Tom Cruise terrified ‘Top Gun’ co-star Glen Powell by pretending to nearly crash helicopter in epic prank

As one of Hollywood’s rising stars, Glen Powell takes his industry relationships seriously. So seriously that he often finds himself on the receiving end of a good prank. 

When recalling a trip back to London with “Top Gun: Maverick” co-star Tom Cruise, Powell said the seasoned actor decided to fly the duo back in his helicopter after filming reshoots in Pinewood. However, at one point, Cruise pretended that they were about to go down. 

“Tom goes ‘Oh no, oh no,’ and he starts dropping the helicopter over London,” Powell said in a new interview with GQ. “I was like, ‘Am I about to be the unnamed guy that dies with Tom in a smoking hole in the middle of London?’”

‘TOP GUN: MAVERICK’ STAR GLEN POWELL NEARLY WENT BROKE WAITING FOR FILM’S DEBUT, ‘DEPLETING A BANK ACCOUNT’

Safe to say, the two landed safe and sound. 

There was another time when Cruise sent him to a theater in Los Angeles to watch a “film school” movie he had put together for his friends. 

While Powell anticipated a crowd, he quickly discovered he was the sole attendee. For six hours, Powell watched his co-star discuss everything he knows about filmmaking. According to Powell, Cruise had no intention of putting it out into the public but instead said, “This is just for my friends.”

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Powell said, “[Cruise] is like: ‘Do we all agree that this is what a camera is? This is the difference between a film camera and a digital camera…’ The funniest part is on flying. It was like he put together this entire flight school. So he would literally go ‘OK, this is what a plane is. Here’s how things fly. Here’s how air pressure works.’”

At the end of the day, it is all good fun, and Powell is grateful for his friendship with Cruise. 

Glen Powell, right, says Tom Cruise told him to “lean into” playing a d—–bag for his character to be believable in “Top Gun: Maverick.” (Marc Piasecki/FilmMagic)

“The one thing I feel we’re kindred spirits in is he’s obsessed with movies,” Powell told the outlet. “That was our love language on set. I got to watch a guy who knew every department. He was able to clearly interface with everyone, and be so friendly and respectful and be able to communicate that vision.”

Powell also recently spoke more about the impact “Top Gun: Maverick” had on his career. 

“I’d never made any significant amount of money on a movie, including ‘Top Gun,’” and I was depleting a bank account to a point where my accountant was like, ‘This pandemic cannot last much longer,’” Powell told The Hollywood Reporter.

Glen Powell is grateful for his friendship with Tom Cruise. (Photo by Neil Mockford/FilmMagic)

“But Tom was already Tom; I was waiting for my life to change,” he added.

During a conversation with Kate Hudson for Variety, the “Anyone But You” actor said Cruise offered him some words of wisdom that have stuck with him to this day. 

“Sometimes you can fall into the trap of wanting to be liked on camera,” Powell said. “And in a movie like this, where you know there’s going to be a lot of eyes on it, you don’t want to be Draco Malfoy,” he said, referencing the character in the “Harry Potter” series.

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“Tom gave me this advice: ‘For the ending to work, you have to completely lean into that. Everybody else in the movie is questioning their own ability,'” Powell said, recalling what Cruise said about Powell’s character.

“You’re the only guy that’s not questioning it. So, if there’s any sort of apology in anything you say, the movie doesn’t work. Lean into the d—–baggery of it all.”

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Fox News Digital’s Mariah Haas contributed to this post.