I’ve been devouring – a little late – High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, Charles Fleming’s page-turning and hair-raising 1998 biography of the late Hollywood producer and ‘bad boy’, who along with his ‘good boy’ partner Jerry Bruckheimer were the most successful independent producers in Hollywood… Read More »How Don & Tom Made ‘Top Gun’ So Steamy
Maverick is back. Though of course he never went away. Since he appeared in that film back in 1986, making him one of Hollywood’s biggest box office draws, Tom Cruise remained forever Maverick for the next three decades or so. Captured like a Mayfly in director Tony Scott’s amber filters,… Read More »Top Gun Reloaded
The famously homoerotic ’80s fly-boy flick used to be totally no-homo (Originally published in the Daily Telegraph May 12, 2016) Thirty years ago today, the stars of Top Gun were taxiing the red carpet at the premiere in New York. The film, which features Tom Cruise’s ‘Maverick’ and Val Kilmer’s ‘Iceman’ competing… Read More »How Did Top Gun Get So Gay?