Real DarkStar pilot who flew in Top Gun: Maverick was afraid he'd 'kill everybody' after they asked him to perform maneuver

Frank ‘Walleye’ Weisser, a retired US Navy pilot and former Blue Angels aviator, was one of the unsung heroes behind the breathtaking Darkstar aerial sequences in Top Gun: Maverick, starring none other than Tom Cruise.

Tasked with flying many of the film’s most daring shots, Weisser brought decades of real-world skill to the big screen.

But during production, one request from the director pushed the limits even for him: a dangerously low, high-speed pass that he feared could ‘kill everybody’ if executed wrong.

The moment underscored the razor-thin line between thrilling movie magic and life-threatening reality when it comes to aviation stunts.

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How a real pilot made Top Gun: Maverick unforgettable

Weisser, who completed two tours with the US Navy’s elite Blue Angels demonstration team, was brought onto the set of Top Gun: Maverick to ensure its aerial footage felt authentic.

The DarkStar, which is a fictional hypersonic jet inspired by real-world concepts like the SR-72, features in one of the film’s most memorable opening sequences, blasting across the desert at blistering speeds.

As with most movies Tom Cruise finds himself in, like the Mission Impossible franchise, stunt work is preferred over digital effects.

In fact, Brad Pitt revealed that Ford vs Ferrari never happened because Tom Cruise realized he wouldn’t be spending much time behind the wheel.

Director Joseph Kosinski wanted the DarkStar to look as though it was skimming the ground, amplifying the sense of speed and danger.

That meant asking Weisser to fly as low as possible over the set, which was filled with crew members, equipment, and structures.

Weisser recalls being told they only had one chance to capture the shot, adding to the pressure.

His immediate reaction was blunt.

“If I do that, I could end up killing everybody here,” he said.

As a seasoned pilot, he assessed the risks and determined that the maneuver could easily end in disaster if anything went wrong, from a sudden gust of wind to a minor miscalculation.

There were many other stunts

While Weisser ultimately performed a safer version of the stunt, the Darkstar scene still came across as thrilling and realistic on screen.

He noted that, when he was younger, he might have been more willing to push the limits, but experience had taught him the importance of calculated risk.

Top Gun: Maverick, released in 2022, became one of the highest-grossing films of the year, earning praise for its reliance on practical effects and real flying sequences rather than CGI.

The actors had to go through extreme training to prepare for the movie, but fans agree that it was all worth it.

Weisser’s cautious but skillful execution of daring aerial maneuvers was a big reason why those sequences looked so authentic, and why the crew members lived to see the tale.

While the scenes could easily be replicated using movie magic instead, that’s not exactly going to happen when Tom Cruise is around.

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