Miles Teller Discovered Jet Fuel in His Blood After 'Top Gun: Maverick'

By Daniel S. Levine

Tom Cruise pushed his Top Gun: Maverick co-stars to the limit while filming the movie, and based on the results, it was all worth it. Miles Teller, who starred as Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw alongside Cruise, may have gone a little further than even Cruise could have expected. During a stop on Late Night with Seth Meyers this week, Teller said he learned jet fuel got into his bloodstream after filming.

After he filmed a scene in the air, Teller recalled telling the crew he was not feeling well. "I was really hot and I just started itching like crazy. So I got out of the jet," Teller told Meyers, via IndieWire. "I'm just covered in hives. Head to toe. I go to a doctor. I do a blood analysis. I'm in an oatmeal bath that night. I have sensitive skin anyway, truth be told, Irish-Scottish skin. No dyes, no nothing."

Teller's blood test results showed he had "flame-retardant, pesticide, and jet fuel" in his bloodstream. "I go to set the next day and Tom's like, 'How did it go, Miles? What did they find?'" Teller recalled. "I was like, 'Well, Tom, it turns out I have jet fuel in my blood.' And without even skipping a beat Tom goes 'Yeah, I was born with it, kid. So that was a very Tom moment for me."

Cruise warned his much-younger co-stars that they were in for an adventure when they signed up to be in the long-awaited Top Gun sequel. They were going to be in the air, just like their fictional characters. "I was very clear in the beginning: 'This is what it's going to be like. It's not for everyone,'" Cruise told PEOPLE in May. "I want people to enjoy the experience. 'If you don't want [to] be involved, totally, I understand.'"

Lewis Pullman, who plays Lt. Robert "Bob" Floyd, said Cruise set up the flying course he wished they had when making the original Top Gun in 1986. "I had to teach them how to first fly in a single-engine Cessna. Then I put them in an airplane where they could do some aerobatics,' Cruise told PEOPLE. "Then a jet where they could pull serious Gs and feel what it's like with an ejector seat. The first day they're in the F-18, they're filming."

Top Gun: Maverick was directed by Joseph Kosinski, who previously worked with Cruise on Oblivion. He also directed Teller in the 2017 firefighter drama Only the Brave and Netflix's Spiderhead, which is released Friday. Jennifer Connelly also starred in both Maverick and Only the Brave.

Kosinski told Vulture he began thinking about casting Teller as the son of Maverick's friend Goose, who died in Top Gun, while finishing post-production on Only the Brave in May 2017. "The relationship in that movie is a very paternal one with Josh Brolin's character," Kosinski recalled. "So I showed Tom a picture of Miles because Miles has blond hair in that film. And I think I'd Photoshopped a mustache on him. I'm like, 'I just worked with this kid. He's really good.'" Teller still had to audition to play Rooster though, and he "won the role on his own."

Top Gun: Maverick is now in theaters. The movie has grossed over $415.9 million domestically and $769.6 million worldwide. It is the highest-grossing movie in North America for 2022 so far, beating out Docter Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Batman. 

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