None of his previous experience prepared Greg Tarzan Davis for the rigorous training he had to go through to play Coyote in "Top Gun: Maverick," but it was having to get in the water that really caught the actor by surprise.
"We had to do the water training. I didn't know that was a part of the process at the time, but to get in the F-18 you have to be able to do the water qualifications," Davis explained to Looper. Despite the fact that the actors had an Olympic swim coach taking them through the process, Davis says he learned the hard way just how difficult it can be to get out of a disabled fighter jet while underwater, with little visibility and/or few ways to exit.
"We're strapped in, right? And some of us have goggles," Davis recalled. "I was learning how to swim, and I almost drowned because of [actor] Lewis [Pullman] multiple times," he added, jokingly. "Lewis is sitting by a window, goggles on, so he can see. I'm blindfolded, so I'm going, I'm going [makes motions of swimming and feeling around with eyes closed]. I'm like, 'What the ... Lewis, are you still in here? I need to go through the window!' So he almost caused me to drown."
Davis is joking, of course — sort of — and we have no doubt that the actors were never put in serious danger during their training. But the anecdote only underscores the sense of realism that permeates every frame of "Top Gun: Maverick." When you see Davis in the cockpit of the F/A-18 later in the movie, that's really him up there — not bad for a guy who couldn't even swim when he started.
"Top Gun: Maverick" is in theaters now.
