Tom Cruise has reportedly put the filming of Top Gun 2: Maverick on hold so that he can learn to fly a fighter jet. Cruise is notorious for doing his own stunts, and prior to filming the Top Gun sequel, he was spotted taking helicopter flight lessons, just before he broke his ankle while filming a stunt on Mission: Impossible 6. If the sources are correct, Cruise would be the first actor in cinematic history to fly a fighter jet on the big screen.

Top Gun 2 has been filming around the Los Angeles and San Diego areas for the last few months, but it appears that they may be on a bit of a hiatus. Apparently, Tom Cruise is insisting to learn how to fly fighter jets in the sequel, which sounds a bit crazy. However, the actor already has a pilot's license, so this isn't exactly his first rodeo. Sources close to the production had this to say about the matter.

"Tom is well known for doing his own stunts and the Top Gun sequel is no different... He prides himself on making the action sequences as realistic as possible."

The source goes on to hint that the release date change for Top Gun 2, which announced a few months ago, may have been because of Tom Cruise's desire to learn how to fly a fighter jet. Obviously, this has not been verified by anybody officially, but it does make sense, especially considering how long the delay is, and the weird reasoning that the studio gave. The source explains.

"He won't film all the flight sequences, it's too dangerous, but he will fly some, making him the first actor in cinema history to do so. The producers would prefer not to put their leading man, not to mention their whole film, at risk. They also wouldn't choose to have their long-awaited sequel delayed nearly a year, but despite the huge insurance costs they are willing to do what it takes to ensure Tom is happy."

Any time that this kind of information comes from an anonymous source, we're going to have to treat it as rumor for now. As far as anybody knows, the Top Gun 2 release date was pushed back a full year so that the filmmakers could get a handle on modern warfare technology to put it on the big screen, which does sound a bit fishy. If this is true, Tom Cruise is a lot more of an adrenaline junkie than previously thought.

Fans were a bit bummed to learn that the long-awaited sequel was getting delayed, but it looks like Tom Cruise really has "the need for speed" in real-life. We've seen set photos of the actor on his motorcycle, so we might end up seeing some pictures and video of Cruise down in San Diego learning to fly a fighter jet. This news was first reported by The Sun U.K.