Top Gun: Maverick Editor Eddie Hamilton Felt The Weight Of Expectations [Exclusive Interview]

This is such an economical movie. Was the structure pretty nailed down after it was shot, or did it take a long time to get it to that place?

It was very long. No, I mean, I have this theory that the easier a film looks when you watch it, the harder it was to make, which is completely true. Like any creative process, stuff starts out long and lumpy and unfocused. It takes a very long time to slowly compress it, to focus every single scene on the exact emotional response that you're trying to deliver for the audience, and to make sure that every sequence is played from Maverick's point of view, because he's the protagonist.

The first assembly was difficult to watch because it just wasn't focused and it was quite long. The aerial sequences didn't really make sense because when we first watched the movie through, there were no aerial sequences in there because it was the last thing we did. We filmed for a few months to do the ground story and then we started on the aerial sequences. It took a very long time for it all to come together.

Then you realize that the core emotional thrust of the movie is this relationship between Maverick and Rooster. If every scene doesn't lean into that, then you are not going to get such a great payoff at the end emotionally when they resolve their differences. I mean, it was a very, very long, slow process to really get those scenes to work. Even something like setting up Maverick in the Darkstar at the beginning, to get the tone of all that stuff exactly right was really challenging. To find the right score when he's flying and he can see the curvature of the earth and he says, "Talk to me, Goose," it was hard to find the tone of the music there. It's kind of warm, and we call it "the love of aviation" cue. But it took us a very, very long time to find that tone, so that you have that warm hug when he's flying and he's taking the Dark Star to mach 10. And then, of course, the score builds to a crescendo and then you find yourself deep in the sound design of the plane pushing up towards mach 10. The suspense in gently pushing a stick forward to try and get to that point.

It was a challenge to get everything to land correctly. There are scenes that we took out because they didn't support that. If something didn't work, we would quite often go back and take another swing at it. They'd go back the next day and we'd pick up additional angles on actors where we needed to support something or where the emotional resonance wasn't quite landing or truthful for whatever reason.

The relationship between Maverick and Penny was very hard to get exactly right. There were other scenes. Here's a fun fact for you: The scene where he rides with Penny on the motorbike after the beach football scene, that originally was situated after the sailing scene. But it was too early for them to have that kind of relationship with her on the back of the bike, resting her head on his shoulder. If you see the shot, she's wearing the clothes from the sailing scene, but instead, we changed her white pants blue to make them look like jeans in visual effects.

But because you are right in the emotion of that scene with the football and right at the end, the ball gets thrown to Hondo and they all pile on Hondo and they have a laugh and the music's building, and then you see Maverick and Penny riding home and then you get there — it's a very short shot; it's 12 seconds or something — he pulls up and she's wearing completely different clothes, but you don't notice because you are in the emotion of the movie.

That's an example of, you have to dial the emotions so carefully through the entire movie to make sure that nothing bumps at all. And there was a whole extra scene [during] the beach football where Cyclone talked to Maverick and we were like, "No, he's just got to walk away before he says all that stuff." All this is dialed in and takes a long time to figure out. It's not necessarily stuff that you can figure out on the page, either. It's stuff that you discover during the process of putting the movie together. I think it's a testament to the experience of Joe Kosinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, and Chris McQuarrie that they embraced that evolution of the story and the emotional clarity of each sequence.

We embraced the organic nature of filmmaking, which is where you have to have a plan, but leave yourself open to discoveries on the day. Then if something doesn't work, figure out a way to go back and film additional shots to help the process land. But the other thing to remember, Jack, is the pressure on everybody on the crew for this film to be a slam dunk, we all felt it for two years. Three years for Joe and [cinematographer] Claudio [Miranda], because it took them almost a year to figure out how to put planes in the cameras. For me, it was a two-year journey of editing the film.

I was desperate for it not to suck, because I'm a fan. I've been to see films and been desperately disappointed over the years. I didn't want the audience to have that experience. Everyone's going in with their arms crossed, because everyone thinks, "Well, why are you even trying this? It's going to fail. It's a poison chalice. What are you doing trying to make a sequel to 'Top Gun'?"

Tom was aware of that as well, and he said, "We got to start the same way. Harold Faltermeyer's 'Top Gun' anthem into the 'Danger Zone,' get everyone to uncross their arms and lean in so that they feel like we care." Same typeface for the opening type and all of that stuff. They are tiny, tiny details, but it just shows that we really care. Every detail of the movie has been carefully thought through and we want to win you over in those first two minutes, so that you lean in and then we can reintroduce you to Maverick and then take you back to Top Gun. We wanted you to feel like you were back in the world, the feeling of the world that Tony Scott had created in 1986. We all felt that. We didn't know if we'd got it, but thank heavens the audiences responded well.

In that training montage, Maverick is showing the kids how it's done. There's a meta quality there of Cruise showing the world, "This is how you make a blockbuster, people."

It is in a way, yeah. Tom was aware — he had a Spidey-sense about the fact that streaming was coming. There's this tidal wave coming through the industry. And he really loves theatrical. I love theatrical. I love the communal experience of going to a theater and watching a movie on a big screen with awesome sound. For me, it's the best thing. It's complete magic when you go and you watch a great movie with an audience for two hours. I love it with all my heart. I've had so many wonderful experiences in my life watching movies with a crowd in a theater.

And he wanted to try and persuade the industry that there was still validity in that. Let's be honest: Early in 2022, streaming was very in fashion and theatrical was very much on the back foot, obviously because of the pandemic. But Tom was like, "No, no, no, we have to demonstrate to the industry that the crowds will show up for a movie and remind everybody of the joy of a movie, of that communal experience of watching a film in a theater, when everyone is laughing and when everyone is excited and when everyone is emotional at the end of the film, when everyone laughs."

We know for a lot of people that "Top Gun" was their first movie back in cinemas after they hadn't been for two years, so it was terrific that we were able to play our part in course correcting the industry, I think, back towards theatrical. Certainly, I feel that is undeniable now, when you hear David Zaslav talking about it and talking about the importance of theatrical to Warner Brothers now.

It was, in a way, Tom reminding audiences of that, but that's always what he wanted. He tries to make films which resonate emotionally with an audience. It's really important that you don't watch the film, you feel the film. That's constantly what he's telling us. The audience has to feel it. You don't want them observing it. You want them to be on an emotional journey, which is completely seamless from beginning to end, which is almost the holy grail of a movie.

When you watch a film like that, you almost don't want to come off the ride because you love it so much. You want to stay in the world of the film. Again, I've felt like that at times in my life. I remember "Dances with Wolves" was one where I saw it and I was stunned. "Braveheart" was another one. I was just completely stunned. I literally sat in the theater afterwards overwhelmed emotionally by what I'd seen. I wanted to go in and watch the movie immediately again, which I did with both of those films.

It's also very exciting, because I feel like there might be young kids who hadn't been to a movie theater for two or three years, and their parents took them to see "Top Gun." So, one of their earliest memories of moviegoing will be seeing this incredible film and it might start their love affair with movies. There might be a whole generation of kids out there who talk about "Top Gun: Maverick" as being something that lit the fire of creativity in them or something.

I remember when I saw "Star Wars” when I was eight years old, it was a lightning bolt for me. The way that everyone who works at ILM talked about "King Kong" or "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" being a lightning bolt for them growing up, it's the experience that you can pass on to the next generation, which is quite exciting. Tom is all about that as well.

Did your love of "Star Wars" feel like a full-circle moment here? The third act here of hitting the target is very "Star Wars."

Yeah, we were all joking about the thermal exhaust port right below the main port all the time, I promise you. That joke never got old. But Luke Skywalker doesn't get shot down and get reunited with Han Solo behind enemy lines, and then they steal a TIE fighter and they have to fight their way out. So, you don't get quite the same experience.

But yes, hands up, we were all very aware of it. I think as the film evolved, we became more and more aware of the similarities with "Episode IV." I remember when we were up at Skywalker doing our temp mixes, I met Ben Burtt, who was the sound designer on "Star Wars." I said to him, "I've read these stories of the editors on 'Star Wars' using World War II dogfight footage filmed off a television on 16 millimeter as templates for where the TIE fighters and the X-wings would be moving through the air, so that ILM had an idea of how fast the planes were going to move and stuff."

Ben had on his laptop a QuickTime movie, a side by side of the original work print from "Star Wars” and the finished movie. He said, "Eddie, this is a real treat for you. Have a look at this." So I got to see that. I had just spent months of my life building the final mission sequence, the action sequence for "Top Gun: Maverick." It was like three months of work to build that first assembly from the moment they take off the carriers to the moment they crash land at the end.

So I was in awe of what they did, because that sequence in "Star Wars: Episode IV" is still brilliant today when you watch it, but they did it on film. And I had all the new cogs and widgets of an Avid media composer to help me, and the fact that it's all non-linear and incredibly fast and I can find stuff instantly. So I did have enormous respect for what they achieved with that.

Earlier you mentioned that sometimes the most challenging scenes are the most simple on paper. For the scene between Iceman and Maverick, what's the challenge in handling all those emotions?

Yeah, yeah. Here's the thing to remember: That scene plays from Maverick's point of view. When you are editing, point of view is critically important. Maverick is the protagonist. Everything is bounced off Maverick. You are connected with his thoughts through the entire scene with Iceman. The first shot we see is Maverick walking into the room, then we cut to his point of view of Iceman, then we cut back to Maverick reacting to seeing his friend in this condition and him making the decision to move forward and sit down. Then when Iceman's typing, you always cut to Maverick looking over at the screen, then you cut to the screen. You are always seeing it through his point of view. We are playing shots for a long time on Tom Cruise without cutting away, so there are raw emotional shots where we're choosing not to cut. You are left with the character confronting his emotions.

What I love about Val Kilmer's performance is there is a playfulness to it. It's humorous. When he's pointing at the screen and going, "I want to talk about work," you can still feel the spirit of Iceman and the decades of friendship there, even though they're not speaking. Sometimes he just gave these wonderful looks, which we use. Tom is looking and his friend is looking at him and waiting for him to come to these realizations about his relationship with Rooster, or the fact that he can't give up being a fighter pilot because that's who he is.

Though it was difficult, we trod very carefully and we refined it endlessly. Again, we felt the weight of expectation. That scene had to deliver. It had to thread this needle for the audience, who know that Val Kilmer has had health issues and can't speak very well, so they're like, "Well, how are they going to handle this?" I remember reading a version of the scene where he spoke every line of dialogue and didn't type it, and we filmed it just in case. But I remember talking to Joe and saying, "Look, if he only says one thing right at the end of the scene and it takes enormous effort then to say it, it will have so much more resonance and you'll feel so much more from the scene between those two characters." So we ended up finding that. And we refined what he typed. Initially what was scripted wasn't there, so we refined it. We went back and had another crack at some extra angles in that scene to make sure that the stuff worked.

Yes, it was a challenge, but I'm really glad that it worked. It wasn't easy. Nothing worked the first time. Everything was refined and developed and we would leave it alone and come back and refine it again. I mean, every single frame of this movie was stress tested over and over again. I can't tell you the number of times. I've seen the film hundreds of times, which is the job of an editor, but also what is necessary to make something which works and feels effortless to watch.

"Top Gun: Maverick" is now available on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.