Top Gun: Maverick contains a number of memorable scenes, from the lively meet-up at the Hard Deck bar to Maverick and Rooster’s escape from an enemy airbase. Of course, you can’t gush about the critically acclaimed sequel without discussing the shirtless football sequence on the beach. It’s fair to say that as that moment played out, plenty of viewers took notice of the stars’ impeccable physiques. Now, one star has confirmed that the cast actually got pretty competitive while getting ripped for the film.
Franchise newcomer Danny Ramirez was among the stars who were hitting the weight room ahead of (and presumably during) production. The up-and-coming actor – who broke “the glass ceiling” with his role as Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia – has spoken highly of his co-stars. His more recent comments seem to suggest that the group had quite a fitness journey, and he explained why he found the entire thing to be “funny”:
There was a lot of competition with the guys, since the beginning of filming, when it came to working out. I think it’s just funny, being with a bunch of dudes just pushing each other to the limit at the gym.
A little testosterone can go a long way, in my experience. Of course, based on what the star told Page Six, the group’s work-out aspirations didn’t reach any toxic levels. It merely sounds like the group just had a healthy dose of competition, which was probably a good thing when you think about it. In Maverick, that same kind of relationship existed amongst their characters, and their real-life mindsets likely seeped into their performances. The On My Block alum also believes that pumping iron with Miles Teller, Greg Tarzan Davis and co. helped build camaraderie among them:
Every day we start showing up earlier and earlier to the gym… it just brought cohesion to the group.
You’d be amazed by what a friendly push from a friend or colleague can do for you, and you can’t argue with what it did for the young cast of Top Gun: Maverick. One of the reasons the movie works is because they have such great chemistry, which isn’t surprising when you hear stories like Danny Ramirez’s. Also, while doing all of that lifting and bonding, the castmates were able to shape their aforementioned bodies for that beach sequence.
During that portion of the movie, Tom Cruise’s Maverick treats his team to a day of “dogfight football" in an attempt to build chemistry (and he ultimately succeeds in doing that). The scene took pop culture by storm – and even became the basis for a sweaty, three-hour musical compilation. The cast and crew have discussed it extensively, with “Bob” actor Lewis Pullman discussing how committed his co-stars were to getting ready. He even recalled hearing Glen Powell a.k.a. “Hangman” telling himself that “montages are forever.” Powell did get to show off his abs, while “Payback” star Jay Ellis didn’t get a shirtless shot – which didn’t bother him at all.
Thanks to that fun scene and the movie as a whole, Danny Ramirez, along with his co-stars, is now immortalized within the history of cinema. This is just the beginning for Ramirez, though, as he’s now set to reprise his role as Joaquin Torres and become the Falcon in Captain America: New World Order. I’d imagine that while he preps for that outing, he’ll seek to harness the same spirited gym energy he and the Top Gun cast had.
Top Gun: Maverick is now available to stream using a Paramount+ subscription and, for the latest on Hollywood blockbusters, check out CinemaBlend’s schedule of 2023 new movie releases.
