What draws me to a captivating biopic (which there are many) is its ability to make me look at an artist in a new way. It’s the film’s capacity to make me feel like I understand the person now. I felt that way after watching Michael.

Obviously, these movies are filtered through the lens of the filmmaking team behind them, so they can’t possibly fully capture the truth of someone’s life. That’s why the criticism about Michael excluding important details is valid, but these things will likely be addressed in the next movie. Therefore, I viewed the film less as an all-encompassing look at Michael Jackson’s life and more as a movie about the journey of an artist.

Warning: Michael spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution.

The Film Emphasizes How Big It Was For Him To Succeed As A Black Musician At The Time

One of the most important scenes in Michael shows Michael Jackson (Jaafar Jackson) demanding that MTV play his videos. At first, Walter Yetnikoff (Mike Myers), president of CBS Records, is hesitant to put Michael’s videos on MTV. That was not how things worked at the time. Black artists weren’t shown on MTV. Michael and his attorney, John Branca (Miles Teller), get their request

It helps him and the network. This scene acts as a reminder of how hard it was for Black artists to receive the same amount of attention and respect. It also emphasizes how Michael was a revolutionary artist of his time. He paved the way for other Black artists.

It Shows How Being Different Helped And Hurt His Life

Michael is shown as a bit of an odd person. Something many great music biopics highlight is that the subject doesn’t think and behave like an average person. They are musical geniuses, and that makes them fascinating. It’s their uniqueness that transforms them into brilliant creatives, but it also sometimes makes them outcasts.

Michael shows that the “Billie Jean” singer doesn’t really have a childhood. The other children treat him differently because of his early fame. As an adult, he doesn’t have many friends besides his family. Michael is a sensational musician because he doesn’t think or operate like others.

What makes him a well-respected and celebrated artist doesn’t translate to much success in his personal life. Many highly successful artists probably deal with the same things: feelings of isolation, loneliness, and misunderstanding. We have already seen many biopics showcase these themes, but it doesn’t make them any less impactful.

The Film Encourages People To Not Follow The Traditional Path

It’s part of human nature to want to find people who understand and appreciate you. It’s a lonely feeling when you’re meant to walk the world alone. Therefore, many conform to society standards. They don’t want to stand out or be too different. This could lead to rejection. Michael shows the pop artist not finding many individuals who get him, but he becomes globally adored. That can’t replace the feeling of belonging, but it can make people feel important enough to continue to create.

It shows them that they matter to this world. Michael may make struggling artists see that they’re capable of greatness if they stay true to themselves. The people meant to find them will, whether that’s a tribe of individuals, fans, or a single person who adores someone without limits and conditions.

Michael was one of the must-see upcoming music biopics, and it delivered. Now we want a Janet Jackson movie after the Michael sequel. We need more of the Jacksons’ stories.

Catch the box office smash Michael at a theater near you.

I grew up watching Top Gun on a loop, and when Top Gun: Maverick came out, it became a frequent rewatch. However, I had never watched the films back-to-back. That all changed, though, when the Top Gun movies returned to theaters alongside the releases on the 2026 movie schedule. And it was during this experience that I finally picked up on two very obvious parallels – one involving Iceman and Rooster, while the other involves Maverick and Hangman – that I can’t believe I missed.

I Can’t Believe I Never Noticed How Similar Iceman And Rooster Are

Re-watching Top Gun (which you can do with a Paramount+ subscription), I came to the realization that Iceman is actually very pragmatic, realistic and reasonable. The entire movie, he’s just trying to tell Maverick that his way of flying is reckless and could get someone killed.

Now, while Goose’s death was not Maverick’s fault, it certainly was a wake-up call. It also emphasized the point Iceman was making about what could go wrong in the plane. Up to this rewatch, I had always seen Val Kilmer’s character as an antagonist, when really, he was just trying to point out Maverick’s biggest flaw.

Then, in Top Gun: Maverick, it’s Rooster who does just that. He’s the safest flyer of the aviators brought back to Top Gun for this special mission, and he spends most of the movie playing it safe. Also, like Ice, Miles Teller’s character is unafraid to call out Maverick.

In a lot of ways, Miles Teller’s character serves as Tom Cruise’s foil in Maverick, which is what Iceman is in the first movie. However, the dynamic is even more complex in the beloved Top Gun sequel, because Rooster is also Goose’s son. So, he has qualities of both Mav’s biggest rival and his best friend, making their relationship very complicated.

However, circling back to Rooster and Iceman, this parallel is so meaningful and obvious that I’m kicking myself for letting it fly over my head.

I Also Realized Maverick And Hangman Are A Lot Alike

Watching Top Gun: Maverick right after Top Gun, I also realized Glen Powell’s Hangman was acting a whole lot like a young Maverick. He’s cocky, a bit reckless and very driven to do whatever he can. I do think he’s more egotistical than Maverick, thanks to his team leader comments. However, generally speaking, his way of flying parallels his teacher’s in a wild way.

That’s because Hangman’s relationship with Rooster is framed a lot like Iceman and Maverick’s in the first movie. I had always thought that Hangman was Iceman and Rooster was Maverick, simply because Hangman is more of an antagonist, while Rooster is a protagonist. However, that was because I didn’t see the deeper parallels.

In the end, Rooster is more like the pragmatic and calculated Iceman, while Hangman is spontaneous and confident like Maverick. I’m happy I realized this, too, because it makes the movies even better. I just wish I had realized it earlier.

There’s been chatter about a Top Gun 3 for years now. After the smash hit that was Top Gun: Maverick, it’s felt like the right move to make. Well, now it’s officially, finally being made, as Paramount announced that the movie is in the works and has a writer. So, now that I’ve had a full day to sit with that news, I’ve thought of four things I need to see happen in Top Gun 3.

It was announced that Top Gun 3 is in the works during Paramount’s CinemaCon presentation (via Variety), and it was confirmed that Tom Cruise would be back as Maverick, while Jerry Bruckheimer will be back as a producer. Along with that, it was revealed that Ehren Kruger, who co-wrote Top Gun: Maverick with Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, would be returning to write the new movie.

So, with all that in mind, I've been wondering what might happen during Maverick's next adventure, and I've realized there are four things I need to see.

I Need An Update On Rooster, Hangman And The Young Pilots From Top Gun: Maverick

One of the biggest highlights of Top Gun: Maverick was the new class of pilots. I loved seeing Miles Teller and Glen Powell as Rooster and Hangman, and it was remarkable to watch them and their co-stars flourish in these parts that have now become defining pieces of their careers.

So, I’d like to see them back. I need to know where they’re at. Are Rooster and Hangman friends? Did any of the young pilots go on to teach at Top Gun? Could any of them work with Maverick? The opportunities feel endless, and I feel like it’d be a missed opportunity to not show us these characters in Top Gun 3.

Thankfully, Powell has given an update that makes me hopeful he’ll be back as Hangman, and Teller has said he’s down for Top Gun 3 as long as he has enough time to get in shape for it. So, it seems like they still feel the need for speed; we just need to hope they get written into the story.

I Need To See Some Kind Of Groundbreaking Airplane Stunt From Tom Cruise

Now, Maverick’s director, Joseph Kosinski, did tease that Top Gun 3 could tackle an existential crisis for Maverick that is “much bigger than himself.” That’s all fine and dandy, and I’m all for a big personal story. However, I also want stunts, and I want big ones.

I’m talking Mission: Impossible level plane stunts. While I don’t necessarily want to see Cruise and co. climbing around the outside of a plane while it’s in the air, I do want a level of innovation and thrill in Top Gun 3 that’s synonymous with Mission: Impossible. They did it for Maverick, so I’m sure they can come up with some wild, crazy, and heartpounding action sequences for this new movie.

Obviously, We Need Some Kind Of Shirtless Sports Montage

First, it was volleyball, then it was football on the beach, so clearly, Top Gun 3 needs some kind of summery, shirtless sports sequence. There's a precedent to maintain. I know a lot of work went into the football scene, and the cast got in tip-top shape for it, and I have no doubt they could do it again.

Maybe this time, they could be playing beach soccer, or potentially they could move the montage to a basketball court. I don’t really care what sport it is; all I know is I want to see the pilots having some fun in the sun.

At Least One Song Needs To Be Sung (Preferably By Rooster And Maverick)

In Top Gun, Maverick and Goose sang “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” in the bar, and we also got the always iconic “Great Balls of Fire” moment. Then, in Maverick, Rooster sang “Great Balls of Fire” again. However, Tom Cruise’s character did not partake in the singing.

So, in Top Gun 3, I’d love to see Maverick and his best friend’s son singing together. It could be “Great Balls of Fire” again. However, it’d also be fun if they found a new song to jam out to. Ultimately, I simply want this new movie to continue to pay homage to what makes Top Gun, Top Gun.

Now, will any of these things happen? I don’t know. However, I do know that Top Gun 3 is preparing for takeoff now, and I’ll be sitting in the theater the day it flies onto the big screen to see if these dreams come true.

Spoilers, obviously, for Eternity are ahead! You can stream the movie now with an Apple TV subscription.

Eternity wasn’t just one of the best romances of 2025; it was one of the best movies of 2025, period. The fantastical romance set in the afterlife left me swooning, as Elizabeth Olsen’s Joan chose between her first love, Callum Turner’s Luke, and her long-time husband, Miles Teller’s Larry. Now, as the movie hits streaming, I’m thinking about these three and their ending all over again, as well as what the director told us about what happened to these characters after the credits rolled.

When Eternity was released in theaters, CinemaBlend spoke to the co-writer/director David Freyne about how the script evolved while filming the movie and that ending. Specifically, Hannah Saulic asked him if Joan and Larry were OK after we left them on the run and in an abandoned eternity. In response, he said:

Personally, I'd like to read it as they lived happily ever after.

Now, to review, for the majority of Eternity, Joan was trying to pick which man she wanted to spend her eternity with and which eternity they wanted to spend it in. Toward the end, after Joan almost chose neither of them, Larry found her, and said she should go with Luke if that was what would make her happiest. So, she went with Turner’s character.

However, while in eternity with him, she realized that her eternity was meant to be spent with Larry. The thing is, once you choose an eternity, you can’t leave it. So, once Joan finally made it back to the junction and found her husband, they had to make a run for it. They ended up in a lovely little suburban discontinued eternity that looks a whole lot like where they spent their lives, and I always assumed that they lived happily there. It sounds like that’s what the director thinks too, as he told us:

Just to really make sure they’re doing well, CinemaBlend asked if Larry and Joan are “currently running” from the folks who are trying to catch them. While it seems like that could be possible, the director likes to believe that they’re comfortable and living happily in their eternity:

To quote both Hannah Saulic and David Freyne, “I love that for them.” Larry and Joan (and Luke, too) deserve only the best, and I like to think they’re content in their eternity. While it’s against the rules to leave an eternity, I’m sure happy Joan rebelled and found her long-time husband. And now, I’m thrilled to know that they’re living happily ever after in their little abandoned suburban eternity.

If you’d like to go back and watch the story that led them to this home, you can stream Eternity on Apple TV.

Both Glen Powell and Miles Teller have exciting things coming on the 2026 movie schedule. However, to celebrate the new year, they threw it back to 2022 and Top Gun: Maverick. That’s right, during New Year’s, Keleigh Teller caught a Maverick cast reunion on camera, and it involved the Rooster and Hangman actors getting into a dance-off.

Capturing the energy I know I felt when I watched the “Great Balls of Fire” scene in the movie that you can stream with a Paramount+ subscription, it looked like Powell, Miles and their friends were having a blast on this trip. To make matters better, Keleigh scored this moment to a Top Gun classic, “Danger Zone.” Take a look at her TikTok:

It would seem that this video was taken on the New Year’s trip to St. Barths that the Tellers, Powell, and others, like Michelle Randolph, were on. A day before posting this clip on TikTok, Keleigh uploaded a group picture on her Instagram that featured her, Miles, Glen Powell and other famous folks, like Randolph, Alix Earle, Nina Dobrev and Chord Overstreet (who can also be seen in the video). So, it would seem that they rang in the new year in a very fun way.

Overall, I’m so here for the fact that this whole thing was described as a “Rooster and Hangman dance off.” Considering their characters were always at odds with each other (up until the end), I love a little nod to their storyline in Maverick.

I also adore how this clip reiterates how close the Top Gun cast is to this day. Miles and Powell roomed together on the carrier they filmed on, and called each other “Hangy” and “Roo.” And in the years since the movie came out, it’s been made clear that they’ve stayed close. Along with them, Lewis Pullman and Danny Ramirez are best friends, and it’s always delightful whenever the Fanboy actor hypes up the Bob performer.

Now, this has got me thinking about Top Gun 3, which does not have a script, but is being talked about. Seeing Powell and Miles back in action as Hangman and Rooster would be the best, and I’d be particularly interested to see how their relationship has evolved since the events of Maverick. I don’t know if they’re at a dance-off phase of friendship, but I’d like to think that they’re at least not enemies anymore.

All in all, this little reunion and dance off just reminded me how much I adore Top Gun: Maverick and its cast. It wound up being a fantastic moment in these actors' careers, and ever since it came out, their stars have grown exponentially.

Case-in-point, both Glen Powell and Miles Teller have been staying very busy since 2022. Take 2025 alone as an example. For Powell, he spent the year starring in the series Chad Powers (which you can watch with a Hulu subscription) and the movie The Running Man. As for Miles, she appeared in the Apple TV film The George and the rom-com Eternity (which was named one of the best movies of 2025 by CinemaBlend).

Now, going into 2026, they both have highly anticipated work lined up, as the Hangman actor is set to star in How to Make a Killing, and the Rooster performer will play John Branca in the Michael Jackson biopic, Michael. So, yeah, they had good reason to dance and pay homage to the “Danger Zone” that helped turn them into the stars they are now.

Miles Teller’s latest 2025 movie release, Eternity, received positive reactions from both critics and fans, and I'd argue it serves as a fresh, new entry in the romantic comedy genre. As it stands, the genre is an interesting spot, and there are some who see it as being in decline, like Resse Witherspoon. The actress -- who's starred in plenty of rom-coms -- recently shared her take on that, and Teller eventually issued a response.

What Reese Witherspoon Said About Rom-Coms

Reese Witherspoon was a guest on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, and she got real about her belief that dating culture has changed. What’s the reason? The Legally Blonde icon theorized that the decline of romantic portrayals in movies and TV have contributed to the decline in youths taking initiative in starting relationships:

Reese Witherspoon makes a reasonable point. Rom-coms can (theoretically) show today's young people what it's like to have the confidence to pursue love outside of DMs and social media profiles. Movies like Say Anything… and Love Actually even convey messages of not being afraid to make the first move.

Even look at work from the Oscar winner herself, as some of Witherspoon's best roles were in rom-coms. Sweet Home Alabama conveys the lesson of not rushing into a relationship until someone knows themself. The Importance of Being Earnest is also about being truthful from the start. And Just Like Heaven conveys themes in regard to a person putting their guard down to let love in. Witherspoon previously said rom-coms are rewatched more than auteur movies, which could speak to just how well done said movies are.

Miles Teller Weighed In On Reese Witherspoon's Take

Other than Eternity, Miles Teller has had his share of rom-coms, too, like Two Night Stand, The Awkward Moment and The Spectacular Now. So he's definitely familiar with the genre. While discussing his fantasy rom-com with VT, he was told about Reese Witherspoon’s comments regarding the supposed decline of the genre. Here was the talented actor’s adorable response to that:

I would never turn down a romantic comedy starring the queen herself! Though it's worth mentioning that Witherspoon did make a rom-com that was released earlier this year, You’re Cordially Invited (which is streaming with a Prime Video subscription). Considering Witherspoon brings her own brand of adorableness and humor into the genre, I’d love for her to keep making such movies that are entertaining and give the youth of today an idea of how to take initiative and ask someone out.

Romance films may not be popping like they did in the ‘90s/'00s and in the decades before those eras. Yet that doesn’t mean good ones haven’t been made. In fact, 2025 has been a great year for rom-coms. Not only has Eternity done well, but Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy was a success as well. Also, critics loved Bowen Yang’s The Wedding Banquet.

So, with audiences still seemingly in the mood for love, let’s cross our fingers that we'll see more movies in the rom-com genre for years to come. Let's also hope that Miles Teller and Reese Witherspoon continue to appear in such films as well.

Minor spoilers for Eternity are ahead. You can watch the movie in theaters now!

Personally, I’m a believer that Eternity should be on the list of the best rom-coms. This 2025 movie schedule entry is such a unique and lovely love story about a woman reuniting with her husband of decades and also her first love, and I’m here for it all. However, when I really think about it, my favorite relationship in this film isn't the one between Larry (Miles Teller) and Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) or Joan and Luke (Callum Turner). No, my favorite relationship is actually a friendship between one of Joan’s husbands and his afterlife coordinator.

My Favorite Relationship Was The Friendship Between Larry And Anna

Now, obviously, Eternity, which has an OK score on Rotten Tomatoes but is one of my favorite movies of the year, is a fabulous rom-com. In fact, CinemaBlend’s Jerrica Tisdale said it restored her faith in rom-coms. However, along with the great romance comes great friendship, and I’m specifically talking about the one between Miles Teller’s Larry and Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Anna.

Right after Larry dies – don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler, this movie takes place in the afterlife – he’s sent to an afterlife junction where he’s paired with an afterlife coordinator, who is a person tasked with helping recently dead individuals pick an eternity. Anna gets Larry, and from the jump, they have a very fun relationship.

While they couldn’t be more different, Anna becomes Larry’s ride or die in the afterlife. She’s there for him 100%, she’s collaborating with him to help figure out how to get back with Joan, and in return, it’s obvious that Larry cares about her and appreciates the work she does.

Throughout the new A24 movie, they become very tight as they work together to win back Joan, and it was the hilarity of that, mixed with the sincerity of their care for each other, that made their relationship my favorite.

Miles Teller And Da’Vine Joy Randolph Are So Funny Together

When it comes down to it, I think Larry and Anna’s relationship is my favorite because Teller and Randolph have incredible chemistry. Don’t get me wrong, Olsen, Teller, and Turner all have great romantic chemistry. However, the platonic sparks that fly off of Larry and Anna when they’re together are palpable.

They are so genuinely funny together, and they are a big reason why Eterninity really does put the com in rom-com. The scene where Anna kind of reluctantly plays the piano for Larry as he takes Joan on a date comes to mind here. While she supports him all the way, it's clear she thinks it's a bad idea, and them going through with it all was so funny.

I also love that throughout the film, they really do act like siblings, as they bicker and poke fun at each other constantly, while maintaining a clear undercurrent of love.

Also, the evolution of their friendship plays into its impact, too. When Larry arrives at the station, he’s clearly just a client to Anna, and she is just a helper to him. However, as the story goes on, and they find themselves in myriad silly situations to get Joan, they really get to know each other, and that adoration they share is wonderful. Teller and Randolph portray all that nuance beautifully, with lots of humor and grace.

All around, this friendship is utterly delightful, and I see why Eternity’s director wrote Anna (and the other afterlife coordinator, John Early’s Ryan) into more of the movie. The friendship she develops with Larry is such a great supplemental relationship to the central romance, and overall, it helps turn Eternity into a wonderful and three-dimensional love story.

By nature, I am against love triangles. If I see a movie that focuses on a love triangle, then I am usually not that interested in watching it. I am sure there are great movies that involve love triangle stories, but I just have no interest. However, Eternity’s cast immediately changed that.

Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller have been in some of my favorite movies and TV shows, so I was automatically excited to see them work together. I am not as familiar with Callum Turner’s work as theirs, but he looks like the perfect person to play a romantic lead.

Therefore, when Eternity played at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, I knew I had to see it. I ended up adoring the movie.

Warning: Eternity movie spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution.

I Really Enjoyed How Eternity Sets Up The Battle Of Enduring Love Vs. Lost Love

I think one of the main things I enjoyed about Eternity was that it wasn’t simply a man-versus-man romantic triangle movie. It was also about what type of love story works best for Joan (Elizabeth Olsen). She finds herself torn between spending eternity with her first husband, who died tragically at war, or her second husband whom she grew old with.

One is a love that endured many years of hardship. The other was passionate and brief. Joan and Larry (Miles Teller) have the type of comfortable relationship that may seem stale because of how much the mundanity of life has taken over. Luke (Callum Turner) is an exciting possibility. He represents a second chance.

They were deeply in love, but life cut it short. Both love stories have merit and soul. It’s just what’s the right one for Joan? Eternity doesn’t argue that one or the other is the better type of love story or the way to love. Instead, it’s trying to understand which one works for Joan. Unlike many, Joan gets to experience both before she ultimately makes her decision.

I personally believe that enduring love should win in the end, but enduring love can mean different things to different people. It could mean a relationship that lasts until death, or it could mean the one that got away type of love. The person who never leaves someone’s mind, even long after the relationship ended for whatever reason.

Enduring love definitely wins in Eternity. This type of battle between kinds of romantic love is why it’s such an entertaining rom-com.

I Was Torn On Who Joan Should Pick, But I Hoped She Would Pick This Husband

One of the reasons I hate love triangles is that I usually have a strong opinion about them. I believe this person should pick the person I prefer for them to pick. Then I get annoyed when that doesn’t happen because now I wasted hours watching a TV show, movie, or reading. I got my hopes up for nothing. It’s very rare that I experience a story and am torn on who a character should pick.

I felt that watching Eternity. I kept going back and forth, but did prefer one of the choices. However, I would have been satisfied either way. That’s a credit to the screenwriters. They made two complex but likable male leads. Joan had good options. However, I did root for Larry throughout most of the story.

I Think Larry And Luke Were The Right Choices For Joan, Just At Different Times

I think Larry was right for Joan after Luke died. He was patient and loving with her at a time when she needed it most. He was a stable man who loved her completely. They had a great life together. Luke was the first love. He represents unrequited love. Their love was pure before life could really interfere and cause complications.

Joan never got the opportunity to see if she and Luke would have had the same decades of marriage. They didn’t get to discover if they were an all-time great rom-com in the making. They may have lasted, or they may not have truly been made for the long haul. She’ll never get to know what they could have been, but their short life together worked for them in that moment.

Eternity Is Also A Really Good Movie About Appreciating What You Have Vs. Constantly Thinking About What You Lost

Larry loves Joan, and she loves him, but a part of her heart always belonged to Luke. That’s not a threat to Larry when they’re alive because Luke is dead. It’s only in the afterlife that the memory and allure of Luke become a threat. Joan puts him on this pedestal of being perfect because any issues they had when alive faded when she lost him tragically.

He became perfect forever. She always mourned him and maybe loved Larry a little less because Luke had so much of her heart. She admits this to Larry, and he always knew it. It just didn’t matter at the time. Now it matters.

Larry moves out of the way so Joan can finally be with the man who took up so much real estate in her mind and heart. She enjoys being with Luke, but I think she realizes that Luke is great, but he’s not who owns her heart anymore; Larry does.

They have had decades of life together. She may not have appreciated it as much while living, but will likely cherish it more in eternity.

I Loved How The Film Is A Second Chance Movie, But That Differs Depending On How You Interpret It

Joan wants a second chance with Luke. Their marriage never got to fully develop. He was her lost love. Larry doesn’t want a second chance. He’s happy with Joan forever. Luke wants to get the love story with Joan that he lost.

Second chances are a major theme in Eternity, but I think it happens in various ways. Larry and Joan get a second chance to be together forever. This situation makes them appreciate and love each other more. Luke and Joan get a second chance at their relationship but discover it just doesn’t work because Joan isn't who she was before he died.

Joan also gets a second chance to choose. Luke dies, so she ends up with Larry. In eternity, she gets to pick Larry. He’s not her default husband, but the one she wants.

The power of a second chance runs throughout Eternity. In life, you may not get a second chance, but you could in death.

Eternity is an upcoming movie that you need to watch, especially if you like A24 movies.

Miles Teller has starred in movies that have experienced both peaks and valleys in critical response. Top Gun: Maverick put him alongside Tom Cruise, who may very well go down as one of the most memorable actors of this era. But on the other end is 2015's Fantastic Four, which is considered one of the worst superhero films of all time.

Teller reflected on both movies recently with Collider, in reference to being a part of a movie that was a major box office hit. A lot of actors would likely say a superhero movie would be their most financially successful movie, but Teller is not part of that group. As he said:

Teller was kind enough not to name-check Fantastic Four directly, which even its director, Josh Trank, gave a harsh rating years later. In light of successes like Top Gun: Maverick and the actor's latest movie, Eternity, which currently has a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's something he can joke about now.

Top Gun: Maverick wasn't just a project Miles Teller was excited to be a part of for financial reasons, of course, but also because of Tom Cruise's dedication to making the movie the right way. He explained what that meant and being involved with the process:

I love hearing Miles Teller wax poetic about Top Gun: Maverick, to the point that it has me absolutely hyped for the upcoming "threequel," which still hasn't gotten a release date. That said, given how enthusiastic Teller and, apparently, Tom Cruise are about it. I don't imagine we'll have to wait too long to see a follow-up.

Meanwhile, I'm sure Miles Teller will have zero trouble finding work in the meantime. He's already been cast in a major role in the upcoming biopic about Michael Jackson, as well as has plenty of projects in pre-production. If the worst moment of his film career ends up being that he never was in a successful superhero movie, that's not the worst thing in the world.

There's even a chance he could have that happen, what with all the actors reprising their superhero roles for Avengers: Doomsday. While Miles Teller's Reed Richards hasn't been rumored or confirmed for the movie, we do know that many actors from the MCU era have returned to play their characters. I know I would love to see Teller return as his character, and I can imagine others are too.

Until then, we can enjoy him in Eternity, which is in theaters right now. As someone who loves stopping by the movies during the holiday season, I think I'm going to check this one out before diving into the best Christmas movies.

Minor spoilers for Eternity lie ahead. If you haven’t seen the rom-com on the 2025 movie schedule, you can catch it in theaters right now.

In the new A24 movie, Eternity, we follow Elizabeth Olsen’s Joan into the afterlife as she’s reunited with her husband of decades, Miles Teller’s Larry, and her first husband who died during the war, Callum Turner’s Luke. However, they aren’t the only vital characters in this story, as Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early play Anna and Ryan, respectively. These two are tasked with helping the trio pick the places they want to spend eternity. And it turns out, those coordinator roles originally weren’t as big as they are now, and the film’s director told us why he expanded them.

During a conversation with David Freyne, who co-wrote and directed Eternity, CinemaBlend’s Hannah Saulic asked about Da'Vine Joy Randolph and John Early’s work. She wondered if they were allowed to riff or if it was in the script, and Freyne revealed that it was on the page. However, it wasn’t always there, and he explained why by saying:

Listen, if you’ve seen John Early and Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s best work, you know how funny they are. So, it’s no surprise that the writer/director wanted more and more of them in his rom-com.

Continuing to speak about the pair of afterlife coordinators, Freyne explained that as he saw the two actors’ dynamic on screen, he just kept wanting to give them more and more to do. So, that’s what he did. In fact, he gave them a whole scene to themselves, as he explained:

Freyne said that these new scenes and storylines were his way of “responding to how great they are.” He wanted to give them “the best material” possible, and with that came bigger roles in the movie. They did so much, in fact, that there’s a lot from Randolph and Early that we “haven’t seen.” However, we’re hopeful those takes will end up in a blooper reel.

Anyway, going back to what you see on screen. The director told us more about what was added as they were making the movie. Surprisingly, this list included Anna and Ryan’s will-they/won’t-they relationship, as Freyne told Saulic:

I love that for these characters so much. I absolutely adore Eternity, and think it has the potential to be one of the great rom-coms. One of the reasons it works is because Anna and Ryan are constantly helping both Joan and Larry and the audience understand this unique afterlife world.

To that point, David Freyne told us that Early and Randolph’s characters are like a “Greek chorus” in that way, and between that and their chemistry with the leading trio, they were an irresistible and vital addition to the movie:

In the end, David Freyne explained to CinemaBlend that having John Early and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in scenes with Callum Turner, Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller were the biggest highlights of the film for him. That’s because when they were all together, they were “like kids” and always “playing.”

That joyful energy 100% transferred to the screen, and he’s right, Anna and Ryan do make the story so much funnier and better. So, I’m thrilled their roles grew as much as they did!

Now, to go see these two usher three romantics through the afterlife, you can catch Eternity in theaters now.

For most Saturday Night Live hosts, their performance officially starts with the monologue. The show typically begins ten minutes or so earlier with a cold open (a term Lorne Michaels says he invented) that’s often about politics or some super timely news event, but more often than not, that intro is exclusively done by cast members. Now and again, however, the host will find their way into the sketch, as Miles Teller has now demonstrated multiple times.

Following his recent SNL hosting gig, Teller appeared on The Tonight Show and not surprisingly, longtime cast member turned late night talking head Jimmy Fallon wanted to chat about it. In fact, it was the first thing he brought up, and the topic quickly turned to those cold opens. Teller has hosted the show twice and appeared in the cold open both times. Fallon asked why he’d want to take on the extra pressure, and I can definitely get behind his answer…

I too am an SNL lifer. I grew up watching the show every week and pounding reruns like it was my job on Comedy Central. Hosting the show would be a dream, but there’s something about saying “Live from New York” that’s such an individual moment.

So many beloved cast members have gotten the chance to do it at some point. You can look back at a list of famous comedians over the last five decades, and there’s a strong chance whatever person you’re talking about will have said it at some point. You can watch Teller do it in his sketch below…

You can never guarantee future SNL hosting appearances, but it would be a surprise not to see Teller back at some point. He’s already hosted the show twice to positive reviews, and his career continues to soar, as he’s currently earning raves for his performance in A24’s acclaimed Eternity. He’s not even forty and likely has a very lengthy career ahead of him. I’d bet good money that career will intersect with SNL again at some point, especially considering how open he is about loving the show and wanting to be on it.

As for the show itself, it’s currently on a bit of a holiday hiatus, but it’ll return for three more episodes in the lead-up to Christmas that will include some fun guest hosts. We’ll have to wait and see if any of them get the chance to appear in the cold open.

The superhero genre has been thriving for years now, but there have been some missteps along the way. For instance, fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order might recall the ill-fated 2015 Fantastic Four movie (which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription). Miles Teller played Reed Richards in that movie, and he recently got honest about what went wrong and who was responsible.

Before Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the Fantastic Four were kept separate from the MCU. That's when the 2015 movie came in, featuring a strong cast including Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara. While appearing on Radio Andy, host Andy Cohen asked Miles Teller if he knew that the movie was bad as he was promoting it. He responded with:

While some fans think Fantastic Four: First Steps is the team's best movie, the same can't be said for Josh Trank's 2015 version. That title was a box office and critical failure, even winning some Razzies in the process. But it sounds like there was a time when the cast and crew thought that it was actually in good shape. So what happened?

Teller references "one really important person" who was responsible for the theatrical cut of Fantastic Four. While he didn't drop names, director Josh Trank has blamed studio interference for messing with his vision. I have to wonder which exec pushed for the version of the movie that ultimately landed in theaters.

In his conversation with Cohen, Teller jokingly said that things started going downhill when the cast of Fantastic Four appeared on What What Happens Live! (which is streaming with a Peacock subscription). He also mentioned the moment he realized that the infamous superhero flick might be in bad shape, telling Andy:

What a bummer. While starring in a superhero movie seemed like a huge opportunity for Teller, it sounds like he realized that the Fantastic Four's theatrical cut wasn't up to snuff. But he still had to keep promoting the movie ahead its release, which must have been a challenging part of the job.

The Fantastic Four is streaming on Disney+, and First Steps also arrived in theaters as part of the 2025 movie release list. As for Miles Teller, his new movie Eternity hits theaters November 26th.

The Indiana Pacers' run to the NBA Finals last season was something out of a Hollywood movie, and weirdly enough, involved a lot of celebrities. The underdog team crossed paths with many famous faces throughout the playoffs and got into a dispute with everyone from Ben Stiller to Timothée Chalamet. The Pacers were taking shots at all courtside celebs, which inadvertently led to Miles Teller getting caught in the crossfire.

Teller brought the story up during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, in which he was shown a picture from Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. In it T.J. McConnell gestured to him that he had "ice in his veins" after hitting a 3-pointer despite it not being his forte. After being shown a picture of the moment, the actor gave some context behind the situation, and the hilarious reaction his wife had:

It's pretty hilarious that Miles Teller's wife thought that NBA superstars were mimicking the taunts of children, but I see where she's coming from. It's also amusing that Teller was on the receiving end of the taunt, despite being a bystander with no particular allegiance to the New York Knicks or Indiana Pacers.

Of course, Teller was probably caught in the mix because Timothée Chalamet is a diehard Knicks fan and was seated beside Teller. Knicks fans even believed that his girlfriend Kylie Jenner was a good luck charm, and kept pushing her to attend games so they could continue to win.

In any case, the actor doesn't appear to be upset by what happened. In fact, he was so happy that Jimmy Fallon had a picture of the moment he asked if he could hang it up in his home. It's good to see one celebrity walk away from that series with fond memories, as even Indiana native John Mellencamp got worked up watching that series.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't expect to see the Pacers moving with such swagger in 2025, unless readers are watching Starting 5 Season 2 with a Netflix subscription. The team currently has only one victory this season, thanks to a litany of injuries, including the absence of star player Tyrese Haliburton for the entire regular season. As a fan of the team, I'm sad that we won't get another Hoosiers-like run again this season, but I'm sure more than a few fans in New York are breathing easy.

Miles Teller is going to be busy on the upcoming movie schedule, as he's set to appear in the Michael movie, in addition to other projects. As for the NBA, the season is currently going on, and who knows who will be in the mix come playoff time?

With political sketches crushing so far this season on Saturday Night Live, the long-running late night comedy show actually gave us multiple bits with President Trump last night. James Austin Johnson’s scary accurate take on Commander-In-Chief was featured in the cold open about the New York City Mayoral Race, and it was featured again during a hilarious sketch about the ongoing renovation of The White House.

The skit in question was a pre-tape that was framed as an episode of HGTV’s Property Brothers. In it, Miles Teller plays both Drew And Jonathan Scott, as they interact with Johnson’s President Trump and a Melania Trump played by Chloe Fineman. Not surprisingly, Trump makes all kinds of wacky demands and says his budget is somewhere between $350M and Infinity. You can watch the entire bit below…

The White House renovations have been a huge topic of public conversation. Despite the government being shut down amidst budgetary conflicts between Republicans and Democrats, the construction is still happening, and social media is filled with takes from people who have very strong opinions.

Some feel it’s entirely reasonable to add an enlarged ballroom, given the East Room only accommodates 200 people and large parties and events sometimes need supplemental tents during dinner service. Others feel doing a construction project of this magnitude damages the building’s history and also feels off-tone given all the workers that have been furloughed during the shutdown.

One of the reasons why the sketch works so well is it touches on common themes you frequently see in HGTV shows. The Trumps talk about how they need to do renovations because they need more space and how they want to turn this current property into their forever home by making changes. It also nails the low stakes ribbing you hear from the brothers (and other HGTV co-workers) who regularly take fun little shots at each other in a playful banter sort of way.

I’ve also got out to shout out the references to Independence Day and Star Wars which are both inserted into the sketch. I especially love the idea of Trump putting Jabba The Hutt’s Palace with Leia in her infamous costume on his Pinterest mood board.

The rest of Miles Teller’s SNL episode featured a bunch of solid sketches that are already making their way around the Internet. The aforementioned cold open also featuring President Trump has attracted a lot of attention because it’s a commentary on the recent NYC Mayor’s Debate, and a PSA sketch for the NHL featuring Miles Teller talking about being a Nashville Predator has also gotten a ton of positive feedback.

SNL will return with new episodes the next few weeks, as upcoming hosts Nikki Glaser and Glen Powell take their turns . I can’t wait to see the two celebrities take their swings and to see the new cast members continue to get opportunities and find their place.

Marriage proposals are supposed to be beautiful, storybook moments, but they can also be incredibly stressful and complicated things to pull off. Often, they can be a team effort as family and friends support the person planning to propose. Such was the case when members of the cast of Top Gun: Maverick came to the aid of co-star Jay Ellis with his proposal, though not entirely through positive advice.

Ellis recently appeared on Today, where he relayed the story of his proposal to his now wife, actress and model Nina Senicar. Ellis calls his proposal “horrible” which is a bit harsh. The biggest issue was finding the right time and place for it. An initial plan to propose on New Year’s Eve in Bali fell through when both got sick. Ellis then had another idea, but his Maverick co-star Monica Barbaro talked him out of it. Ellis said:

An underwater proposal is certainly a unique and memorable idea. I can see why Jay Ellis considered it, but Monica Barbaro is right on the money here. Plus, if Senicar isn’t expecting the proposal, there’s the possibility she might attempt to gasp or scream, which, underwater, just spells all sorts of problems.

With the underwater proposal nixed, Ellis then needed to figure out a new plan. Perhaps because he didn’t have any other ideas, he ended up proposing in a certainly surprising, but not particularly special way. However, the woman being proposed to informed him that she wasn’t going to accept a ring under less than ideal circumstances. He explained:

Proposals are supposed to be a surprise, but that doesn’t mean that a lot of women don’t see them coming. Whether she fully knew Ellis had a ring or not, it certainly appears that Nina Senicar wasn’t entirely shocked to see it in that coffee shop. She was also perfectly willing to undo that proposal and wait for something better.

Something better did come. The next day, Ellis and Senicar were on a beach together, something Ellis missed on the set of Top Gun: Maverick. The location had been specifically suggested by another Maverick co-star, Miles Teller. There, the right moment occurred, and Ellis finally proposed, and this one stuck. As he put it:

As somebody who also had a wild time trying to find the right time to propose on vacation, though mine was at Walt Disney World, to a woman who knew damn well a proposal was coming at some point, I adore this entire story. I’m glad it all worked out for the Top Gun: Maverick star. Ellis is as excited for the potential Top Gun 3 as anybody. If it happens, he should do something nice for the co-stars who helped him out.

While I’m sure that most actors are perfectly friendly with each other while they’re making big movies together, I had no idea just how well some of these friendships can thrive, even long after the work is done. The same week that I learned that the Oppenhomies are still chatting via text, it turns out the same is true of the case of Top Gun: Maverick.

Jay Ellis, who can currently be seen in the comedy series Running Point on Netflix, played “Payback” in Top Gun: Maverick, and he told People the cast of Maverick started a text chain during production. Not only that, but it’s still active, and considering the cast's successes of late, it’s been especially busy. Ellis said…

It’s pretty awesome that even years later, the crew from Top Gun: Maverick still talks via text, and they celebrate each other's big successes. This is almost identical to recent comments from Jack Quaid about how the cast of Oppenheimer also keep in touch. They have affectionally called themselves the Oppenhomies. It’s unclear if the Maverick crew has a cute name for themselves.

It's also unclear if Tom Cruise is also part of this group or if the star of the movie isn't actually included. To be fair, the guy has been pretty busy making Mission: Impossible movies for the last several years, so even if he is in the group, he may not be a regular contributor.

That text chat will likely come in very handy in the future, and hopefully soon. We know that Top Gun 3 is in early development. There’s no script as far as we’re aware, and it’s unclear what characters, other than Tom Cruise’s Maverick, may return for the next film. That said, it feels like a safe bet that as long as the next movie doesn’t take decades to actually make, there’s a good chance most of the cast of Maverick will be back.

Of course, at this point, we don’t know that Top Gun 3 won’t take decades to make happen. There were numerous attempts to make the sequel to Top Gun that never happened for a variety of reasons. Certainly considering the incredible box office success of Maverick, everybody involved is going to be very interested in making the movie happen. There’s little that’s going to help motivate a movie being made quite like large quantities of money.

Still, that doesn’t mean Top Gun 3 won’t be an excellent movie. Considering how close the cast of Maverick has become, we can only assume that they talk about the sequel themselves with some frequency. And if it happens, there will probably also be some new cast members who can join the conversation.

As the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps approaches the 2025 movie schedule, fans of Marvel’s First Family are eagerly dissecting every detail from the “fantastic” first teaser trailer. But it’s not just audiences sharing thoughts, as actors who previously donned the iconic blue suits are weighing in, too. Miles Teller, who played Reed Richards in the 2015 reboot, recently reacted positively to the teaser. Now, his co-star from that same film, Kate Mara (who portrayed Sue Storm) is sharing her take on the next cinematic iteration of the F4.

Kate Mara just attended this year's SXSW when Screen Rant asked for her thoughts on the upcoming Marvel movie’s trailer, which debuted to major fanfare. The actress had nothing but praise for the film’s cast and its fresh direction, saying:

That's an interesting response, and it probably strikes a chord with a lot of fans who have watched the cinematic ups and downs of the Fantastic Four franchise. After the mixed reviews of Josh Trank’s 2015 iteration, it makes sense that Marvel Studios is going in a totally different direction with their take on the team. Trank’s FF was plagued with problems behind the scenes and became one of the biggest flops in the superhero movie genre. With the retro style and vibes of this newest flick, “very different” is precisely what fans and viewers need.

After Fox's second take on the superhero team failed at the box office, the franchise was left in limbo until Marvel Studios reclaimed the rights. The Shooter actress has previously spoken about her struggles during production, so her support for the reboot shows she’s more than happy to see the property get another shot. Miles Teller was also supportive, sharing his best for the cast and saying that he doesn't "wish anybody to be a part of a bomb."

First Steps marks the first time the beloved superhero family will be fully integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe's timeline. The teaser gives fans a sneak peek at what looks like a cool retro-futuristic version of the team, diving into the sci-fi adventure vibe that made them so popular in the comics. Even though we don't know much about the plot, the stunning visuals and upbeat feel of the teaser make it stand out from past adaptations.

As Kate Mara pointed out, The Fantastic Four cast is stacked, with Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (The Thing). Fans have been buzzing about the casting choices, and Kate Mara’s comments reflect a general excitement over the new lineup. Mara is a real class act and, if she ends up seeing the movie when it's released, I'd love to hear her full reaction to it.

The upcoming superhero movie looks like it will finally give us a faithful take of Marvel’s first family, the way we fans have always hoped for. Now, all we have to do is wait for the Fantastic Four: First Steps to drop in theaters on July 25. Until then, you can revisit all MCU entries with a Disney+ subscription.

If you have an Apple TV+ subscription, there's a good chance you've seen Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy’s The Gorge. It's officially the biggest movie release in the streamer’s history, and this is saying quite a bit considering the platform became the first streamer to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards with 2021’s CODA. The Gorge may be a twisted sci-fi horror film featuring a plethora of what the internet has been referring to as “skull spiders,” but when talking about his favorite scene to shoot, Miles Teller showed his romantic side, opting instead to discuss the first time the film’s star-crossed lovers meet in person.

Although it takes place in a big universe, The Gorge is rather intimate, primarily focusing on two snipers separated by a gorge who can only see one another through the scopes of their rifles. Eventually, Teller’s Levi takes a treacherous journey over to Anya Taylor-Joy’s Drasa via zipline, and he said this about filming the moment the two of them meet in person:

Of course, his latter point about Drasa being a messy eater is a joke, as it turns out that the two actors had a running gag about the whole situation. Given they’ve only communicated with written notes up until that point, he has no idea what her voice sounds like, and they were laughing about the possibility that she sounded like something of a bro. Miles Teller amusingly also told us:

As you can see in the video at the top of this article, the two have some pretty unique chemistry. Surely, there were plenty of bits to be had. Critics are all over the place with The Gorge, but the film has definitely won out with audiences. Additionally, our own Nick Venable called the film “nutso,” and Jason Wiese believes it has the potential to be a TV series. It also features some gentle nods to their previous works Whiplash and The Queen’s Gambit. At the end of the day, what else can you ask for but two of Hollywood’s biggest stars in one of the first big movies releases of 2025?

Miles Teller recently lost his home during the LA wildfires, and he mentioned that doing press for The Gorge was a welcome distraction. I, for one, was very happy he was able to make it, and he seems to be in good spirits at this point in time. He will be in the upcoming, highly-anticipated Michael Jackson biopic, and we’re not going to stop asking about a Top Gun: Maverick sequel until it happens. So the actor has plenty to look forward to.

In the meantime, you can see Miles Teller alongside Anya Taylor-Joy in The Gorge on AppleTV+! For all future news in the world of film and television, stay tuned in with us here at CinemaBlend.

In an era where superhero movies are one of the most sure bets in Hollywood, there has been one set of heroes that, despite their history, haven’t had an easy time on the big screen. The first family of comics, the Fantastic Four, will make their fourth attempt later this year with the upcoming Marvel movie Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Miles Teller, the star of the franchise’s last ill-fated film, is wishing them the best of luck.

Josh Trank’s 2015 Fantastic Four, or Fant4stic as it appeared in marketing material, was one of the biggest bombs of the modern superhero boom. Miles Teller starred in the movie as Reed Richards, and he told THR that he hopes the new Fantastic Four film is a success because he knows just what it will mean to the cast if it isn’t. He said…

Teller starred alongside Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and Michael B. Jordan as the titular team. Fantastic Four was plagued with issues, including significant reshoots that made massive changes to the story. The cost of the reshoots only made the movie more expensive overall. So when that flick failed to hit at the box office, the bomb was that much bigger.

Superhero movies still have the potential to create movie stars, and sequels to Fant4stic were already planned but scrapped following the movie’s failure. While it’s impossible to know just where the careers of the four stars would have gone had the movie been successful, at the very least they would have led this franchise, which would have elevated all of their careers.

Fantastic Four: First Steps certainly has some elements in its favor that the previous iterations did not. Pedro Pascal leads the Fantastic Four cast in the same role Miles Teller played last time. He is arguably a bigger name before the film’s release than any of the other previous cast members were. That alone has the potential to draw an audience. First Steps is also part of the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will give this version of the Fantastic Four some importance that the previous films did not have.

Fantastic Four: First Steps also has a unique look, using a retro-futuristic world for its characters that, if nothing else, will separate this Fantastic Four movie from the others in a big way.

Overall, the new film being a bomb seems unlikely, but we’ll find out when Fantastic Four: First Steps premieres on the 2025 movie schedule in July.

Spoilers below for the new genre-mashing thriller The Gorge, so be wanted if you haven’t yet streamed it with an Apple TV+ subscription.

After working for CinemaBlend for more years than I have fingers, I rarely experience movies or TV shows without leaning into months of promotional build-up. Yet with Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy’s streaming thriller The Gorge, I managed to make it to the week of release without knowing a single thing about it. Which is perhaps why it immediately became a candidate to go down as the most WTF, kitchen-sink movie release of 2025.

That isn’t a bad thing as far as I’m concerned, as I didn’t have any real expectations that could be either toppled or unreached. (I did watch the first trailer after the fact, and would have had a far different experience had I done so ahead of time.) In fact, I was almost definitely more entertained by the bizarre, genre-shifting film due to never having a real clue about what unbelievable new story divergence would come next. It appears I stand in opposition to the largely negative critical reviews, but I digress.

The story starts simply enough before veering into batshit-bonkers territory, with Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy playing deadshot snipers in their respective countries — he's from the U.S., while she’s out of Lithuania — who are tasked with standing watch on opposite sides of a huge gorge filled with colorful vapors and screeching creatures. But director Scott Derrickson's monster movie vibes soon give way to a cutesy rom-com before turning back into a stunt-filled, sci-fi action flick with governmental conspiracy vibes sprinkled throughout.

In fact, let’s talk about some of the movie’s more baffling elements before then addressing The Gorge's most unbelievable detail, which pretty much set all of the events into motion.

Some Of The Gorge's Wildest And Most Questionable Details

• Both Levi and Dasha seem like the same person, as they're both record-breaking snipers who blindly parachute into unknown areas and are also quite astute at free-soloing.
• The proximity bombs on either side of the gorge are seemingly just below the metal walkway barriers, rather than much farther down, resulting in parts of the barriers being destroyed every time there's an explosion.
• There are apparently supplies and leftover belongings in both fort-like building, but Levi barely took anything with him.
• The first two times Levi and Dasha hear and/or see the creatures, it's seemingly because of gunshots and loud music, and yet they continue to disrupt the silence with gunshots and loud music regularly afterward.
• The colors of the gases and fumes at the bottom of the gorge change from orange to purple and beyond, without addressing it.
• Levi seems like an extremely smart and practical person, yet doesn't suspect any secret surveillance or other nefarious issues, despite everything else being shady as shit.
• Skull spiders. I loved the spooky fuckers, don't get me wrong, but the sheer number of them is still enough to make my entire body clench.
• The mutated creatures in the gorge have for years survived attempts to destroy them, to the point where the guard towers became the go-to option, and yet it took just two two rule-breakers from opposite sides of the world to destroy it all.

That really is just picking at the surface, since so much of the narrative crafted by screenwriter Zach Dean works purely through movie logic. But even in a movie that supposes the idea that a tech company allows clandestine mutants to thrive under surveillance, the catalyst for my own sense of disbelief stemmed fro

I Call B.S. On How Often Levi And Dasha Knew What The Other Was Doing

I'll casually preface this by saying that I've never had great eyesight, a fact that is likely fueling my argument more than I'd like to admit. And yes, I fully understand that both characters would need impressive eyesight to achieve such marksmanship achievements. Plus, I don’t cop to actually knowing the extents of excellent eyesight, nor specifically how large the titular gorge is, or how its vapors would affect the air above.

All that noted, at no point while watching The Gorge was I ever convinced that either Levi and Dasha could pick up on so many of the small details happening on the other person's side, especially at night. Obviously when using those ridiculously powerful binoculars, it’s a piece of cake to read handwritten messages and witness tears falling down cheeks. But Dasha in particular seemed to have a sixth sense for Levi’s actions, and always seemed to know when he’d be looking.

But I’d have even bought it if the story introduced the idea that Dasha was gifted with precognition abilities either through science or magic, since that would fall in line with the rest. Not the case, though, and throughout the course of the two characters’ bonding experience, one scene after another lightly implies that they only really need those binoculars to read words, and not so much for other details like facial reactions, hand gestures, and other bodily movements.

I might not have questioned that element quite so hard had the movie not featured as many drone shots that highlighted just how far apart the two sides were. Even beyond that, Levi and Dasha made it seem like a formidable challenge to nail a successful rifle shot from one side to the next, further indicating a lengthy distance.

In the end, I don’t think that factor is going to have a huge impact on whether or not The Gorge ends up in a list of the best movies on Apple TV+, but I do think I would have had an easier time watching it had part of Levi’s “interview” with Sigourney Weaver’s Bartholomew specifically addressed how hard or easy it would be to see the opposing side, rather than just telling him not to look.

It’s only February, but the 2025 movie release schedule is filling up with some pretty exciting new films. In this day and age, we don’t always need to find a big screen for said new releases, and such is the case with Scott Derrickson’s The Gorge. The film was just released today and can be watched by anyone with an Apple TV+ subscription. We’ve been all-in on The Gorge since the release of the first trailer months ago, but perhaps the same can’t be said for the film’s stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller. That's because there’s a big “wink” at both of their careers that the A-listers pleaded with the producers to remove.

For most of the film, Miles Teller’s Levi and Anya Taylor-Joy’s Drasa are living isolated lives on either side of a massive gorge. During a montage where the two are trying to entertain themselves, Levi can be seen drumming, and Drasa can be seen playing chess. As you likely know, these acts harken back to projects the two of them worked on much earlier in their careers, and to avoid being too self-referential, Anya Taylor-Joy tried to get the segment nixed. While speaking with the two of them to celebrate The Gorge’s release, she told me this:

The project she’s referring to is 2020’s The Queen’s Gambit, a Netflix series that followed Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth Harmon on her long journey to become a chess master. The show was a huge success for Netflix and earned Anya Taylor-Joy a Golden Globe for her performance. It’s arguably one of the most recognizable roles of her career, so obviously upon seeing her play chess in The Gorge, people will draw a parallel.

The same goes for Miles Teller, who famously played drums in 2014’s Whiplash. Damien Chazelle’s first film is still sparking divisive discussions over a decade later, with some saying that it should have won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and others saying they refused to vote for the film entirely. Either way, it’s one of Miles Teller’s most noteworthy roles, and he said this about the fact that he plays drums in The Gorge:

At the end of the day, they both seem glad that they lost the fight with their producers to get said “wink” removed, even though I likely struck up the exact conversation with them that they were trying to avoid.

The Gorge is directed by Scott Derrickson of Doctor Strange and The Black Phone fame (the latter of which is getting a sequel), and the horror director has delivered a delightfully dark love story. Watch it right now on Apple TV+! As far as everything else coming our way on the 2025 movie release schedule, keep it here at CinemaBlend for the latest.

One can have plenty of room in their hearts to both celebrate the current crop of 2025 movies, while still feeling the need for speed. Though it’s been almost three years since Top Gun: Maverick blazed a trail into theaters, fans are still amped about the brewing follow-up to the Tom Cruise legacy-quel.

Unfortunately, there’s not much new to report, but it’s still worth noting that co-star Miles Teller has shared a tidbit so lethally cryptic, it might send Paramount+ subscription holders scrambling to revisit director Joseph Kosinski’s mega hit.

While promoting his new film The Gorge with ET, the man we also know as “Rooster” was of course asked about this hot button topic. And while Mr. Teller might not know what’s happening, if it’s happening, or when, he’s given us what may be the surefire sign to start looking up at the skies:

That is a quintessential Tom Cruise quote. I mean, we all know the dude moves in secret with projects such as Top Gun 3, only piercing the veil of secrecy to give us a trademark Cruise-style taste. It only further highlights the man’s air of mystique too, which was previously enforced by Tom Cruise’s four-word tease for Top Gun 3’s story. That anecdote alone is an example of a statement that, while giving us no plot details, still got us hyped for the franchise’s hypothetical next act.

Having said that, Miles Teller’s Top Gun ab-plan might be in a holding pattern for a little. It was only last summer that franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer shared there were ideas, just not a full script. Considering Maverick was the result of several ideas in the works, across 36 years of waiting, knowing that the wheels are turning in any sort of way feels like a relief.

Mr. Teller isn’t the only young gun in this naval aviation adventure that’s been left in the dark either. Fellow Top Gun: Maverick squad mate Greg “Tarzan” Davis didn’t know about the project until the announcement of its development surprised him. Which kind of isn’t fair, because shouldn’t the entire cast be given the same amount of notice, as everyone’s ab-timing is different?

Of course, the Top Gun family works as a unit, which would explain why Glen Powell claims to have a Top Gun 3 date, and Miles Teller is quoting Tom Cruise’s code of secrecy. Varying information throws us all off, to the point where when we learn about Maverick’s return, we’ll be as surprised as everyone else. So in the meantime, Teller fans can enjoy his work in both Top Gun: Maverick and The Gorge, in an attempt to hold themselves over for when/if the next flight is cleared for takeoff.

If you like a little romance and horror with a sci-fi twist alongside your Valentine’s Day dinner, The Gorge may be on your radar. Director Scott Derrickson’s newest project, hitting the 2025 movie calendar on February 14, covers quite a few genres in the story of two snipers guarding either side of what looks like the gates of hell in The Gorge’s trailer. Critics were able to screen the movie ahead of its release to Apple TV+ subscription holders, so let’s see what they’re saying.

Miles Teller stars in his first blockbuster since Top Gun: Maverick, while Anya Taylor-Joy has enjoyed a successful past few years with The Menu, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Dune: Part Two, to name a few. The Gorge is unlike any of those — it’s a sci-fi horror action flick with enough romantic comedy to justify its Valentine’s Day release, but with so much going on, is it hitting with critics? David Ehrlich of IndieWire says The Gorge doesn’t deliver on a potentially rich premise, instead turning predictable and shallow. The critic gives it a C, writing:

Dan Jolin of Empire also gives it a middling grade of 3 out of 5 stars, saying The Gorge is best appreciated as an unlikely romance, but none of the movie should be taken too seriously. Jolin continues:

Where some of the critics think the romance story was The Gorge’s strength, Tyler Nichols of JoBlo doesn’t buy the chemistry between Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. Too much focus is put on the romance instead of exploring the gorge’s more intriguing horrors. This movie is more enjoyable if you can turn your brain off, Nichols says, writing:

Therese Lacson of Collider gives it a 4 out of 10 despite several compliments, including calling it an enjoyable ride with dynamic action sequences, a charming love story and monsters with an ick factor. The Gorge may be enough for those simply looking for a popcorn movie with equal parts action and romance, but that isn’t enough to justify how “painfully predictable” the action is. Lacson says:

Agreeing on its ability to entertain, IGN’s A.A. Dowd gives the movie a “Good” 7 out of 10, arguing that The Gorge should have been given an opportunity on the big screen. The critic writes:

Many critics are pointing to the predictability of the plot, and with The Gorge feeling like two separate movies, it’s nearly inevitable that they would prefer one over the other. Even with more average reviews, if this sounds like a movie that’s intriguing enough for you to check out, you can do so starting Friday, February 14, and be sure to check out the other best movies to watch on Apple TV+ while you’re at it.

When Top Gun: Maverick was announced three decades after the original 1980s classic, fans were hesitant about it upholding the integrity of the franchise. However, the highly anticipated 2022 sequel smashed box office records and left audiences demanding a second sequel. For a year, there have been rumors floating around about pre-production, and Miles Teller is here to give the people a light Top Gun 3 update.

The Whiplash actor recently appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to promote his new Apple TV movie The Gorge. However, the late night host wasted no time switching the conversation to Top Gun, asking the Bleed For This actor point blank if a third movie was happening. Teller replied with a hilariously candid answer, saying

If there’s one thing I love about Miles Teller, it's that he never takes himself too seriously. He’s clearly comfortable joking about his physique, but in some ways, he’s not kidding. The Spiderhead actor got seriously ripped for Top Gun: Maverick, and his six pack ended up going viral online thanks to a specific scene of him dancing shirtless to One Republic’s “I Ain’t Worried.”

Honestly, that timeline is so fair, as that kind of fitness doesn’t just happen overnight. For the beach scene in the Top Gun sequel, the actors worked their bums off to get in peak physical condition. Although based on the trailer for Teller’s new movie The Gorge, which premieres next week on the 2025 Movie Schedule, he’s already got a head start.

Unfortunately, these comments do reveal that production on a threequel is still a distant thought. As of June 2024, Top Gun: Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer said Top Gun 3 was in the works but still had no script. Though Teller seemed to confirm the hope of it happening when asked by Colbert, saying:

Who has final say? Well, according to most of his Top Gun: Maverick co-stars, Tom Cruise does. The only problem is the Jerry Maguire star is a busy man and also a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to his films, with Teller saying he doesn’t think there’s anyone as involved in the process of making movies as Cruise.

Greg Tarzan Davis, who plays Coyote in the hit naval action sequel, was recently on set with Cruise for the upcoming Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and casually asked the Jack Reacher actor about a Top Gun 3 update. Davis revealed that for Cruise to make another Top Gun, the story has to be right. Otherwise, we can kiss a threequel goodbye.

Thankfully, Cruise seems to like the direction they're going in so far, so hopefully we can expect some movement on production soon. Based on comments from Glen Powell and Lewis Pullman, it looks like they would be down to sign on alongside Miles Teller.

The cast is so close with each other, with Tom Cruise even showing up to both the Twister and A Complete Unknown premieres to support Top Gun: Maverick costars. I’d like to think he’d have no trouble convincing them all to do another movie. I just hope we don’t have to wait an extra two years for a release this time!

You can check out Miles Teller and his six month abs in Top Gun: Maverick, available now to stream with a Paramount Plus subscription.

The recent fires in Southern California have displaced thousands of people. Because of the proximity to Hollywood, many celebrities were evacuated and many lost their homes. Among those who have lost a great deal is Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller, though there’s something of a silver lining as his fans are trying to help him out in a really touching way.

While Miles Teller and his wife Keliegh, like so many others, could only take so much with them when they were forced to evacuate. As such, the actor has lost a great deal of what he had. This likely includes a lot of Grateful Dead merchandise, as Teller is an avowed Deadhead. But he tells E! That fans are trying to send him Grateful Dead stuff to help replace what he lost. He explained…

It has to be a terrible experience to lose your home. Teller wasn't the only celebrity to go through that. Heidi Montag and her husband Spencer Pratt lost their home. Mandy Moore's home sustained significant damage and her brother's home was lost. While one assumes many celebrities will have the means to rebuild, it doesn't make the shock of losing what you had any less.

Life for Teller and his wife, deciding how to start over after losing so much, can’t be easy. It would be completely understandable if the couple wasn’t feeling very positive about a great deal right now.

This is what makes the fans want to send shirts to Miles Teller especially wonderful. From a purely practical standpoint, he likely lost a great deal of his clothing, so getting a few extra shirts isn’t the worst thing in the world. Beyond that, however, knowing that people care enough to try and do something nice or you have to feel good at a time when not a lot feels good.

Teller is set to star in the new movie The Gorge, available with an Apple TV+ subscription, which is set to come out in just a couple of weeks. This means that Teller is supposed to be talking to a lot o press about his film. One assumes he’d be very distracted by his personal issues, but he tells Extra that he appreciates the distraction of thinking about his work for a while.

One hopes that everybody who lost their homes will be able to get back on their feet, and sooner rather than later.

With December in full swing, it’s time to start taking a peek at upcoming 2025 movie schedule, and we’ve just been given a first look at an especially exciting thriller coming to those with an Apple TV+ subscription this Valentine’s Day. The first trailer for Scott Derrickson’s The Gorge is here and, while it's a V-Day release, I'm so pleasantly surprised by how romantic Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller's film about the gates of hell looks. With that, I'm all in for this one!

The trailer (above) was just revealed amid Brazil Comic-Con by Anya Taylor-Joy (our favorite modern horror queen) and Miles Teller. Taylor-Joy sports black hair and an accent while playing Drasa, a highly-trained operative who is stationed at an ominous guard tower that apparently guards the gorge, or gates of Hell. Meanwhile, Teller -- who signed up for the movie back in 2022 -- plays Levi, who's on the other side of the gorge and on guard as well. Fans may also be delighted to see Sigourney Weaver in the trailer, too, as the long-beloved genre veteran plays the official who recruits Levi for his task.

It's established that Levi is stationed there for an entire year without the ability to call or communicate with the outside world. He’s also “strictly forbidden” to communicate with Drasa, on the other side, as he’s tasked with making sure nothing comes out of the gorge, which is described as the “door to hell.” But, as time passes for the lonely operatives, they start to reach out to each other and forge some sort of bond.

One scene from the trailer sees the characters communicating using signs with messages on them, and it actually reminds me of one of Taylor Swift’s best music videos, “You Belong With Me”! However, when Teller’s character tries to zipline to the other side, perhaps to finally rendezvous with Taylor-Joy’s character, he falls directly into the gorge, and she goes after him. Based on this footage, it seems fans are in for a creepy, horror-filled thriller with a lot of romantic tension, and I'm so eager to see how it all plays out.

This forthcoming release was written by The Tomorrow War’s Zach Dean, but I’m especially pumped due to the fact that it’s been helmed by Scott Derrickson. The filmmaker is best known for directing movies like The Black Phone, Doctor Strange and one of the best horror movies of all time, 2012’s Sinister. Derrickson’s passion for horror and unique direction always feel refreshing, so I'm very intrigued by how he'll balance the movie’s romance with his love for scares and suspense.

Both Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy have been booking and busy as of late, and it’s exciting to see them placed together in one movie. Taylor-Joy is coming off a year that saw her headline the critically acclaimed Furiosa. Looking ahead, Teller has the Michael Jackson biopic, in which he'll play lawyer John Branca.

Ahead of that, though, I'm just excited to see what the two actors bring to The Gorge after seeing this first trailer. If you're feeling the same way, grab an Apple TV+ membership so you'll be able to stream it when it debuts on February 14.

Miles Teller blew moviegoers away when he was cast as "Rooster" in Top Gun: Maverick. He perfectly embodied all of the qualities that made fans love Anthony Edwards' "Goose" in the first movie. That's one of the reasons why many are still waiting for confirmation on a threequel. While such an announcement has yet to arrive, it would seem that Teller has lined up a new movie. And, funny enough, this gig will see the actor sticking with the Navy.

The Whiplash star helped make bank for Paramount as a cast member of the box office phenom Top Gun: Maverick. Now, the studio is looking to join forces with the A-lister yet again and, this time, it's for a revamp of a classic romance movie. Deadline reports that Miles Teller has joined the remake of An Officer and a Gentleman, which is one of the best Navy movies. According to the trade, Teller is expected to play the role originated by Richard Gere in the classic flick.

Released in 1982, An Officer and a Gentleman sees Richard Gere play Zack Mayo, a young man who enrolls in the U.S. Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School to become a pilot. Amid his training, he not only gets on the bad side of his sergeant, but he also falls in love with one of the locals in town. Also starring in the movie are Debra Winger and the late Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Oscar for his work. The Taylor Hackford-helmed movie was a critical and financial success, and it remains a beloved movie to this day.

Additional details on Miles Teller's role weren't provide and, as of right now, we don't even know if his character will also be named Zack. What I'd wager, though, is that Teller might draw from his Top Gun experiences while developing the character. Though one would think that while prepping for this gig, he won't have to go through rigorous flight training like he did for Maverick.

As for what’s happening with Top Gun 3, you’d think such a film would be fast-tracked since the previous movie made $1.4 billion at the global box office. However, it looks like plans are slowly in development. Tom Cruise was pitched a story and, ultimately, his four-word response to it was “I really like it.” Of course, just because he expressed some level of approval, that doesn't automatically mean production will start right away. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said that plans are moving slowly because of how busy the Mission: Impossible star is. Recently, Bruckheimer gave a realistic update, saying he’s tossed ideas to Cruise. But with no script written, it could be a while before the movie takes off. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take 30 years like it did for Maverick to get off the ground.

I'm hoping that the production does indeed happen at that Miles Teller is able to reprise his role as Rooster. In the meantime though, good on him for landing another Navy-centric role via the remake of An Officer and a Gentleman. One big commonality between this movie and Maverick is that there's sure to be a level of pressure, considering how iconic the film is. Hopefully, Teller will crush it as he did in the 2022 blockbuster.

For now, you can see Miles Teller as Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick by streaming the film with a Paramount+ subscription. And you can prepare yourself for An Officer and a Gentleman by giving the original movie a watch using a Max subscription. 

Top Gun: Maverick was a colossal hit when it hit theaters in the summer of 2022, not only at the box office and Academy Awards, but through the viral moments it created for its stars. Memorably, Miles Teller’s shirtless dancing as Rooster became a huge deal on the internet. Almost two years later, Teller is still delivering the moves, and his wife Keleigh Teller has done us all a solid by recording her husband taking the Rooster Wiggle to a whole new level!

Keleigh Teller took to her TikTok this week to share a hilarious video of Miles Teller dancing like nobody's watching while the couple was seemingly on vacation. Over two million views later, the actor has another viral dance on his hands. Check it:

Miles Teller really knows how to get down! Keleigh Teller shared a little compilation of his recent shirtless moves with his swim trunks and headphones on, and it’s reminiscent of his viral Top Gun moment. Here’s how she captioned the video:

You gotta love how supportive and insistent Keleigh is on broadcasting Miles Teller’s dance moves with the world! She initially posted the video against a sound from The Steve Wilkos Show, which was a spinoff of The Jerry Springer Show. In the original video the sound is chosen from, a woman is asked by Wilkos to look at her man before saying “and that’s what you’re going to settle for” to her. Here’s how the comment section responded to the video:

• “You win, no need to rub it in 😠”
• “I love that actor Miles Teller is the same as real life Miles Teller.”
• “I just wanna know what he’s listening to”
• “He is beauty, he is grace 😭”

Considering Miles Teller is something of a Hollywood heartthrob, especially for his part in the Top Gun: Maverick cast, many commenters were absolutely tickled, and apparently a little jealous that Keleigh Teller has a husband with so many moves to bust out. Along with those comments, others requested she change the sound of the video, which she happily did. When one person said the video was a “missed opportunity” to not use the Footloose song, she reposted it with movie theme, like so:

Miles Teller was in the 2011 remake of Footloose, so the comment was on point. Keleigh Teller also ended up reposting it with “Let’s Hear It For The Boy,” also from Footloose, and “Great Balls Of Fire” from Top Gun. She was clearly having a blast interacting with the internet on the video!

When Miles Teller was previously asked about the origin of his Rooster Wiggle, he shared that he was actually doing the dance on set during a moment where he didn’t know the camera was on him. With that in mind, the viral moment captures Teller’s real dance moves rather than it being a staged moment. Aside from Teller’s wife recording all his dance moves on TikTok, you can look forward to Miles Teller being in the Michael Jackson biopic next. Michael hits theaters on April 18, 2025.

There are a ton of upcoming music biopics, but few intrigue me more than the highly anticipated movie about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. We have a few things we know about Michael, which it’s titled, such as the casting of Colman Domingo and Nia Long in the critical roles of MJ’s parents, Joe and Katherine Jackson, respectively. Adding to the star power is Miles Teller, who has been cast as John Branca, Jackson’s longstanding manager and an entertainment lawyer. The Top Gun: Maverick star recently broke his silence on being part of this high-profile project, even sharing some insight into how he's preparing for the gig.

In a video shared to Variety’s Instagram, the actor can be seen catching up with the outlet while attending the Vanity Fair Oscars party following this year's event. The 37-year-old star was asked about the film potentially covering the late singer's legal issues and the allegations of sexual abuse. While Miles Teller didn't explicitly name those issues when responding, he did discuss the considerations he had to make before taking on the part. The Whiplash star said: 

Musical biopics have certainly seen some big business, following the success of Elvis and this year’s surprise box office triumph of Bob Marley: One Love. There's also the eagerly awaited Back to Black, which focuses on Amy Winehouse. This pattern shows no sign of slowing down, and it makes sense that we finally have a serious biography of one of the most influential musical artists of all time. 

The Fantastic Four alum later shared some insight on how he is preparing for the role. He also delivered a message to those who might have mixed feelings about the production:

The star is spot on about the remarkable team assembled for the Michael Jackson biopic. The cast features Jafaar Jackson, Michael’s real-life nephew who’s playing his late pop star uncle. Behind the camera, Antoine Fuqua of Training Day and the Equalizer franchise fame directs, while John Logan, known for his work on Gladiator, penned the screenplay. Graham King, the force behind Bohemian Rhapsody, is producing the film under his GK Films banner, ensuring the project is in esteemed hands.

I'm interested in seeing what the cast manages to bring to their roles, and that includes Miles Teller. Considering that he's been hanging out with the real John Branca, one would think that he's hoping to bring a strong level of authenticity to the proceedings. Here's hoping that he manages to turn in another strong performance in what could be a truly show-stopping film.

Michael is currently in production and will be released in theaters on April 18, 2025. While you wait for more information on the film, revisit Miles Teller’s most recent work in Spiderhead with a Netflix subscription or his 2022 box office smash, Top Gun: Maverick, which is available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription. Also, be sure to check out our 2024 movie schedule to see what's headed to a theater near you. 

Sure, it looked fun to film that breathtaking action-drama Top Gun: Maverick, what with all of the shirtless beach football games, "Great Balls of Fire" piano sing-alongs and glorious mustaches. But star Miles Teller said that getting into the "danger zone" for the high-flying sequel was actually dangerous. 

During an interview with LADbible, the actor—who plays Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, a pilot trainee and the son of Maverick's late BFF Nick "Goose" and Carol Bradshaw, portrayed by Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan in the original Top Gun movie—discussed how Maverick star Tom Cruise put the cast newcomers through the ringer during their pilot training for the film. It got to the point that Teller actually thought he was "going to die" while filming one specific heart-pounding sequence:

Despite feeling a "healthy bit of fear," Teller was proud that he was one of the few cast members who didn't have to grab a barf bag mid-flight during the production. (His co-star Lewis Pullman previously revealed that he would throw up during the movie's high-octane jet stunts.) Miles added: 

And while the 37-year-old star is more than happy to "have a perfectly good stunt guy" to tackle those really difficult movie maneuvers, he does praise actors like Cruise who do their own stunt work and offer up an "elevated" level of immersion for the viewer: 

Given how much of a box office behemoth Top Gun: Maverick was in 2022, a third film is unsurprisingly in the works, with Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as well as Miles Teller and Glen Powell all expected to return. And there will undoubtedly be even more adrenaline-pumping plane action to come. 

In the meantime, you can watch Miles Teller and the rest of the new recruits in Top Gun: Maverick, available to stream with a Paramount Plus subscription.

The next music biopic coming out of Hollywood is Michael, from director Antoine Fuqua. There is no need even to explain who "Michael" is, right? We all know there is only one Michael, it could be—the legendary Michael Jackson. The movie has been years in the making, and we're finally going to see it as part of the 2026 movie schedule.

The movie is set to be released soon, so here is everything we know about the upcoming biopic, including the film's full trailer, the cast, and when you'll be able to see it.

What Is The Michael Release Date?

Michael will be released on April 24th, 2026. Though it original scheduled for late 2025, by early in the year, it was clear that the movie was not going to hit its original scheduled release date and required some extensive (and expensive) reshoots. This was the second time the release had been delayed, as it was initially planned for Spring 2025. So we're finally getting it about a year later than we thought we would.

The Michael Cast

The cast for Michael is great, including some well-known stars and some exciting newcomers, like Jaafar Jackson, who is playing Jacko himself.

Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson

Variety confirmed in January 2023 that Michael Jackson's nephew, Jaafar Jackson, will portray the iconic singer in Michael.

The actor is the son of Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson's oldest brother, and a part of the Jackson 5, which started Michael on the road to super fame in the first place. Jaafar shared his excitement for the role on Twitter, saying he was "humbled and honored" to be playing his uncle.

After watching the trailers and some of the behind-the-scenes footage that has been released, there is no question that Antoine Fuqua was correct when he commented on Jaafar Jackson's casting in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in August 2023. Jackson is the spitting image of his uncle in every way, as Fuqua said:

This will be Jaafar Jackson's first movie, which is remarkable enough in and of itself. Such high praise from Fuqua sets a bar to meet, but after seeing the teaser, which was released in November, it looks like he'll pull it off. The full trailer, which was released in February 2026, confirms it.

Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson

In late January 2024, it was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter that Colman Domingo had signed on to play Joe Jackson, the famous patriarch of the Jackson Family. Domingo has had an incredible run over the last few years. He's been nominated for Best Actor at the last two Oscars, first for 2023's Rustin, and then last year for Sing Sing. He has yet to take home the trophy, but that seems like a matter of time.

A complicated role like Joe Jackson, who was a controversial figure to say the least, might just be the exact kind of role to make that win happen.

Nia Long as Katherine Jackson

In late January 2024, Deadline announced that Nia Long would take on the role of Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mother. She starred as Lisa on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and had a leading role in Empire. And, of course, her many film roles in movies like the '90s stoner classic Friday, Soul Food, and one of the legendary and controversial Boyz n the Hood.

Long spoke to People about how much playing Katherine has meant to her:

Katherine, who will turn 96 not long after the film is released, was a huge figure in Michael Jackson's life, and there is no question that this will be an important piece in the puzzle that is Michael.

Miles Teller as John Branca

Judging by the one quick shot of Miles Teller as John Branca in the Michael trailer, he looks a lot different than we'd usually expect. With long black hair, he does look a lot like the real-life Branca, who served as Jackson's lawyer and manager for years, and continues to administer the late King of Pop's estate.

Teller isn't a stranger to music movies, having crushed his role as a drummer in Whiplash in 2014, nor is he unfamiliar with playing real-life people, as he showed in The Offer, which you can watch with a Paramount+ subscription.

The Other Four Members Of The Jackson 5

Jayden Harville, Jaylen Lyndon Hunter, Judah Edwards, and Nathaniel Logan McIntyre will play Jermaine, Marlon, Tito, and Jackie, respectively, in their younger years. The older versions of the brothers will be played by Jamal R. Henderson, Tre Horton, Rhyan Hill, and Joseph David-Jones, respectively.

Additional Cast Members

There have been some other actors confirmed for the film, including:

• Kendrick Sampson as Quincy Jones
• Jessica Sula as La Toya Jackson
• Derek Luke as Johnnie Cochran
• Kevin Shinick as Dick Clark
• Kat Graham as Diana Ross
• Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy
• Liv Symone as Gladys Knight
• KeiLyn Durrel Jones as Bill Bray

One name you might be wondering why it isn't on the list is Janet Jackson. Michael's sister, and perhaps the second most-famous member of the family, won't appear as a character in the movie, according to Variety.

Additionally, two of Michael Jackson's three children, Paris and Bigi (who was once called "Blanket"), were not involved in the production at all. His oldest, Prince, was, however, though he is not expected to appear as a character.

What Michael Will Be About

Michael Jackson has a heck of a history, from his time as a young child star in the Jackson 5 to his vast career as a solo artist, releasing some of the most famous albums of all time. He's also had a lot of legal trouble as well, and several allegations thrown his way, even more than a decade after his death. Though most of the controversy will not be included here.

As reported by Variety, the story will follow the star's life, from his rise to fame to the complicated life he faced as a result. It will include some of the "personal struggles" fame brought. In March 2024, in a statement to Variety, Graham King, one of the producers on the movie, talked about how the film will take an unbiased look into the pop star’s life, and that while Jackson was a “complicated” person, he still had a legacy “worth exploring.”

While the film may be unbiased, we now know that the more controversial aspects of Michael Jackson's life won't be included in this big-screen story. The story will focus on his origins in Gary, Indiana, and follow his path to global domination as a pop star in the 1980s. The major controversies that followed in the '90s and beyond will not be portrayed here.

That will likely (understandably) upset some people, but when a movie like this is made with the full cooperation of the people who are in charge of a deceased star's legacy, it's hardly unexpected. Will that make the movie still worthwhile? I think so, yes.

Antoine Fuqua Directed

As discussed above, Antoine Fuqua will be directing Michael. The director has been behind many popular franchises, including The Equalizer trilogy. Some of his other movies you might have heard of include King Arthur, The Guilty, The Magnificent Seven, Brooklyn's Finest, and Emancipation.

Fuqua has also worked as a producer on other films, such as Infinite and Bullet Train, so he's been all over the place regarding genre. But I feel he'll be great with Michael just from how he talks about the film in his interviews.

John Logan Wrote The Script

Something else that we know from the Variety article regarding the release date is that John Logan wrote the script for Michael.

The screenwriter is known for his writing credits on several critically acclaimed and blockbuster movies, such as Gladiator, Hugo, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and two James Bond movies, Skyfall and Spectre.

With a resume like that, it's hard to imagine Michael not being a great story.

Michael Will Be Using Michael Jackson's Music

When Deadline confirmed that the movie was happening in November 2019, it was also confirmed that the Michael Jackson estate gave Graham King (one of the producers) the rights to use Jackson's music in the film and permitted him to make the film overall.

This is a significant deal when it comes to biopics about music stars. The most prominent example I can think of is when the Elvis estate slammed the new Priscilla movie regarding the portrayal of Elvis Presley. It's rarely a seamless process when an adaptation is made regarding these famous stars, but to hear that the estate gave the studio the rights to use the music and produce the film is great. It was even confirmed at CinemaCon 2024 that there are going to be “more than 30 songs” from Jackson’s career used in the film (via The Hollywood Reporter), so get prepared to dance.

Miles Teller and Zac Efron met while filming the bromance comedy That Awkward Moment. Almost a decade has passed since they worked on the rom-com with Michael B. Jordan, but the two are still great friends to the point that The Iron Claw actor asked his pal to give a speech for him before receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. What the famed actor got from his former co-star was a hilarious roast that I think High School Musical fans will get a kick out of.

The High School Musical trilogy are Disney Channel Original Movies guaranteed to remind you of your childhood, and Zac Efron was the face of them. He was on posters plastered on childhood bedroom walls because of these movies, and he made many feel butterflies as they swooned over songs like "Bet On It." You better believe that Efron’s co-star and friend Miles Teller referred to that in his hilarious speech (via ET), and HSM fans will relate to it: 

It must have been such a unique experience for one Disney movie to bring a young actor so much fame. As a teenager before High School Musical, Zac Efron was known for starring in television movies, and he had a lead role in the then-WB series Summerland. Then came the Kenny Ortega-directed movie musical series and everything changed for the actor. 

Like Miles Teller says in his speech, Zac Efron's triple-threat talents have not gone unnoticed as not all DCOM stars get Hollywood Walk of Fame honors decades later. The Top Gun: Maverick star made sure to mention that it wasn’t important for Efron to be on the cover of magazines. The Hairspray actor wanted to establish himself as an actor, and by starring in a number of movies where he proved he was bigger than Troy Bolton, he did exactly that. Take a look at the rest of Miles Teller’s speech below:

Despite Zac Efron’s movie career getting bigger due to his praised performance in the The Iron Claw, that doesn’t mean his memories of High School Musical have escaped him. In his Walk of Fame speech, The Greatest Showman actor revealed a confession that there's still one thing he does today that's related to his East High days. He said:

I love how you can hear in the background a girl yelling, “Me too!” Even though it’s been almost 20 years since High School Musical debuted. Sadly when the original High School Musical cast reunited for the Disney Family Singalong via webcam, audiences weren’t happy that Efron didn’t sing with his former castmates. However, he had a legit reason for not partaking as the Baywatch star was in Papua New Guinea filming his new docu-series Killing Zac Efron, and he had limited wi-fi capabilities where he was. However, I’d like to believe the actor would take the opportunity to show off his singing chops again with his former HSM cast if his wi-fi was working better. 

Overall the actor still has a lot of love for the musical trilogy, as he expressed a desire to return back to the Disney franchise because his heart is still there with it. But, I can imagine it being a while before Efron comes back as Troy Bolton due to the busy schedule ahead of him. He’ll be co-starring with Nicole Kidman and Kathy Bates in A Family Affair expected to be part of the Netflix movie schedule sometime in 2024. The 36-year-old actor will also be co-starring with John Cena in the upcoming fantasy-comedy film Ricky Stanicky, which will be available with an Amazon Prime subscription.

Zac Efron made an excellent choice in picking Miles Teller to deliver his introduction speech when receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Teller’s hilarious speech may have roasted his friend’s High School Musical fame, but he and other HSM fans were able to appreciate the kind and funny words that were said. 

You can watch Efron in the newest A24 movie The Iron Claw in theaters on December 22nd. If you’d like to relive your High School Musical days with the Wildcats basketball player, the musical film series is available with a Disney+ subscription. 

On the morning of September 2, news broke that the beloved singer Jimmy Buffett died at the age of 76. The performer, who was adored for his laid-back beachy country music and his chain of restaurants, Margaritaville, passed away peacefully. Now, many celebrities, including Elton John, Miles Teller and more are paying tribute to the late “Margaritaville” singer. 

Artists from across many industries took to social media to show their love for and pay tribute to Jimmy Buffett. Rock legend, Elton John took to Instagram stories to show his love for the late singer. Reposting the IG announcement of Buffett’s death, the “Rocketman” singer wrote:

As Elton John noted, Buffett’s fans “adored him,” and he “never let them down.” With the same kind of adoration, Miles Teller took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to show his love for the “Cheeseburger in Paradise” singer by posting a quote and a photo of the two in Hawaiian shirts. 

LL Cool J also took to X to pay tribute to the singer and occasional actor. The NCIS: LA star and rapper wrote:

Buffett appeared in Jurassic World as the Margarita Man, and he performed “Margaritaville” with Chris Pratt at the premiere. He also worked as a producer on a few films like Hoot and Sun Dogs. However, what Jimmy Buffett is best known for is his music. So, of course, many musicians paid tribute to the iconic singer. 

Kenny Chesney, who also makes beachy country music that’s akin to Buffett’s laid-back tunes, took to Instagram to post a video of him singing “A Pirate Looks At Forty” in honor of his friend:

Chesney also uploaded a video of him singing “Margaritaville” with Buffett and his band.

Alan Jackson, who collaborated with Buffett on “It’s Five O'clock Somewhere,” posted a photo of him holding a CMA Award with his friend on X. He also added a beautiful quote that read:

Toby Keith, who was featured on Buffett’s song “Too Drunk To Karaoke” also took to X to write about his friend, collaborator and inspiration. The country singer posted two photos of them together and wrote:

There’s no question that Jimmy Buffett's passing is a major loss to many. He and his fun music were the soundtracks to many's summers, and as these tributes show there is a whole lot of love for him and his music. 

Those who were fans of his career also took to social media to pay tribute, and that included President Bill Clinton who posted on X :

The love truly runs deep for Jimmy Buffett and his music. We here at CinemaBlend, along with many others, hope he is having a cheeseburger in paradise. While he’ll be dearly missed, his legacy and his music will live on forever. 

Social media’s influence on the music industry has been huge, especially as it involves TikTok. If a song is used in a viral TikTok trend, it really contributes to the success of a song. The internet has become a way to introduce people to new music, and has done wonders for the careers of artists like Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo, and Ice Spice. It also worked magic for OneRepublic, who’s Top Gun: Maverick song “I Ain’t Worried” became extremely popular after videos of Miles Teller’s abs went viral. 

One of the most memorable scenes from Top Gun: Maverick is when the fighter pilots play shirtless beach football. It acts as an homage to the original Top Gun, where the pilots famously play shirtless volleyball while impractically wearing jeans. The scene in question went crazy viral on TikTok, and it features a moment where Miles Teller flexes his abs while dancing in slow motion. The scene is set to “I Ain’t Worried,” and the popularity of the clip helped earn the song a lot of attention. Ryan Tedder, lead singer of OneRepublic, talked about this recently on the YouTube channel Daniel's Wall, where he said:

Tedder seems super cool with Teller’s abs being the catalyst for the song's success, as it really helped it catch on. The movie has a lot of great tunes on the soundtrack, including Lady Gaga’s Oscar nominated song, “Hold My Hand” and the classic Kenny Loggins song, “Danger Zone” from the original film. Top Gun: Maverick was a box office hit, so lots of audiences were exposed to the OneRepublic chart topper just by seeing the film. However, slow motion shirtless scenes by one of our most buzzy young movie stars set to their single certainly helped.

Tedder even posted a video on TikTok of himself thanking Teller for making the song such a hit for his band. He actually gave the actor a bottle of Dom Perignon dedicated to the Whiplash actor's abs, showing that the musician is a man of his word. You can see the exchange below:

The impact of this short scene really can not be overstated. A three hour compilation of the beach football moment playing on a loop went viral as well, and the Louisville Cardinals football team recreated the scene shot for shot to advertise their upcoming football season. Cast members from the movie have been candid about how intense the preparation for the scene was, so their workout efforts were not in vain. 

While the virality of music being so important to success has been widely discussed and is controversial, for Tedder, he couldn’t be happier. The band has had a number of hits in their discography like “Good Life” and “Counting Stars,” but having another hit on their hands featured in one of the most popular movies ever, is truly something special. It’s almost as special as Teller’s abs. 

Fans can see Miles Teller’s viral physique in Top Gun: Maverick, which is streaming with a Paramount+ subscription. You can also check out “I Ain’t Worried” along with other songs from the film on the film sountrack Top Gun: Maverick (Music from the Motion Picture), which is available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Top Gun: Maverick was one of the biggest movie sensations last year, with thousands heading out to the theaters to check out the big summer blockbuster. Many scenes stuck with audiences, like the high flying stunt sequences, and the “Great Balls of Fire” musical moments. None however struck the chord that the beach football scene did. The scene exploded on the internet, with many TikToks of Miles Teller's dance moves going viral. Now, the University of Louisville football team is recreating the scene, and it's absolutely stellar. 

The Louisville Cardinals recently posted a video on their Twitter where they recreated the scene in question. The video is a shot for shot remake of the Top Gun scene, where the football players are all shirtless, just like the original. They even put a golden effect on the video to emulate the cinematography from the movie. Plus, it included one of their players perfectly executing Miles Teller’s dance in slow motion. You can check out the video below:

This is an absolutely hilarious homage to the iconic scene and it looks like the football team had a blast, along with the coaches who got in on the fun. While most of their football is likely not played on the beach, it looks like a silly summer exercise while they all get in shape for the next season. They may not be going to actual flight school like the Top Gun pilots, but they are returning to school in the near future, while also building a competitive football team. 

While this is a tribute to the Top Gun: Maverick scene, the actual scene in the movie is also an homage. While the fighter pilots have fun playing beach football in dramatic, sweaty slow motion, this moment is actually a nod to the beach volleyball scene in the original Top Gun. While corny, a compilation of half-dressed beautiful movie stars playing sports is nothing to complain about. Even Paramount got wind of how much love this scene was getting on the internet and put together a three hour long montage of shots from the scene, truly giving the people what they deserve. 

It’s no surprise that getting in shape for that scene was no easy feat, as a star from the movie recalled that prepping for the moment was fueled by ‘starvation’ and ‘testosterone.’ Hopefully only the latter went into the recreation by the Louisville team, as you need a healthy strong team to win football games. The Kentucky players actually have to play football, where the actors’ job was just to look great doing it. However, if this video proves anything, it’s that you can find a way to do both. 

You can revisit the Top Gun: Maverick football scene, as well as the rest of the box office sensation, now with a Paramount+ subscription. For more information on other movies heading to cinemas and streaming later this year, make sure to consult our 2023 movie release schedule. Louisville fans looking forward to the upcoming football season can check out the Cardinals schedule now on their website. 

Top Gun: Maverick was one of the biggest box office hits in years, and that success with fans was matched with more than a few awards. But one conspicuously absent nomination was a Best Actor Oscar nom for Tom Cruise. Many believed Cruise deserved the recognition, including Miles Teller. But Teller has an idea why the actor may have been overlooked. 

Speaking with the Associated Press, Teller makes it clear that he firmly believes Cruise should have received an Oscar nomination. The actor, who played Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick, says that awards are often given to actors who show that they have put in a lot of work to achieve a certain skill, and Cruise has absolutely done that. Teller explained…

There’s certainly a lot of truth to what Miles Teller is saying here. The performances that tend to get awards recognition are those that are able to show that a great deal of effort has gone into the performance. When an actor transforms themselves into a famous person in a biopic, a category that often seen awards recognition, it's easy to see how different they are from their usual selves, 

The “problem” that Tom Cruise has, according to Miles Teller, is that he makes it all look easy. It’s not obvious to an outside observer that Tom Cruise has exerted extreme effort, but only because he’s worked so hard, that he makes it all look too easy. Teller continues… 

Honestly, Teller may be on to something. Tom Cruise does make it all look easy. Whether he's hanging off a building in Mission: Impossible or flying in fighter jets in Top Gun, he does some incredible things, but certainly doesn’t make it look like he’s working that hard. We know that the rest of the Top Gun: Maverick cast pushed themselves to fly in those jets, and it’s not like Cruise didn’t go through the same thing, he’s just done it so much that it now comes naturally to him.

The times that Tom Cruise has been nominated for Oscars, it’s been for roles that are a bit outside of what we normally see him do, which at least has the result of making the viewer think he’s doing something he’s had less practice with, and must therefore be harder. Maybe if Tom Cruise would like more acting awards, he needs to start acting like everything he does on screen isn’t so easy for him.

2022 was a big year for Miles Teller. After a five-year hiatus from film, the actor not only played Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw opposite Tom Cruise’s Peter Maverick in Top Gun: Maverick, he also starred with Chris Hemsworth in Netflix’s Spiderhead. Oh, and let’s not forget his role as The Godfather producer Al Ruddy in the Paramount+ limited series The Offer. So what does Teller have for store for us in 2023? For starters, dancing with his dog in a Super Bowl commercial, although he unfortunately didn’t go shirtless for it.

Miles Teller teamed with his wife Keleigh to do a Super Bowl commercial for Bud Light, where the two break out some of that beer and enjoy dancing with each other, and the dog, to the on-hold music while Keleigh waits to speak to someone from customer service. You can watch the fun that unfolds for yourself thanks to Keleigh Teller sharing the Bud Light commercial on TikTok:

The Super Bowl isn’t happening for another nine days, but these days it’s become common for companies to release their big commercials for the annual football event long beforehand, like Steve Martin calling Ben Stiller a “nepo baby” in a Pespi ad (not that everyone is pleased about these soft releases). Bud Light decided to get in on the early promotion too, so now you can enjoy Miles and Keleigh Teller making an enjoyable experience out of something that’s usually boring, and even brought their French bulldog. The pup, however, had to forgo partaking in Bud Light for obvious reasons.

It’s hard to say if this Bud Light ad will go as viral as Miles Teller’s shirtless dance from Top Gun: Maverick’s beach football scene is hard to say, but for the actor’s fans out there, this is a nice treat while we wait for his next project. Although Spiderhead was met with mixed reviews upon being delivered to Netflix subscribers, Maverick was a critical and commercial powerhouse, ranking in the latter category as the highest-grossing movie in 2022 with its $1.489 billion haul. Maverick can now be streamed by those with a Paramount+ subscription.

So now that he’s done flying in the skies with Tom Cruise (for now, on the off chance Top Gun 3 ever sees the light of day) and touting how Bud Light can improve have to stay on hold, what’s next for Miles Teller? Well, last August, he was in final negotiations to star in and executive produce a movie called The Gorge, which will be directed by Scott Derrickson and is described as “a high-action, genre-bending love story.” Also, more than half a decade ago, Teller voiced the lead character Gilbert in an animated movie called The Ark and the Aardvark, which still hasn’t been released. 

Keep visiting CinemaBlend for more updates on Miles Teller’s career and news about the 2023 new movie releases. If you’re still in a Super Bowl commercial frame of mind, Anna Faris recently talked about how she went nearly nude for one of these ads.

While Top Gun became a massive hit in its day due to the incredible action sequence using real jets, that was far from the only thing about the movie that became iconic and memorable. The volleyball scene in the original film has lived on in infamy as much as anything else and the sequel was going to need to do its version of that. The good news for fans is that we got our new generation volleyball scene in beach football, and now it exists as a three hour repeatable sequence, because why not?

It’s like a yule log video, but instead it’s a bunch of good looking people playing football half dressed. Really who wouldn’t want that? The video on YouTube is a Christmas gift from Paramount+ who have added a new music track to the sequence and then just looped the football scene over and over again until it runs for three hours. It’s a Christmas miracle. 

The video of endless beach football comes out alongside the release of Top Gun: Maverick on Paramount+. If you’re a Paramount+ subscriber you can watch the whole movie now. But it is nice that one part of it has been made available for everybody, whether they subscribe to the service or not. I guess it’s Paramount’s gift to all, and also a pretty good commercial for why you might want to watch the whole movie.

Top Gun: Maverick took a longer road to streaming platforms than most films in 2022. Of course, the fact that it will almost certainly end up as the highest grossing movie of the year had a lot to do with that. 

There wasn’t much incentive to release the movie streaming when it was still selling tickets at the box office. It even saw a late extra theatrical release just to remind people how great it was, and the movie is starting to see a lot of award nominations because of it. Expectations of Oscar nominations for Maverick are fairly high, with a Best Picture nomination perhaps all but guaranteed. 

Three hours may seem like a long time to watch Miles Teller and company play football, but perhaps, like a yule log video, this is the sort of thing people will just run on the TV in the background, not so much watching it as enjoying the fact that it’s on the screen all day long. 

At least I hope that’s what people will be doing with this video. If you're going to actually watch this for three hours I worry. If they need more than that, maybe just watch Top Gun: Maverick, You can also spend all day long watching that if you like, and you’ll still get to watch beach football many times. 

It’s official. Taylor Swift is about to enter her director era. After the recent success and awards buzz of her first short film for All Too Well, the singer is set to helm a movie based on a script she wrote herself. The movie being produced by Searchlight Pictures is completely under wraps for the time being, and while Swifties are already theorizing what it could be about, I got thinking about the cast of Taylor Swift’s upcoming movie. 

Across Taylor Swift’s over fifteen years as a famous singer, she’s amassed a ton of connections with actors, many of whom could be great picks for her directorial debut. Let’s talk about which actors linked to Swift could be great stars of her first movie. 

Emma Stone 

Taylor Swift and Emma Stone have been friends since the early days in the spotlight for each of them, as far back as 2008. Over the years, Stone has become a major movie star, finding a career that weaves between her knack for comedy and more dramatic fare, even a musical in her Oscar-winning performance in La La Land. Knowing the personality of Swift, I think Stone would fit right in to speaking the dialogue she comes up with and deliver a heck of a performance too. 

Swift Song I Imagine Emma Stone Being The Star Of: ‘Tis The Damn Season 

Blake Lively

Taylor Swift and Blake Lively have reportedly been friends since 2015, and have since continued to be besties, alongside Lively's movie star husband Ryan Reynolds. These three are so tight that Swift even named the fictional trio in her folklore album after their kids. Lively also directed Swift’s music video “I Bet You Think About Me.” I particularly would love to see Lively take a role in Swift’s first movie because she’s an underestimated actress in Hollywood. She was particularly great in The Shallows, A Simple Favor and The Rhythm Section, none of which were major hits. I believe Swift’s own writing for a character she would play might give her a truly great role she deserves. 

Swift Song I Imagine Blake Lively Being The Star Of: Betty

Miles Teller 

Another connection made via the “I Bet You Think About Me” music video is Top Gun: Maverick actor Miles Teller. Swift seems to be good friends with Teller, perhaps through his wife Keleigh Sperry for some time. Teller has repeatedly put out memorable performances of complicated men throughout his Hollywood career, and I could just see him rising to the occasion on playing a heartbreaker character (no offense my dude) that could fit right into some of the narratives Swift has already played into with her music. 

Swift Song I Imagine Miles Teller Being The Star Of: Red 

Zoë Kravitz

Many of us made unexpected connections during COVID-19, including Taylor Swift and Zoë Kravitz, who both found themselves in London during lockdown and became good friends. Kravitz had writing credits on Swift’s latest album Midnights, made a short cameo in her “Bejeweled” music video and would be a great addition to Swift’s movie. I imagine Kravitz playing a character with a chip on her shoulder who becomes central to whatever genre of storytelling Swift is going with. 

Swift Song I Imagine Zoë Kravitz Being The Star Of: Vigilante Shit

Joe Alwyn

Who better to be Swift’s on-screen muse than the man who stole her heart in real life? Joe Alwyn is the longtime boyfriend of Taylor Swift who you may have seen in Hulu’s Conversations with Friends adaptation, as well as films like The Favourite and Harriet. The actor has also co-written music with Swift under the name “William Bowery” as well. I’m honestly curious what kind of role Swift would cast her man in and what he’d bring to this kind of collaboration. 

Swift Song I Imagine Joe Alwyn Being The Star Of: Cornelia Street 

Sadie Sink 

Sadie Sink was the incredible star of Swift’s short film, All Too Well. After the work they put in on that project, I could totally see the Stranger Things actress working with the singer again on her first movie. Perhaps if the movie has a coming-of-age plotline, Sink already beautifully captured Swift’s vision that was perhaps inspired by her own teen years. I’d love to see that come to life in a longer format. 

Swift Song I Imagine Sadie Sink Being The Star Of: August 

Uzo Aduba

Back in 2015, during Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour, the singer surprised fans in New Jersey with an appearance by Orange Is The New Black star Uzo Aduba to sing with her, revealing the pair are friendly as well. Aduba is an incredible actress who has since moved on from Netflix’s prison drama to HBO’s In Treatment and a recent voice role in Lightyear. While Aduba stays booked and busy as is, a collaboration with Ms. Swift would be iconic, obviously.

Swift Song I Imagine Uzo Aduba Being The Star Of: The Last Great American Dynasty

Alana Haim

Taylor Swift and the trio of sisters in the band Haim go way back to around 2014. The group of friends have vacationed together, toured with one another and shared the stage a few times. Additionally, Haim appeared on the 2020 song “no body, no crime,” whilst Swift guested on a version of their song “Gasoline.” Recently Alana Haim in particular got awards buzz for starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, and we’d love to see Swift be behind her next big performance. 

Swift Song I Imagine Alana Haim Being The Star Of: No Body, No Crime

Selena Gomez

Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez are BFF goals already, what would happen if she cast Gomez in her first movie? The actress has particularly been killing it on Only Murders In The Building lately alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short. We do wonder what kind of role she’d get to do written by someone who knows her better than just about any other filmmaker? 

Swift Song I Imagine Selena Gomez Being The Star Of: Champagne Problems 

There you have it! Taylor Swift already has a ton of actor connections, but I’d imagine she’ll do a mix of enlisting friends and making new collaborations. The singer’s movie is just one of many upcoming Taylor Swift projects including more album re-records and 2023’s Eras Tour. Swifties, there’s so much to be excited about in the near future, including eventual casting for her first movie. 

Every year, Google releases the most searched actors of the calendar year. The list often reflects pop culture touchstones, as well as rising stars gaining traction. This year, the top searches were unsurprising, as they reflected major events reported on by the media. Johnny Depp, who was engaged in a very public defamation trail with his ex-wife Amber Heard, topped the list at number one. He was followed by Will Smith, who became an object of much controversy when he slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars. However, as we go further down the list, it is much more surprising. 

The first four slots were taken up by individuals involved in the controversies above, with Amber Heard and Chris Rock ranking respectively at #3 and #4. However, there were some definite surprising standouts. Stranger Things breakout star Joseph Quinn came at #6, while the rest of the cast remained off of the list. This was particularly surprising considering the actor’s character, Eddie Munson, only totaled about 42 minutes of total screen time throughout the entire season. However, Eddie is a stand-out amongst fans, so maybe his placement on the list is valid. 

Coming at #9 was Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller. While Teller certainly made waves this year, including becoming a fan favorite on TikTok and even hosting SNL, the actor was not the star, nor the most bankable actor in the blockbuster hit. Tom Cruise feels like a much more obvious actor for audiences to latch onto, yet Teller seems to have been the one to peak the interest of Google users. 

Another surprise addition is Ashley Judd, who came in at #10. The Emmy-nominated actress did not have a major starring role in a movie at all this year, but she did make an appearance as herself in the film She Said. The film follows the journalists who worked to investigate the allegations around Harvey Weinstein, sparking the #MeToo movement and a major Hollywood reckoning. Judd was at the forefront of the movement and worked to expose Weinstein, so it made sense for her to be included in the movie. 

The rest of the list includes Julia Fox, who dated Kanye West earlier this year and has since been very active on social media talking about the controversies; Jada Pinkett Smith, who was the subject of the joke Chris Rock made that prompted the slap; and Ezra Miller, whose various controversies, allegations directed against them and trouble with the law looms over the future of the DCEU. You can check out the full list, as well as other Google-compiled lists from this year, via USA Today. 

Who knows what the next year may bring, and you never know who will make a splash with audiences. For a preview into what movie fans may be searching about in 2023, check out our 2023 movie release schedule. It includes exciting projects like Barbie, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so there is a lot to look forward to in the coming months. 

Viewers already know Tom Cruise set the tone on the Top Gun: Maverick set. Countless co-stars have spoken about him setting the bar going back to their pre-production training, but any Cruise fans know his commitment to film comes from his love of the medium. His Maverick co-star Miles Teller could vouch for this consensus. Teller spoke about Cruise’s love for moviemaking while delivering on the Top Gun: Maverick set.

Of course, the Top Gun: Maverick actor can recall his experience with Tom Cruise fondly now considering he almost turned down the role of Rooster. Cruise’s love for film comes through the endless number of stunts he does. While fans get a peek from time to time, Miles Teller got to see the Top Gun star’s enthusiasm for movies firsthand. Teller spilled on the Dan Fogler’s 4D Xperience podcast what it was like to watch the Hollywood icon in real-time:

It seems like the Mission: Impossible star left an impression on the actor. Being in Hollywood for over four decades, the filmmaking process still seems to intrigue Cruise. But things shouldn’t be surprising considering the Oscar-nominated actor stars in and produces most of his projects. So he wants to make sure everything is perfect for moviegoers.

Teller echoed the sentiment of his co-stars’ favorite memories of collaborating with Tom Cruise. Watching Cruise prep before each scene and reshooting scenes until they were right made him realize how committed to filming the Vanilla Sky star is. In his words:

As Miles Teller mentioned, Tom Cruise does deliver every time he’s onscreen no matter the genre. Viewers can tell he is fully involved and dedicated to the work they will see on the big screen. His enthusiasm filtered over to Teller and co. as he gave some sage advice about the pressure to perform. The 60-year-old actor believed the pressure from filmmaking is a privilege, and that appeared to show up in his actions on set.

Top Gun: Maverick is set to arrive on DVD and Blu-ray on November 1 after having slugged it out in movie theaters for months. Doing so made the sequel 2022’s highest-grossing film. It is currently unknown when the blockbuster film will hit streaming, but make sure to get a Paramount+ subscription for when it finally arrives.

As part of the Fall TV premiere week fun, Saturday Night Live returned to fans for Season 48 with a premiere that was missing quite a few familiar faces, of both those who’d previously announced their exits, as well as the currently busy elsewhere Cecily Strong. Though guest host and Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller and musical guest Kendrick Lamar kept fans entertained, the episode sparked a wave of non-ideal headlines hanging on the claims that the “Charmin Bears” scene directly copied the viral “Toilet Paper Bears” video created by online filmmaker Joel Haver. Now, the fan-favorite content creator has offered his own response. 

Those who watched SNL’s Season 48 opener witnessed stars Kenan Thompson and more dressed in big and vibrantly blue bear suits, for a sketch that centered on Teller’s bear aiming to reach his dancing dreams rather than following the butt-wiping footsteps set in place by the family business. After those familiar with Joel Haver’s work took to social media to air out their gripes, Haver shared a reaction video on YouTube, and offered a far more understanding approach than many others online, saying:

Part of Haver’s point of view comes down to him just being a smart dude and understanding the numbers game when it comes to producing comedic videos for online enjoyment. There are currently thousands upon thousands of people on YouTube, TikTok and beyond creating multiple videos per week (or per day), so the law of averages states that not every video is going to be the most unique and original slice of genius. Granted, there’s a line between random similarities and bafflingly close ones. 

Joel Haver also cops to the idea that he’s currently at a point in his video-creating career where an incident like this, regardless of the validity of the allegations, doesn’t directly bother him nearly as much as it would have at an earlier point before he had as big of a following. He says he can see why others who are still on the rise would be more upset about the Emmy-winning NBC series reportedly copying their work. 

Given that we may never get a smoking gun, or whatever the opposite is, when it comes to the “Charmin Bears” sketch, it’s probably easiest to let bygones be bygones, despite the fact that SNL has been accused of stealing sketches many times over throughout the years, though not always with this kind of specificity involved. Haver seems to be letting it go for now, while taking comfort in the fact that he (and many others) think that his “Toilet Paper Bears” sketch was the better of the two. He continued:

For those who haven’t yet watched Joel Haver’s bears-geared video, check it out below. Everyone looking to check out SNL’s premiere can do so with a Peacock subscription, with episodes now streaming live alongside the linear airing. 

SNL airs Saturday nights on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET, and streaming on Peacock, where past episodes can be rewatched again and again. Head to our TV premiere schedule to see what other shows are yet to debut in 2022. 

Season 48 of Saturday Night Live kicked off this weekend (marking the first appearances of the various new SNL cast members). Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller hosted the show and did a great job committing to several hilarious and memorable sketches. Speaking of those skits, the show unsurprisingly lampooned events related to Adam Levine’s alleged cheating scandal timeline, and the show didn't hold back when it came to satirizing aspects of the situation.

In the sketch, Miles Teller plays a game show host for a show titled Send Something Normal. The fictional program sees the contestants come up with tame responses to direct messages from fans on social media. The contestants were Adam Levine (Mikey Day), Armie Hammer (James Austin Johnson), Neil deGrasse Tyson (Kenan Thompson) and Bowen Yang (himself). Ultimately, none of the contestants can seem to come up with an acceptable response to their fans. The sketch is a clear spoof of the several odd responses the real-life celebrities have allegedly shared via social media. Check out the sketch down below:

Adam Levine's alleged activity on social media has been a major topic of discussion as of late. The Maroon 5 singer became the center of the attention when TikToker Sumner Stroh took to social media and claimed to have been his mistress. She also provided alleged screenshots of messages between her and Levine. Since then, several more women have spoken out, accusing Levine of sending explicit DMs. The messages sent by Levine also received attention because they were a bit odd. Since then, the Internet has been having a field day, with many crafting memes based on the situation. If anything, it seems SNL wanted to get in on the buzz.

As mentioned, the Saturday Night Live sketch also called out the highly publicized controversy regarding Call Me By Your Name actor Armie Hammer. Last year, it was reported that Hammer reportedly sent a series of messages to a woman (whom he allegedly had a relationship with), and said DMs alluded to cannibalistic thoughts. Following those claims and accusations of sexual abuse, Hammer lost a series of jobs.

In terms of Adam Levine, he denied having had an affair. Though in his statement addressing the matter, he did admit to having used "poor judgment" when interacting with a woman who was not his wife, model Behati Prinsloo -- who's currently pregnant with the couple's third child. Per reports, Prinsloo is standing by Levine, though it's been said that she's not happy about this ongoing situation.

It honestly wouldn't be surprising if Saturday Night Live decided to say more about Adam Levine's alleged cheating scandal in another sketch this season. Of course, we'll just have to wait and see if that ends up panning out. You can check out new episodes of the show when they air at 11:30 EST on NBC on Saturdays as part of the 2022 TV schedule. You can also stream past episodes using a Peacock subscription. 

Saturday Night Live went through one of the biggest turnover periods in its history between Seasons 47 and 48, with a whopping eight stars announcing their exits throughout the summer months, and Chris Redd made his departure known less than two weeks ahead of Miles Teller hosting the latest premiere. With Kendrick Lamar as the musical guest, SNL kicked off its 48th year with some Adam Levine riffing, some Peyton Manning spoofing, and some Jon Hamm…hamming. But it wasn’t too long after the episode aired that some viewers questioned the originality of one of the evening’s more left-field sketches. 

In the midst of the Cecily Strong-lacking season premiere, SNL had stars Kenan Thompson, Punkie Johnson and Heidi Gardner, along with Miles Teller, decked out in big, fluffy, blue-and-white bear suits, for what would be known as the “Charmin Bears” sketch. Some viewers no doubt didn’t think twice about what they were seeing, but fans of the web-based comedian Joel Haver were quick to notice the similarities between this and the somewhat recent animation titled “Toilet Paper Bears,” which currently has over 1.3 million views on YouTube.

For one, a fan started up a Reddit thread within the Joel Haver subreddit to question whether or not they were on the right path in thinking SNL was possibly guilty of allegedly ripping off the pre-existing sketch. Nearly a dozen commenters were in agreement, with several pointing out how often Saturday Night Live has been accused of sketch-stealing tactics in the past. For what it’s worth, it’s happened in cases concerning the Awkwafina-starring “Pumpkin Patch” sketch, the Tina Turner-esque “Proud Mary” sketch, the seductive Zillow sketch, and many more over the years. (Joe Rogan and fired SNL-er Shane Gillis spoke to SNL’s alleged joke-ripping during a 2021 installment of Joe Rogan Experience.)

So with that in mind, first give the Saturday Night Live sketch a look-see below. 

And now pass those eyeballs over the Joel Haver animated sketch to suss out any potential comparison points. 

While it's impossible to fully lay out how things went down regarding the creation of these sketches, it's also rather impossible to ignore the closeness in subject matter. I'm all for believing in coincidences when logic dictates it, but others are less quick to give SNL the benefit of the doubt. This viewer commented directly under the sketch show's tweet about "Charmin Bears," saying:

Meanwhile, the user below went on a mini-tirade after seeing SNL's bears on parade, starting off with:

Another fan offered up thoughts on how this may be a case where there's some validity behind the copycat claims, saying:

SNL famously featured Louis C.K. in a cut-for-time sketch about joke-stealing, with the stand-up comic having previously been in a feud with Dane Cook over such things. Only for Tig Notaro to come out two years later and accuse C.K. and the NBC series of ripping off her short film Clown Service with its “Birthday Clown” sketch. 

With new episodes airing every week at 11:30 p.m. ET, Saturday Night Live also streams live for those with Peacock subscriptions. Head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning shows are on the way. 

The Top Gun: Maverick shirtless football scene blessed us all this summer. Showing off the cast’s abs and making it clear they are all in tip-top shape. It also brought us iconic moments that will live on forever as viral gifs like the Rooster wiggle. However, a scene like that does not just happen, the actors had to work hard to get in such good shape, and Glenn Powell is pointing that out with a recent behind-the-scenes post. 

The film’s director Joseph Kosinski called this scene the “Super Bowl of, you know, shirtless scenes.” Turns out this scene almost didn't happen, Kosinski said he didn’t want to make a montage that was the “cover band version of Top Gun.” Well, it wasn’t a second-rate version of the iconic Volleyball scene, if anything it met or even exceeded expectations. I feel like it's safe to say that a massive reason they were able to pull this off is because of how hard the actors worked to get into shape, even on the day of the shoot, as Powell posted on his Instagram:

Powell is right, “montages are” indeed “forever.” I have a hunch he's right in regard to this iconic scene. At least, I know I’ll never forget about it. These dudes (and gal) are in perfect shape and look so incredibly good in this scene how could you forget about it? 

Top Gun: Maverick has been one of the most successful movies of 2022. With it being such a cultural phenomenon, the stars have spoken at length about how they made the movie and have shared lots of fun behind-the-scenes posts. Powell, in particular, has talked a lot about making the blockbuster, specifically the football scene. The other stars have also told funny stories about Powell's training. For example, Lewis Pullman, who plays Bob, talked about training for the shirtless scene and how he caught Powell in the gym whispering to himself “montages last forever.” 

Meanwhile, Jay Ellis, who plays Payback, didn’t mind missing out on the scene. It's understandable, he had to be naked for 6 or 7 years while he worked on Insecure and said he is happy to have people recognize him in his clothes. While he was missed from the scene, I respect his point. 

While the entire montage will for sure last forever, Miles Teller’s little dance he did will likely live on long past forever. The two-second clip of him dancing has gone viral and Teller revealed that the move was something he and his friends would do at parties. 

These shirtless scenes clearly highlight all the hard work the actors put into their training. Their training was no joke; Tom Cruise put them through intensive pilot training to prepare for the movie. Obviously, it paid off physically for the actors. However, there was also a major payoff on the filming side of things. They were able to capture the action in the airplanes which was able to break “the glass ceiling,” as Danny Ramirez, who plays Fanboy in the movie, put it. Without their physical and pilot training, none of this would have been possible. 

Top Gun: Maverick is a feat of physical and film achievement, and boy am I happy people like Powell keep posting all this sizzling BTS content. They all deserve to show off their abs and their hard work. 

Top Gun: Maverick was a movie that fans waited decades to see and when the Top Gun sequel arrived the fans turned out in a big way. Maverick is the biggest movie of the year at the box office, by quite a wide margin. Fans are loving the return of Tom Cruise and all the new characters as well. It turns out the actors playing those characters love each other too. Seriously, these guys are adorable. 

Recently Top Gun: Maverick co-star Miles Teller shared a picture of himself and Glen Powell hanging out together and clearly having a good time. Despite the fact that the two antagonize each other in the film, it's obvious that these guys are pretty good friends. However, Powell then shared the picture on Twitter and took things to a whole new level by sharing a story about how the two shared a room during production and it’s incredibly sweet. 

It’s possible that Glen Powell, who took his shirtless football sequence very seriously, is just having some fun with his friend and these bedtime exchanges, where they called each other Hangy and Roo didn’t actually happen. But there’s no reason not to believe this is genuine, and it’s so incredibly cute. Fans responding to this tweet are absolutely swooning now and it would be heartbreaking to learn this was a joke. While Powell is certainly having a laugh in bringing this story up, the story itself makes you look at the original picture differently. You can feel how genuine the smiles are.

And considering everything that the cast went through, it’s no wonder that at least some of them bonded so closely. These guys didn’t just make a movie together but they trained in actual jets in order to do all of Top Gun: Maverick’s flying scenes practically. Going through something like that together, sleeping in the same room on an aircraft carrier, is going to make your cast close. Glen Powell has talked about the pressure that everybody felt making Maverick. It’s not a shock they bonded during production.

The fact that they apparently called each other by their character callsigns rather than their names shows how much they were just living inside this movie. The fact they had adorable nicknames for those callsigns shows how close they really were. If anything could make Top Gun: Maverick an even better movie it’s knowing the actors had a great time making it. 

And it certainly makes you want to see them again. It took decades to get a sequel to Top Gun but considering just how successful Maverick has been, it’s hard to imagine Paramount isn’t considering making a Top Gun 3. Maybe Hangy and Roo will be back together before too long. 

What do you do when you mix an actor and a director who have achieved box office success? Have them collaborate in a movie, of course! After Miles Teller’s success with the box office-awarded smash hit Top Gun: Maverick, a new blockbuster has been lined up for him and Scott Derrickson, the director of 2016's Doctor Strange.

Miles Teller was fortunate to star as “Rooster” Bradshaw in Top Gun: Maverick, which couldn’t and wouldn’t stop making money at the box office at $1.406 billion. Deadline states that the 35-year-old actor is in final negotiations to reunite with Maverick’s Skydance production company to star in and executive produce The Gorge. While no details about the film's plot were shared, we do know it’s “a high-action, genre-bending love story.” This upcoming movie will have Scott Derrickson serve as the director. Derrickson was originally going to return to helm the Doctor Strange sequel, but the filmmaker left Multiverse of Madness due to “creative differences.”

After departing the Doctor Strange sequel, Derrickson delivered a different kind of box office hit when he teamed back up with Blumhouse to direct The Black Phone. Considering one of the theories for why he left the Doctor Strange sequel was because he wasn't able to delve as deeply into horror with it as he wanted, it looks like he got his wish with the Ethan Hawke-starring movie. This terrifying film became a box office hit at $150 million on a $25 million budget, and critical reviews for The Black Phone praised Derrickson’s direction in creating a successful horror film. It even managed to outperform Halloween Kills and Scream 5. 

Miles Teller spent the end of spring and the beginning of summer promoting Top Gun: Maverick, the Netflix thriller Spiderhead and the Paramount+ series The Offer. After having such an eventful year, he reportedly wanted to spend the rest of the summer actively reading scripts to have an idea of what his next project would be. Skydance knew Teller would have to be attached to this project in order for the Sinister director to get right on it. After meeting with Derrickson and producers, the Footloose actor was on board.

While Miles Teller has been known for box office hits like Top Gun: Maverick, The Divergent Series and Fantastic Four, he’s starred in a number of other films that wouldn’t fall into the blockbuster category. Teller made his film debut with a supporting role in Rabbit Hole, co-starring Nicole Kidman. He had a starring role opposite Shailene Woodley in A24’s The Spectacular Now. The CinemaCon Award winner was also in teen partying movies like 21 & Over and Project X, rom-coms like That Awkward Moment, Get a Job and Two Night Stand, and biographical films like Bleed for This, Only the Brave and Thank You For Your Service. While this actor does not need a blockbuster movie in order to continue with the success he’s had, it definitely helps.

Scott Derrickson and Miles Teller are two box office winners who are most likely guaranteed to give audiences a new project that's worth them racing to their seats. While no release date has been set yet for The Gorge, make sure to follow CinemaBlend so you’ll be the first to know about it. 

It’s been an especially great summer for Miles Teller, as the actor reclaimed his heartthrob status as a mustachioed, aviator-wearing pilot in Top Gun: Maverick, the No. 1 movie of 2022 thus far. As Teller becomes a key character in the “Danger Zone” of Paramount’s successful action flick, we reminded him Maverick isn’t the only movie Kenny Loggins has soundtracked, and he wasn’t shy about declaring himself to be in the Loggins “fan club.” 

When CinemaBlend sat down with Miles Teller for Top Gun: Maverick, our own Sean O’Connell pointed out to the actor he was also in the Footloose remake back in 2011, where the Kenny Loggins tune was spun for a version sung by Blake Shelton. Teller said this about the funny connection between two of his films: 

As Teller told us, he’s all in on Kenny Loggins. At the time, he was already planning to see the singer in concert at the Hollywood Bowl in a show he’s doing with Jim Messina, which is taking place next month. It sounds like Teller is a real fan of the singer behind “Danger Zone” in Top Gun and many other soundtracks and pieces of music. 

While Kenny Loggins' work in Top Gun is among the most iconic movie songs today, Loggins recently reflected on having a lot of competition to get on the soundtrack to the classic. When he and a ton of artists were invited to see the film though, he became attached to Top Gun's volleyball scene and decided to use “Playing With The Boys” as his way in. It led to him becoming the singer on “Danger Zone.” 

Loggins' memorable Top Gun song was featured in Maverick along with Lady Gaga’s exclusive track for the film, "Hold my Hand," which has a double meaning within the movie. The singer is certainly a legend, and Miles Teller is a massive fan of not only Kenny Loggins, but ‘80s music. While his other dip into ‘80s pop culture, Footloose, was not nearly as big as Top Gun: Maverick, it was overall enjoyed by the masses and made over double its production budget. 

Although Miles Teller and the rest of the Maverick cast had to wait two more years for the movie to hit theaters than they expected, Maverick's success has been well worth it. Along with the movie pleasing audiences (and blowing them away with its stunts), it has been a huge commercial hit and one of few studio movies to really bring audiences back to movie theaters in droves. Plus, there’s definitely more people joining the Kenny Loggins fan club! 

By pretty much any measurement, Top Gun: Maverick has been a huge success. The summer blockbuster has already made well over 1.25 billion dollars at the box office, and audiences and critics have been on board with Top Gun 2. However, it was a long road to get here, and Top Gun stars like Miles Teller and Glenn Powell, as well as director Joseph Kosinski, have shared their thoughts on the extended wait for the Tom Cruise starrer’s theatrical release. 

Speaking at CinemaCon earlier this year, Joseph Kosinski shared during a panel that the whole thing has been “surreal.” At the time, he had just seen the movie in an early showing in front of a room of movie fans and exhibitors and he shared what that experience was like afterward:  

A lot of people related to the movie have been asked about the wait, and Miles Teller is no exception. After he’d actually started doing early press work for Top Gun: Maverick at the start of 2020, the whole flick's rollout was paused. And while he'd seen the movie at that point and talked about the Top Gun sequel's "emotional payoff", he and the rest of the cast were forced to wait through several more covid-related movie delays before the movie finally hit theaters as part of the 2022 release schedule. 

Now he's back on the press circuit, and he told Late Night with Seth Meyers that it was honestly a bit of a bummer to have to hold off, though he didn’t have some of the concerns other people in the cast did. 

Those other people include a slew of relative newcomers like Glen Powell, Danny Ramirez, and Greg Tarzan Davis, among other names. While Powell famously played John Glenn in Hidden Figures, Top Gun: Maverick was a project in a whole different stratosphere for the actor. This is basically what Miles Teller touched on in his own comments, but Powell also gave his unique perspective during the panel at CinemaCon. 

Luckily, it seems that Powell -- and hopefully some of those other newcomers -- really kept the right attitude while they waited for Paramount to unleash Maverick on the world. Once the studio did, the movie has been unstoppable, not only at the domestic box office, but also worldwide. Of course, that's led to questions about whether or not there could be a third Top Gun movie, and it's been discussed already. 

For now, you can catch Maverick in theaters, or the original 1986 Top Gun streaming. 

Top Gun: Maverick is a massive hit of a movie that shows that when people spent decades asking for a Top Gun sequel, they weren’t messing around. The movie has made over $1 billion at the box office, made Tom Cruise the biggest movie star in the world again, and seen Miles Teller go viral. This is a movie that will have lasting impact to be sure, but one element from the film that apparently didn’t last was Miles Teller’s mustache.

Miles Teller sported a pretty epic mustache when he played the Rooster, the son of Goose. The facial hair was something we’d never seen on Teller and it became one of the more recognizable elements of Tp Gun: Maverick. A lot of people loved it, but Teller’s wife Keleigh was not one of those people, and the actor tells People that the mustache was gone as soon as filming was done…

Teller doesn’t really say one way or the other what he thought of the mustache. Clearly, even if he liked it, he didn’t consider it important enough to make an issue about. 

Miles Teller’s wife may have decided she didn’t like the facial hair, but a lot of people really did. Teller’s mustache apparently inspired a lot of people to try growing their own, it became something of a trend on TikTok. Teller says he’s quite happy to be the catalyst for such a movement…

For what it’s worth, while Miles Teller says that his wife was not a fan of the mustache, she was at least a good sport about it. In the lead up to the release of Top Gun: Maverick, and following the movie’s initial success, she posted many pictures of the couple together while he had the mustache, and she at least implied that she liked it. If she really didn’t care for it then she deserves strong praise for being so publicly supportive. 

So it sounds like we probably won’t be seeing the Miles Teller mustache anytime soon. Unless of course we get a Top Gun 3. Considering how successful Top Gun: Maverick has been there must be some internal conversations about the possibility of another sequel, and since studios usually like to change things as little as possible for future installments, we would likely expect to see the facial hair return. How do we know the mustache wasn’t the reason Top Gun: Maverick made $1 billion?