'Top Gun' actress Kelly McGillis makes rare public appearance on sets of Tom Cruise-starring sequel
Actress Kelly McGillis who is best known for her role as instructor Charlotte 'Charlie' Blackwood in the 1986 iconic film 'Top Gun' directed by Tony Scott was spotted on a rare outing almost three decades after she turned her back to the spotlight. It was recently announced that Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer will be reprising their roles as 'Iceman' and 'Maverick' in a sequel titled 'Top Gun 2: Maverick' and directed by Joseph Kosinski that will release next year.
While the rest of cast has already traveled to the film set in San Diego, California, McGillis spent her weekend volunteering at the First Congregational Church near her home in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
According to Express.co.uk, she was spotted near her home looking nothing like the glamorous actress that she was known to be in the '80s. She seemed comfortable in loose-fitting black trousers and a white t-shirt, which she had paired with flip-flops and carried a blue denim jacket.
The Mirror had reported that McGillis had given up acting in Hollywood and has since been running a bar in Key West, Florida. She has been working with drug addicts and alcoholics and has also been teaching aspiring actors before returning as a "character actress" in indie film projects.
In an interview with the Independent, she had said, "It’s slow, but it’s really good. I don’t feel compelled to be the same Kelly McGillis that I was in the eighties. I’ve aged. I’ve grown. I have the opportunity to reintroduce myself as a character actress.”
McGillis's most recent work includes her starring alongside Kate Mansi in her 2017 thriller Maternal Secrets. It was reported in the Wrap that her co-star Val Kilmer will star opposite to Tom Cruise in the sequel of Top Gun.
Variety reported that Top Cruise has tweeted an image on Wednesday featuring his character, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, looking at a fighter jet down the tarmac.
While the plot of the sequel is yet unknown, it is however known that Maverick will now be seen as a flight instructor, and the film will revolve much around the fifth-generation fighters.
McGillis was arguably one of the hottest female stars of the '80s and has appeared in over 50 movies, including the 1985 thriller 'Witness' alongside Harrison Ford.
'Top Gun' grossed $179.8 million domestic and nearly $357 million worldwide on its release in the summer of 1986. It was directed by Tony Scott, who had been working on the sequel with Cruise prior to Scott’s death by suicide in 2012. The original film was produced by Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who died in 1996.