Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500716
18 S U M M E R 2 0 2 3 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y MOTION PICTURES – LIVE ACTION TOP GUN: MAVERICK by KAROL URBAN CAS MPSE Joseph Kosinski's Top Gun: Maverick was the second highest grossing theatrical release of 2022, with box-office revenue of around $1.5 billion worldwide, and $719 million being generated in the US and Canada alone. It received 92 award wins and 214 nominations, garnering an Oscar for Best Sound and our CAS Award for Excellence in Sound Mixing in the Motion Pictures – Live Action category. The story picks up 30 years after Tony Scott's iconic film Top Gun. Maverick is called to train a team of elite Navy pilots in a near-impossible mission that forces him to face the struggles of his past and push beyond his limits. I had the pleasure of discussing this masterpiece with the sound mixing team, comprised of production mixer Mark Weingarten (Dunkirk, Interstellar), scoring mixer Al Clay (No Time to Die, The King's Man), scoring mixer Stephen Lipson (No Time to Die, The Lego Batman Movie), Foley mixer Blake Collins CAS (Coco, X-Men: Days of Future Past), re-recording mixer Chris Burdon (Children of Men, Captain Phillips), and re-recording mixer Mark Taylor (1917, The Martian). I found myself again on the edge of my seat, learning of all they overcame in crafting this epic adventure. Mark, as the production mixer, how and when were you brought on to this project and were you intimidated by any aspect of this challenge? Mark Weingarten: Early in 2018, several months before Top Gun: Maverick started shooting, I met with Joe Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick's director, and Tommy Harper, Top Gun: Maverick's producer. Joe is very easy to talk to. He's calm. He's kind. He's energetic. He's extremely well prepared and he's totally open to listening to everyone else's suggestions. Not only was the movie going to be exciting and challenging to work on, it was also going to be shot almost exclusively in California. Since I live in LA, shooting in California was a very welcome bonus. I was very pleased when Joe and Tommy officially invited me to join the Top Gun: Maverick team. At some point during that first meeting, Joe casually mentioned that we would be shooting all of the in-flight dialogue scenes actually in-flight, in real Navy supersonic fighter planes, traveling at times at very high altitudes, at times at supersonic speeds, often while subjecting our actors and our equipment to very high G forces. There was virtually no green screen work planned for this version of Top Gun. This one would be done for real... Clearly, recording completely usable in-flight dialogue MEET THE WINNERS Event photos courtesy of Alex J. Berliner/ABImages Production mixer Mark Weingarten