Tom Cruise will only fly in Top Gun 2 if there is "no CGI"

“I feel the need, the need for CG.”

Or perhaps not…

Giving his biggest hint yet that he’ll be reprising his famous role as wise-cracking, barrel-rolling pilot Maverick for the forthcoming sequel to Top Gun, Tom Cruise has now told Extrathat he’d “like to fly those jets again” – and doesn’t want the help of CGI to do it.

No stranger to doing his own stunts of course, the actor claimed he doesn’t want to see computer graphics used for the new blockbuster, rather stunts performed by real pilots like the 1986 original: “We’ve got to do all the jets practical. No CGI on the jets. I remember when I did the first one, I said ‘Look, in my contract I had to have three flights in the F-14.’ And it had to be in the film, a shot from that. So we had to film it. And luckily they wanted me bad enough to do it, so I was able to do that. I’m saying right now – no CGI on the jets."

Cruise's remarks come just a month after it was announced that preproduction was underway on the latest instalment - the new title moving into plot territory of drones and 21st century aerial warfare (though we’re betting some Russian bogies feature at some point) - and the producers have made no attempt to hide that they hope Cruise will be clambering aboard a fighter jet as Pete Mitchell once more.

Considering the sheer amount of long-awaited sequels which fail miserably in living up to the iconic status of original classics, news that Cruise wants to ditch computer graphics in favour of good old fashioned FX will surely be welcomed by even the most sceptical of filmgoers.

Don’t be too surprised to see the 56-year-old doing his own stunts either. Now, let's soak ourselves in some nostalgia and remember exactly what those jets look like...