to discuss the possibility of doing...

Eurasian used to be the term...

Again, I said I don’t think she’s lying. She was at her peak in the early 80s. They began casting in 1983 when the scripts live interest was a different character. By 1985 the character was changed. She was probably offered the role when it was Mavericks colleague or the aerobics instructor, but not Charlie, based off a “Leggy” blonde.

Love*

Idk what’s up with my iPhone but the autocorrects have been insane lately. It kept changing aerobics to acrobatic before also. It’s getting ridiculous

R177 you are extremely dense.

Ask around and try to find the person or persons who "just couldn't wait to see T.Cruise" for these different films.

Who were they? I've never met these sorts of people.

Saw her in The Little Foxes a while back and she ruined the show. The rest of the cast was fantastic.

[Quote] not Charlie, based off a “Leggy” blonde.

Meg Tilly was a dancer. She WAS leggy.

And through the wonders of Hair and Make Up, she has played non raven haired people....!?!?!

Don’t feed the Meg Tilley troll. She’s getting her jollies off of everyone’s posts.

Back to Kelly. She was too big for Tom who always had zero sex chemistry with any of his leading ladies.

Kelly and Jodie were scissoring through the filming. It caused some trouble with their ex's who were not happy about it.

[bold]#Justice4Meg

[Quote] They made comparisons of Kelly to Grace Kelly at one point. No.

Grace Kelly had rather a wide jaw. She was not the epitome of feminine beauty.

[Quote] Kelly and Jodie were scissoring through the filming. It caused some trouble with their ex's who were not happy about it.

I heard Whitney Houston arrived on set and slapped one of them in their trailer!

[quote] I heard Whitney Houston arrived on set and slapped one of them in their trailer!

I heard the same but I'm not sure which one Whitney had been scissoring with. Probably Kelly.

Lots of men hate Kelly McGillis because of some college freshman orientation videos she made warning female freshman about the danger of rape. She only made that or those videos b/c she herself was raped and wanted to help save others from it. Small-minded men resented her instead of resenting the FACTS about date rape and such. If you can't get justice for being raped, you try to make the best of it by using your experience to warn other women. Is that surprising? SMH

Meh Tilley is not leggy. She’s shorter than Tom too. They cast someone 5’10.

Clearly the Meg troll doesn’t know what “leggy” means. It doesn’t mean knowing how to stretch them out in ballerina poses…

R184 you want us to ask people about seeing Tom Cruise movies 40 years ago????

Kelly was raped by two men shortly after moving to NYC but it had nothing to do with college.

Of course that doesn’t negate the importance of the message from her PSAs, but the way she was raped wasn’t a frat rape or date rape.

She read leggy. And on screen, that's all that matters.

She read leggy. And on screen, that's all that matters.

She is not a tall, long legged blonde white woman.

You're fixated on height, which is hilarious when the topic is a Tom Cruise movie...

Meet the real Christine Fox, "Legs."

That’s her now. Not in her 20s/30s. That photo is recent dear.

Another link for info on Christine Fox ie "Legs."

R203. Exactly. Not Asian

Need an edit button to add the link.

That woman is a giantess. There is no way Kelly McGillis was hired to tower over anyone in the movie.

They cast her to be taller than Tom…

Those tragic kitten heels they made Kelly wear...

She was actually taller than him and had to do tricks to not look too much taller.

But she was always meant to be taller.

Sigourney Weaver would have made a good Charlie I always think Kelly and sigourney had a similar manner in films. I could see McGill’s as Katherine in working girl for example and sigourney in the accused.

If Tilly was actually in the Oscar winner for Best Picture Amadeus (she was injured in a football game with the crew before filming began in Prague) then maybe she would have had a better shot at getting Meg Ryan’s role.

PS those photos are recent of Christine Fox. She’s 67 now. I think she looks pretty good for 67.

Sigourney Weaver was never considered a beauty and always considered unattractive by most

Tom Cruise's big break-out role was Risky Business (and he had plenty of chemistry with Rebecca deMornay, one of the very rare times when he did have chemistry with a woman). But I've since read that the film that really cemented his stardom was Cocktail. Why? Because it was a mediocre movie with mediocre reviews that still had a big opening and made money--because of Cruise's star power.

Cruise had a good run of money-making popcorn movies mixed with doing-okay prestige films. Enough so that, despite all his personal culty weirdness, he's been coasting on that period ever since.

Kelly McGillis' stardom was short--she honestly just didn't seem interested in keeping up that kind of career. She knows it, Hollywood knows it. Of course, she's right that her getting old and fat meant she wasn't going to be in the film--the producer is just being polite when saying it's about something else. Jennifer Connolly is age appropriate, so I give everyone a pass here. And, yeah, while I thought young Kelly McGillis was beautiful, even then she looked too large for a runt like Cruise.

Interesting to compare McGillis to Kathleen Turner, who also got fat, but Turner continues to work and looks okay onscreen as an older woman. It was a nice bit of stunt casting to have her play Michael Douglas' ex-wife on the Kominski Method.

[quote]r198 Kelly was raped by two men shortly after moving to NYC but it had nothing to do with college.

She moved to NYC to attend The Juilliard School.

Talk about an awkward pose...

R219 I know but the rape had nothing to do with the school and wasn’t two other students. It was two criminals who broke into her place. They held a knife to her eye as they took turns raping her. One of her neighbors heard her scream and ran to try and bust down her door. The banging on the door caused the two rapists to run and escape out the window.

Also, the cops came and she was able to identify the rapists in a lineup.

A friend of mine moonlighted as a mechanic at NH Motor Speedway back in 1986 and Paul Newman did some racing there. This was after The Color of Money and while Newman was there Tom Cruise showed up. At that time everyone knew Cruise as he had become quite famous. Said friend briefly met him and I asked him what he was like. His response "He's fucking short!" I asked him what else and he said Cruise didn't come across as an asshole.

Everyone knows he’s short. Back then we didn’t have the internet though so you couldn’t tell but by the late 90s I remember it being a talking point about how short him and Pitt are in person.

In more recent years Zac Efron too. They say he’s 5’8 but in person he looks 5’6 almost.

Gus Kenworthy claims he’s taller than he is also. He’s legit SHORT in person.

Tom Cruise rode motorbikes with Zac.

Stood in line at the Academy of Motion Pictures special screening behind TC. He has an oddly triangle shaped body with very short legs. I'm 5'4" with unusually long legs and was hearing heels of less than 4" yet I was at least a head taller than him.

Seemed EXTREMELY shy, had his head bent down staring at the cement. Still think he was very nice/polite. Only said a few words to me in response to a generic statement. I acted like I didn't recognize him, of course.

Attendants came out and said he shouldn't be standing in line with everyone else. They quickly escorted him inside. Never met anyone more uncomfortable with being in public in my entire life. Odd.

It's odd that a megastar would be uncomfortable being in public?

How can anyone “hate” the lovely Ms. McGillis? Save your hate for the Schocks and Trumps of the world.

R227 actually it makes great sense for them to feel uncomfortable having a bunch of strangers around them. Celebrities are some of the most paranoid people ever. There are a lot of crazies out there.

All Tommy's wives had to tower over him.

I just read a review of TG:M that said he and co-star Jennifer Connelly generate the heat of a ham sandwich.

She’s playing Penny, who is the Admiral from the OGs daughter. She’s mentioned in the original but we never meet her.

R229, I've talked to countless major stars in my life. I would never act like a silly fan.

I have also encountered many aspies et al and they didn't "read" nearly as physically uncomfortable with their own bodies as TC. Nervousness doesn't even begin to describe it. Again instead of standing up straight his was bent over and his eyes were focused on the sidewalk.

He’s been spotted in public many times and never looks uncomfortable.

[quote]the last time you paid to watch a Tom movie was 1986???

R5 I'm sure that was the last time I paid to see Tom in a movie also. Also I'm pretty sure I never saw a single other movie of his since then, except A Few Good Men, which I saw once on TV. Top Gun was absolute trash, btw. Cruise never interested me as an actor. Or as a guy.

Apparently Brooke Shields read for it but was awful in her screen test but Ally Sheedy got an offer and regrets turning it down.

R224, Brad Pitt is not short. He’s about 6ft. That was one of the issues mentioned I believe that caused some animosity when Interview with a Vampire filmed, Pitt was taller than Cruise. Everything I’ve read about TC says he is very nice to the public. His biggest misstep was the Scientology crap.

That's like saying Hitler's biggest mistake was the Holocaust.

She looks good with a Breck girl hairstyle in The House of Carroll Street (1987) set in the 1950s

Who gives a fuck about Meg Tilley! Fucking Dominique Dunne troll has changed to Meg Tilley. She has done nothing and is famous for nothing. Fucking trolls.

Her sister is the more remembered one

Yes, let's get back to Kelly McGillis. Did she do a Law & Order recently?

Not according to her IMDb page. Why compare her to Kathleen Turner? Because they both got fat? Kathleen Turner is the real deal when it comes to acting, McGillis could barely say her lines.

Kathleen Turner was the best movie star of the eighties.

I agree Kathleen was not only the best actress of the '80s but also the best star. She excused old school glamour with a modern twist, which is why Body Heat worked so well, and she showed such range in movies like Crimes of Passion, Romancing the Stone, Peggy Sue Got Married and War of the Roses.

I like McGillis, though. I thought she was very good in all her Paramount movies. I haven't seen Reuben, Reuben yet, though.

Kelly Mcgillis was gorgeous and perfect for the part. I wish they had brought her back for the sequel. Some tiny, delicate porcelain type would not have fit the role or been believable. I feel like data loungers think that every female movie role in history should be played by either Doris Day or Grace Kelly.

They could have brought the character back, but with Rene Russo.

What is this "Cat Chaser" nonsense? Was it an in-joke about McGillis' lesbianism?

[quote]Sigourney Weaver would have made a good Charlie

She was way too old.

Linda Fiorentino?

"Masculine, Pro-American ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Blasts to $146M Opening, Towers over Woke Flops"

Found this headline elsewhere on the internet. Explains why Top Gun is doing well. Flyovers love almost anything pro-military, Americana, showing strong men in action, USA, USA, USA.

It’s not just flyovers seeing it. It’s selling out in NYC too. Dummy.

It’s a man’s man movie like the first. They’re super excited to watch it.

[quote]r220 Talk about an awkward pose...

One critic wrote that McGillis is twisted in a perpetual S-shape throughout the movie, to fit around tiny Tom Cruise.

It's a movie about masculine white males doing masculine white male shit. Of course it's a huge hit, that's what people want to see. It's going to do amazing in Asia too because ironically Asians are the biggest audience for white people stuff.

What about Madeline Stowe? She’s beautiful, but has a toughness about her. She aged great too.

[quote]r238 She looks good with a Breck girl hairstyle in The House of Carroll Street (1987) set in the 1950s

Yes. I think 1940s glam offers such a great look. (The movie’s set in 1951, but there’s always some crossover on the cusp of the decades.)

R251 - Dummy, Never said NYC wouldn't flock to see a man's man movie. Just that many flyovers who are old-style regular movie theater goers love the themes. Many have friends & relatives in the military if they aren't/weren't themselves. Uniting for America against the world and a return to patriotism on Memorial Day.

By the way is it true China pulled financing or distribution agreements?

There was one black guy in the original and Some black faces here too.

The Fast and Furious films do amazing in Asia, better than the states a few times.

It’s not showing in China.

At least not yet.

Tons of everyone is going. It’s a nostalgia movie, and a movie many young people have seen. Top Gun has never gone away for some reason. I was reading something about how 36 years later the original is still a beloved and popular film that has never gone away.

Tons of young guys and older guys going to see this one too. My theater had a lot of young people. And it looked like groups of guys or guys with their girlfriends/wives.

Comments on this YouTube video page are interesting. Without the internet to discuss what they'd seen audiences didn't always see subtext.

I thought she was fine in "Rueben, Rueben," but the film itself (like most of her films) wasn't very good.

She always seemed sad in her roles . I think that’s from her real life trauma

I had read about her rape and remember her saying she believed she was raped as punishment for being in a gay relationship at the time. She was with a woman in NYC and truly believed God was punishing her for being gay.

R262, if true, that’s so sad . Rape pushed her back in closet

About her rape:

She was at home in February when two men forced their way into her apartment and raped her at knifepoint.

“I’ll never forget the way they smelled,” she told People magazine in 1988. “Like alcohol and old sweat…While one watched, the taller one got on top of me and held the knife at my right eye…Then the other one got on top of me. They kept switching and telling me they were going to beat me until I was dead.”

Luckily, someone had heard her screams and called the police who banged on the door and caused the attackers to run away. McGillis later identified them, with the primary attacker being imprisoned for three years.

All this happened before the actress won her breakout role opposite Harrison Ford in 1985 Amish thriller ‘Witness’ (above) and before she was cast as Charlie Blackwood, the teacher who trains wannabe Navy pilots in ‘Top Gun’.

But the spectre of her rape hung over everything she did. She admitted that she couldn’t use the New York subway without gagging and that without the understanding of her fellow students and teachers at Juilliard, she would have committed suicide.

She subsequently revealed that while she’d married and divorced a fellow student by the time the rape happened, she’d actually been living with a woman at the time of the assault and thought the attack had been punishment for being gay.

She drank excessively and as she told People, “I would put myself in demeaning relationships with men. It made me feel horrible, but it seemed to be what I deserved.”

While she took Hollywood by storm with her BAFTA-nominated performance in ‘Witness’ and the global phenomenon that was ‘Top Gun’, behind-the-scenes she was struggling. She partly took the role of the prosecutor opposite Jodie Foster in acclaimed 1988 rape drama ‘The Accused’ because she thought it might help her come to terms with her past.

PS the rape was in February of 1982

Two black guys raped her

Idk the second guys age, but Leroy Johnson was 15 when he raped her r266

Bump

R264 That rape sounds awesome and believable. Too bad they couldn't do the same for the horrible Looney Tunes "rape" with the actual fucking retard males in The Accused.

Rape is soul killing

The primary attacker only got 3 years? So much for American justice.

Yea, tell me about it

Has anyone posted this?

Who wants to see reality when you have Miss Tammy botoxed, filled and stretched.

R245 Only the Dinos who are 200 years old. Thankfully they are dying out quickly.

This is them together in 2010.

R275, She looks nice there, but the general effect is to make Tom look tiny and remind us how old he really is. I see she was only married to her wife for a year, hope she's happy doing whatever it is. That rape sounds horrific and the trauma long lasting.

Is the frog neck a health issue beyond weight gain?

Nah, that's just old age and menopause.

Was she not post menopausal here? I think she looked great. I remember cops were called to her house because of a lesbian stalker/lover.

She's still very pretty. She has beautiful eyes.

R280, sadly she’s not. She was only 52-53 in the photo with TC. She really let herself go completely as evidenced in R277. She’s only 64 yrs old. She looks like an old church lady from the Midwest.

It wasn't so long ago that people were saying Tammy had hit the wall...

She was raped by two black teenagers.

Were they Frankie Lymon's teenagers?

No they were a couple of hood rat thugs

Bitchy queens are vicious and jealous

R283 ok….

Well she was r287

Margot Robbie has similar looks to Kelly McGillis, maybe.

Really horrible for Kelly to go through being sexually assaulted like that. Good for her if she has let go of trying to look a certain way. I hope she's happy.

R289 amen

She had a bar when she lived in Key West. I ate there once in the 90s--food was OK, patio was lovely at night.

KMG gave caneface always. The rape story is absolutely awful. What a terrible thing to experience. I think they should have brought her back somehow. Having Connolly around as the younger model is insulting.

Jennifer is playing the Admiral’s daughter

I don't mind Jennifer is in it, but it would have been nice to see Kelly. Even for a cameo.

The way she looks now? No.

I don't care how she looks.

How would she factor in R296? Why would they remind the audience that they didn’t end up together? Obviously they didn’t and both have moved on. It would make no sense for her to be in it. Meg Ryan, OTOH, makes complete sense given that her character’s son features prominently.

r291 I was at a gay bar in Key West in 2010 and everyone talked about Kelly!

R282 LOL. Tammy looks like a million fat, puffy, dykes in that shot, only not as fat.

Most military wives are dumpy and overweight anyway. Kelly would have been perfectly cast.

The idea he would end up with her is nonsense. They were a fling.

I agree. She was an UGGO. Not that Cruise was any hotter. He looks better now.

She is hardly worth hating, OP. Just how LONG is your exhaustive list of hated actresses and performances? Are you a bitter old ugly unfucked eldergay? I bet you are! Have you always been FUG? Kelly sure was gorgeous, at the time. Jelly?

R303, exactly

[quote]Most military wives are dumpy and overweight anyway.

It is strange. The men are fit and hot AF and their wives are fat homely pigs.

The officers (military) have more options w/regard to women.

Enlisted men tend to be younger, low-paid (I would guess), and subject to deployment. Not every woman wants to be dealing with that.

R305, at a wild guess, the military are more likely to marry young and have kids young, and over the subsequent five years the men spend their days training and keeping fit while the wives sitting around on the military bases without much to do other than raise kids, get involved in petty bullshit with other military wives, and eat. They were probably of similar attractiveness in the beginning but that diverges over time, and also this is the reason why there seems to be a stereotype of military wives as entitled Karens.

Military girls don't sit around all day doing nuthin'! Fucking moron. Do you imagine all girls to be like Peg Bundy? Blow it out yo tampon, bitch.

Aren't many non-combat military men fat pigs?

Did she show her tits in this?

An officer may have a hot wife. But most military wives are frumps. And more often than not, obese frumps. Especially the white ones.

No r310 but Tom did