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LMGI COMPASS
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Summer 2022
and he was like, 'you can't show that. Delete it.'"
After several visits, the team really wanted the location because
it was by far the most modern space they'd seen. The hangars
at NASNI, for example, are probably 50 or 60 years old, but the
hangar they saw at China Lake was brand new.
"Once we got in there, it was like, "Whoa, this is fuckin' cool! I
mean, it was obvious we loved it," says Hindle.
In the end, by some miracle, they were granted permission to
shoot there.
"I don't know whether it was because of Ferg or what but they
said, 'let us know when you want to do it and it'll take "x" number
of days to sanitize it—meaning remove the assets that are in there,
cover things up—and then you can shoot,'" Mike says.
"Talk to Me, Goose"
Even the best of the best will inevitably run into one of those "Talk
to me, Goose" moments as when, in the rst lm, Maverick talks
to his old RIO to help encourage him—a beat that is repeated in
ne form for the new lm. It's a bit like a plea to the heavens and
for TGM, one sequence in particular was that moment for the
Location Department.
The production was set to shoot on two Nimitz Class aircraft
carriers: the USS Abraham Lincoln, used for the opening which
beautifully mirrors the opening sequence from Tony Scott's
Photo Atsushi Nishijima/Amazon
All photos: NAS North Island, Coronado
