Los Angeles, Jun 4 (IANS): The recently released nostalgia, inducing film 'Top Gun: Maverick', which reunites filmmaker Joseph Kosinski with both Tom Cruise and Miles Teller, has an interesting story behind its casting. The 'Whiplash' star was at the top of Kosinski's mind when he was mapping out the story for 'Maverick', reports 'Variety'.

Teller stars in the 'Top Gun' sequel as Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw, son of Maverick's late friend Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw.

Kosinski recently told 'Vulture', "I was actually in post on 'Only the Brave', this was May 2017, so Miles Teller was on my mind. The relationship in that movie is a very paternal one with Josh Brolin's character. So I showed Tom a picture of Miles because Miles has blond hair in that film."

Kosinski further goes on to state that he had Photoshopped a moustache on Teller and emotionally convinced Cruise to let him cast the 'Whiplash' actor, "I think I'd Photoshopped a moustache on him. I'm like, 'I just worked with this kid. He's really good'. We still went through the audition process, and Miles won the role on his own."

He added, "But because I had made a film with (Tom) before, I knew I had to grab him emotionally. So I opened with the idea that this is a rite-of-passage story like the first film. The first film is a drama, even though it's wrapped in this glossy action film."

"Then I talked about shooting practically, and obviously Tom's 100 in per cent for all that," the director added. "And then the title. I said we can't call it Top Gun 2.' We've got to call it 'Top Gun: Maverick', a character story. So he pulled out his phone, called the head of Paramount, and said, 'We're making a sequel to Top Gun'. And it was boom, green light."

'Variety' states that 'Top Gun: Maverick' has emerged as one of the most critically acclaimed studio tentpoles in years. The film opened to a record-breakingA $160 million over the Memorial Day holiday weekend and will easily cross the $250 mark domestically by the end of its second weekend.