Filmmaker Edgar Wright lent a helping hand to the producers of Top Gun: Maverick – but it wasn't with writing or directing.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, co-screenwriter and producer Christopher Quarrie texted Wright for his input on what song to use for the first-act bar sequence.
"I didn’t have any [other] notes on Top Gun: Maverick. I first watched that in 2020. Chris McQuarrie and Tom Cruise showed it to me, and it was pretty much the film that got released, minus the Lady Gaga song. And in terms of the Foghat thing, they needed a song.
"My dream text to get was Chris McQuarrie saying, ‘Hey, we need a new song for the bar scene in Top Gun: Maverick. What can you think of that’s like …?’ And it was like, ‘Oh, give me 45 minutes!’ I think I still have that playlist on Spotify; it was ‘Maverick Bar," Wright explained. He recommended the 1975 hit Slow Ride by English rock band Foghat, which can be heard when Hangman (Glen Powell) and Rooster (Miles Teller) speak for the first time at the bar.
Wright is known for his needle drops, with arguably the most notable being Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" in the final zombie battle in Shaun of the Dead, and Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes" in Hot Fuzz.
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