It’s been 37 years, and we’re still talking about that volleyball scene in Top Gun, and even though it’s only been a year, the same can be said about the shirtless football sequence in its legacy sequel Top Gun: Maverick. Now, Greg Tarzan Davis, who played Coyote in the Tom Cruise-led film, has opened up about how he still gets asked about that scene even though the film has been out for well over 365 days.
Before the football scene came up, Greg Tarzan Davis was speaking to ET about his upcoming role in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. While they chatted about stunt driving, and working with Tom Cruise, eventually he was asked which movie made him get in better shape. The actor pointed to the shirtless beach scene in Maverick for his answer, saying:
I would have to say Top Gun: Maverick got me into better shape because of the beach [football] scene. I wanted to make sure when that shirt came off I had to make sure those [abs] were popping. They still talking about that today. They’re like, ‘Man, you need some baby oil!’ And I’m like, ‘No, no. I’m in a different movie now but thank you.’
While Maverick has some truly epic sequences in the planes, the shirtless football scene has a legacy of its own. Between all the shirtless dudes, the golden hour lighting and One Republic’s banger “I Ain’t Worried” playing it was the perfect summer scene.
The stories behind the sequence make it even more memorable too. Before the film premiered, Glen Powell explained that the shirtless football scene almost didn’t happen because they were going to do a shirts vs. skins game. However, the Hangman actor told the director they had been working too hard for this moment, and thank goodness he said something.
This also isn’t the first time Davis has spoken about the football scene. During Maverick’s promotional cycle, the actor detailed how they trained for the shirtless moment, saying they “had to get sexy for the beach scene.” He went on to say that there was a lot of “starvation,” “anger,” and “testosterone” that went into training for that day of filming, and once it was over they all “just devoured food.”
Even though the scene likely wasn’t the most fun to prepare for, the Top Gun: Maverick cast ended up in immaculate shape because of it and all the other training they did for the film. I assume this experience also helped Greg Tarzan Davis prepare for his next project with Cruise, the seventh Mission: Impossible movie.
It sounds like the stunts in M:I 7 were just as wild to film as some of the sequences in Top Gun, and both movies required Davis to be in incredible shape. While we know that hard work paid off for Maverick and that wonderful shirtless football scene, we’ll find out if that’s also true for his next movie when Dead Reckoning hits theaters on July 12.
In the meantime, you can go back and relive the magic of Top Gun: Maverick, shirtless scene and all, with a Paramount+ subscription. Also, make sure to check out the 2023 movie schedule so you can plan your next trip to the theaters.