{"id":679,"date":"2025-04-13T21:49:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T21:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/giantnews.us\/?p=679"},"modified":"2025-04-13T21:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T21:49:35","slug":"why-you-dont-hear-from-kelly-mcgillis-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/giantnews.us\/?p=679","title":{"rendered":"Why you don\u2019t hear from Kelly McGillis anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The iconic Top Gun <\/em>movie catapulted Tom Cruise to stardom. <\/strong><\/p>\n

But the woman who starred as his love interest in the movie, Kelly McGillis, went down a wholly different path. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Today, it\u2019s hard to recognize the 65-year-old actress \u2013 she\u2019s faced a lot of age shaming over the last few years\u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Kelly McGillis, circ.1987 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Getty Images\/Bob Riha, Jr.)\u201dn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u2019t think I was the only one who couldn\u2019t help but think of Kelly McGillis when I went to the cinema to watch\u00a0Top Gun: Maverick<\/em>, the sequel to the classic 80s film.\u00a0I knew that she wouldn\u2019t appear \u2013 but somehow, I still hoped that I would get to see her.<\/p>\n

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Obviously, McGillis never showed up, while Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer reunited in a very emotional scene. According to McGillis, she wasn\u2019t asked to join the cast. In 2019, Entertainment Tonight<\/a> wondered if the filmmakers of\u00a0Top Gun: Maverick<\/em>\u00a0had offered her a role in the sequel.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my god no. They did not, nor do I think they would ever,\u201d McGillis said,<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019m old and I\u2019m fat, and I look age-appropriate for what my age is, and that is not what that whole scene is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kelly McGillis sits at a desk in a scene from the film \u2018Top Gun\u2019, 1986. (Photo by Paramount\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the 65-year actress didn\u2019t seem to care about being left out of Top Gun: Maverick<\/em>, which became the smash blockbuster movie of 2022.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d much rather feel absolutely secure in my skin and who and what I am at my age, as opposed to placing a value on all that other stuff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The truth about her character in Top Gun<\/em><\/h2>\n

In the eighties, McGillis was one of only a handful of women who could command million-dollar fees.\u00a0In Top Gun<\/em>, the well-known actress starred as the astrophysicist and training school instructor Charlie Blackwood.<\/p>\n

The blonde, long-legged, beautiful actress made a lasting impression as Maverick\u2019s love interest \u2013 her brainy-but-gorgeous character became iconic.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think anything prepared me for what I guess was becoming a household name kind of thing,\u201d McGillis said told LA Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really intimidating to me. I don\u2019t aspire to be famous. I just aspire to be an actress, and that movie kind of startled my reality in a big way. I got very insecure. I didn\u2019t know who I could trust to be my friend anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie was actually based on another iconic person \u2013 Christine Fox. Fox was a famous civilian flight instructor and mathematician who the producers met while doing research for the movie.<\/p>\n

She would later have an impressive career at the Pentagon \u2013 Fox became Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense, the highest post ever held by a woman at the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n

How Kelly McGillis got the role of Charlie was a bit of a coincidence. She was scheduled to do another movie, but it fell through. Paramount called her and asked if she could do Top Gun<\/em> instead, McGillis liked the script and then drove to San Diego for the production.<\/p>\n

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\u201dI felt it was a Western in the sky. I had no clue how visually impeccable it would be. I think Tony Scott brought so much to that movie visually,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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