This interview with “Top Gun: Maverick” cinematographer Claudio Miranda first appeared in the Below-the-Line issue of awards magazine TheWrap.
If you’re an Academy Award-winning cinematographer known for making the impossible possible in films that convincingly de-age his leading man (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) or create the illusion of wild animals trapped in boats with live animals. actors (“Life of Pi”), and his latest effort is to innovate naval aviation photography in the 21st century for a sequel 26 years in the making, what does he do? You become a pilot, of course.
Claudio Miranda, the Chilean-born cinematographer who won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and National Board of Review honor for his astonishing work on “Top Gun: Maverick,” knew that was what had to do to create the instantly iconic aerial views of the film. “I got my license,” says Miranda. “I did a bunch of testing on an Aero L-39 just to show the Navy, ‘This is what we’re going to do, this is the plan.'”
Making an impressive follow-up to director Tony Scott’s original 1986 “Top Gun” required its own set of skills, particularly with Miranda trying to get the cameras as close as humanly possible to the actors in the cockpits of fighter jets.
“I couldn’t put a camera on the wing pointing at the actors because of the aerodynamics,” he said. “And nothing can be ahead of the wing. There is a great position where I wanted to put a camera, but I didn’t get it… They didn’t let me”.
But Miranda found a way to honor the previous film and create a vivid, sun-kissed new look for “Maverick.” She recalled connecting with the original’s cinematographer, Jeffrey Kimball, for information.
“He was a great help,” Miranda said. “Tony shot mostly anamorphic, but we shot spherical on this one. And it was mainly because of the size and weight. If you have something that’s 10 pounds, 7G is 70 pounds, and that’s a big deal. So it was important for me to get there early to make sure I could get all the camera mounts. When I first heard about the job, I was like, ‘Okay, let me get on the plane and let’s start figuring this out.
Read more of the issue below the line here.
