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Aaron Weis and Adam Weis (sometimes misspelled Weiss) [1] are American former child actors and school teachers. They are known for sharing the role of four-year-old Bradley Bradshaw in the 1986 film Top Gun . Scenes with them were reprised in the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick , featuring Miles Teller in the role of grown-up Bradley Bradshaw.
The Weis brothers come from San Diego, born to Dennis and Martha Weis. [2] In 1985, they were hired for the film Top Gun starring Tom Cruise after winning a movie casting, held at Point Loma for four-year-old identical twins. Taking turns on set for three days of filming, they played the young Bradley Bradshaw, son of Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) and his wife Carole (Meg Ryan), in three appearances. The first one shows Carole and Bradley uniting with Goose at the airport. [3] Another scene in Kansas City Barbeque has Bradley sitting on the piano where his father plays "Great Balls of Fire". [4] The brothers were paid $384 each for their role (roughly $900 as of 2018). [5]
Following the shooting of the film, names and pictures of the twins and their role were published in Viltis magazine in December 1985. [6] Still, the film as published treated them as non-speaking extras; so they remained uncredited and largely unknown to the public. They were pictured in People magazine as "unknown extras". [7] After a few more casting calls, their only other appearance was in a SeaWorld commercial together with other twins, most notably Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, after which they did not follow an acting career. [7]
They graduated in 1999 as co-valedictorians from Clairemont High School, subsequently from University of California, Santa Barbara and obtained their teaching credentials. [2] Now they both work as teachers in San Francisco Bay Area. Aaron teaches sixth grade math and science at Rooftop Alternative School in San Francisco, Adam teaches fifth grade at Berkeley Arts Magnet school (since 2008). [8] As of 2018, Adam received a Classroom Grant from the Berkeley Public Schools Fund each year for the annual outdoor education trip, introduced to the school by him. [9] Both brothers have been awarded the title of Bay Area Teacher of the Month by the non-profit organization 826 Valencia, Aaron in September 2014 [10] and Adam in May 2015. [11] In May 2018, Aaron was named a San Francisco's 2017-18 Teacher of the Year honoree by mayor Mark Farrell. [12]
Several years after the release of Top Gun, the names of the Weis twins became publicly known. In 2011, a CNN iReport featured an interview with their mother Martha, including many photos from the set. [13]
In 2018, news outlets reported that the Top Gun sequel in production would feature the character Bradley Bradshaw in a major role, played by Miles Teller, bringing the Weis twins to public awareness again. The twins were not asked to return into their role as Paramount auditioned professional actors only. Asked on their opinion of the casting, Adam wondered whether Teller (born 1987) may be a bit too young for the role, but neither brother wanted to make a judgement before seeing the film. [7]
In an early scene of the sequel titled Top Gun: Maverick , Tom Cruise's character Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is seen looking over a pinned-up photo collection of his life, including the Bradshaw family with little Bradley. [14] In the final cut of the film, several shots of the original film including little Bradley in the bar were reprised as flashbacks of Maverick in the scene where grown-up Bradley also plays "Great Balls of Fire" on a piano. Not included in the script, this was an idea of director Joseph Kosinski during the editing. [15]
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is an American actor and producer. Regarded as a Hollywood icon, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards. His films have grossed over $5 billion in North America and over $12 billion worldwide, placing him among the highest-grossing actors of all time. Cruise holds the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive $100-million-grossing movies, a feat that was achieved during the period of 2012 to 2018. One of the most bankable stars, he is consistently one of the world's highest-paid actors.
Christopher McQuarrie is an American filmmaker. He received the BAFTA Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the neo-noir mystery film The Usual Suspects (1995).
Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an article titled "Top Guns", written by Ehud Yonay and published in California magazine three years earlier. It stars Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He and his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, are given the chance to train at the United States Navy's Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt also appear in supporting roles.
"Great Balls of Fire" is a 1957 popular song recorded by American rock and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer. The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 recording was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by Rolling Stone. It is written in AABA form. It sold one million copies in its first 10 days of release in the United States making it one of the best-selling singles in the United States at that time.
Anthony Charles Edwards is an American actor, director, and producer. He played Dr. Mark Greene on the first eight seasons of ER, for which he received a Golden Globe Award and six Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was nominated for four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards. He has appeared in various films and television series, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Top Gun, Zodiac, Gotcha!, Miracle Mile, Revenge of the Nerds, Planes, Northern Exposure, and Designated Survivor.
Tom Cruise is an American actor and producer who made his film debut with a minor role in the 1981 romantic drama Endless Love. Two years later, he made his breakthrough by starring in the romantic comedy Risky Business (1983), which garnered his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 1986, Cruise played a naval aviator in the Tony Scott-directed action drama Top Gun which was the highest-grossing film of the year, and also appeared with Paul Newman in the Martin Scorsese-directed drama The Color of Money. Two years later, he starred with Dustin Hoffman in the drama Rain Man (1988). His next role was as anti-war activist Ron Kovic in the film adaptation of Kovic's memoir of the same name, Born on the Fourth of July (1989), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
Joseph Kosinski is an American film director, best known for his computer graphics and computer-generated imagery (CGI) work, and for his work in action films. He has directed the films Tron: Legacy (2010), Oblivion (2013), Only the Brave (2017), Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and Spiderhead (2022). His previous work has primarily been with CGI-related television commercials including the "Starry Night" commercial for Halo 3 and the award-winning "Mad World" commercial for Gears of War.
Glen Thomas Powell Jr. is an American actor. He began his career with small roles on television and in films such as Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) and Fast Food Nation (2006). Powell had roles in the comedy-horror series Scream Queens (2015–2016), the teen comedy Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), and the romantic comedy Set It Up (2018). He also portrayed astronaut John Glenn in Hidden Figures (2016) and aviator Tom Hudner in Devotion (2022).
Zackary Lowell Stentz is an American writer and producer of film and television, journalist, novelist, and teacher, best known for his work on Marvel properties with former writing partner Ashley Edward Miller.
Miles Teller is an American actor. He made his feature film debut with the independent drama Rabbit Hole (2010), and gained wider recognition for his roles in the coming-of-age film The Spectacular Now (2013) and the Divergent film trilogy (2014–2016). His breakthrough role came in the drama Whiplash (2014) which earned him critical acclaim.
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Top Gun franchise. He is portrayed by Tom Cruise. The character first appeared in the 1986 film Top Gun, followed by Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.
Top Gun: Maverick is a 2022 American action drama film directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie from stories by Peter Craig and Justin Marks. The film is a sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun. Tom Cruise reprises his starring role as the naval aviator Maverick. It is based on the characters of the original film created by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. It also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris and Val Kilmer, who reprises his role as Iceman. The story involves Maverick confronting his past while training a group of younger Top Gun graduates, including the son of his deceased best friend, for a dangerous mission.
Monica Barbaro is an American actress. She is known for her film roles in The Cathedral (2021), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), and At Midnight (2023). She has also had a recurring role in the sitcom Splitting Up Together (2018–2019) as well as leading roles in the television series UnREAL (2016), Chicago Justice (2017), The Good Cop (2018), and FUBAR (2023).
Jake Picking is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Rock Hudson in the Netflix series Hollywood (2020), created by Ryan Murphy. He is also known for playing the role of Sean Collier in Patriots Day (2016), and appearing in Top Gun: Maverick (2022). In 2022, he starred as young Gerald Ford in the Showtime series The First Lady.
Danny Ramirez is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Wes in The Gifted, Mario Martinez in On My Block, Joaquin Torres in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Lt. Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia in Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Eddie Hamilton is a British film editor. He is a member of the American Cinema Editors. He is a frequent collaborator with directors Matthew Vaughn and Christopher McQuarrie.
Top Gun: Maverick is the soundtrack to the 2022 action film Top Gun: Maverick by Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, and Hans Zimmer. It consists of the film's score as well as two original songs, "Hold My Hand" by Gaga and "I Ain't Worried" by OneRepublic, which were released as singles prior to the album. The soundtrack contains the song "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, which was also featured in the first film. The soundtrack was released on May 27, 2022, by Interscope Records and Paramount Music through digital and physical formats.
Top Gun is an American action drama multimedia franchise based on the 1983 article "Top Guns" by Ehud Yonay, which was adapted into the eponymous 1986 film, written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. The original film portrays Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, who with his radar intercept officer, LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, are given the chance to train at the US Navy's Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.
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