Ahead of 'Top Gun: Maverick' release, Tom Cruise's old clip on 'sequel irresponsible' resurfaces

The wait is finally over as Tom Cruise's long-delayed 'Top Gun: Maverick' is about to hit the theatres later this month. However, days ahead of the release, an old interview of Cruise has surfaced where he labelled the making of follow-up to his classic 'Top Gun' as "irresponsible".

Cruise had given the interview to Playboy magazine in 1990 during the publicity tour for "Born on the Fourth of July". It was then that the actor had labelled the idea of making a sequel to Top Gun as irresponsible, reported Variety.

"Some people felt that 'Top Gun' was a right-wing film to promote the Navy. And a lot of kids loved it. But I want the kids to know that that's not the way war is -- that 'Top Gun' was just an amusement park ride, a fun film with a PG-13 rating that was not supposed to be reality," Cruise said in his interview in 1990.

"That's why I didn't go on and make 'Top Gun II' and III and IV and V. That would have been irresponsible," he further stated.

Top Gun sees Cruise playing a young naval aviator who is training at the US Navy's Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Calif.

"They are two different things. Top Gun' is a joy ride and shouldn't be looked at beyond that. 'Born' is about real people and real events. 'Top Gun' should be looked at as going on Space Mountain -- it's like a simple fairy tale...Let's look at the reality of what I am saying -- where my beliefs lie. I didn't have anything riding on 'Top Gun.' The fact is, I really want people to see 'Born on the Fourth of July '-- it's a movie that had to be made," Cruise had further said in his interview, as per Variety.

In the sequel "Top Gun Maverick" which will hit the theatres on May 27, sees Cruise's character playing a mentor to a group of younger Top Gun graduates played by Miles Teller, Glen Powell and more.

( With inputs from ANI )