Summary
The Blue Angelsgives insight into the brave pilots who bring these impressive air shows to life, including the sacrifices and training that they must endure. This documentary offers an inside look into how the pilots are endlessly striving for perfection even as their performances dazzle audiences. It also highlights the difficulties that these pilots must face and brings viewers into the actual flights without the dangers of combat at the forefront of the cinematic experience.
Glen Powell and J.J. Abrams produced the documentary which helped get it made after the pandemics delayed the original plans for filming.The Blue Anglesis directed by Paul Crowder and uses some of the aerial specialistsfromTop Gun MaverickandDevotion, which is how Powell became connected to the documentary. The technology today has allowed them to not only bring audiences into the cockpit with the pilots but also show off the precision and detail that these pilots must have to pull off these impressive performances.
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Glen Powell was Top Gun: Maverick’s breakout star, with a surprising upcoming project giving him the chance to continue his new career trend.
Screen Rantinterviewed producer Glen Powellabout his new documentary,The Blue Angels. He shared why he wanted to tell this story and how technology has advanced enough to put the viewer right in the plane with the pilot. Powell also discussed how this experience could inform his approach to future Top Gun movies and what surprised him to learn about the Blue Angels while making the documentary.
Glen Powell Shares The Personal Reason He Felt Connected To This Documentary
Powell has a personal connection toThe Blue Angelsdocumentary, having been enthralled by these pilots since he was a child and his grandfather took his family to a Blue Angels show. This personal connection and reverence along with his experience with military pilot movies made him the perfect producer for the documentary, bringing a passion and excitement to telling these pilots' stories.
Glen Powell: When I was a kid, my grandfather was a flight surgeon and I have pilots in my family and come from a military family. I remember when my grandfather brought my aunts and all my cousins, we all went to see a Blue Angel show when I was a kid. I just remember looking up and just having my mind blown by what was happening. I’m sure you felt the same way where you just can’t believe any of this is possible.
The physics don’t even make sense. My cousins, we’re all kind of like, wow, this is insane. And then you look at the adults and the adults are looking at the sky with that same sort of awe and reverence and it’s just an amazing thing to be around. The fact that these blue angels landed on the ground and they signed autographs for everyone and they took pictures with everyone, they were so kind and they were so thoughtful, they were smart.
It always to me felt very inspirational and very aspirational to be around people that were pushing the boundaries of what people think is possible, but also doing it with kindness in their heart and a smile on their face. They just sort of represented the best of the Navy and the best of America. I just thought that was such an extraordinary thing to be around.
So I had a Blue Angels poster on my bedroom wall literally until I left for college. It was up there. I think it’s an important thing for anyone in life to look up to, the right things to aspire to be. And that’s what the Blue Angels are for me. That’s why I’m honored to be a part of this documentary is to feel like I’m putting the right heroes in front of the camera, in front of audiences and hopefully celebrated.
One of the things I loved most aboutTop Gun: Maverickwas the camaraderiethat was built among the team. And we really get to see this inThe Blue Angels. What surprised you the most about their dynamic? You also get to take us into picking the next couple of Blue Angels as well. Can you talk about that process as well?
Glen Powell: I think what was so impressive, and it’s like being around people that are obviously doing these extraordinary things, things that feel physically impossible. You even just see the amount of Gs they’re enduring, the precision, they’re flying 18 inches apart. It’s so dangerous. It requires a level of focus or require a level of skill that it’s so impressive.
But then they get on the ground, you watch them in a show. I remember flying with them and I’m in the four plane, I’m in the center of the hive and I’m watching all this go down and the show just feels perfect. Everything about it, I was just in awe. And then they get on the ground and they debrief and they went through every single mistake they made, everything that could be better, how they improve.
That’s what I believe marks a good team. It’s like a great sports team. There is no finish line. The pursuit of perfection is relentless and it’s endless. That’s a very inspiring and very cool thing to be around. And that’s what defines the blues is these are the best of the best and yet they’re never done.
One of the things that I loved too, and it actually got me a little emotional, was seeing Captain Kesselring’s kind of like final run with the team. Can you talk about your approach to the narrative part of this documentary?
Glen Powell: That part gets me emotional too because he’s obviously, you can just see he’s just a great American. He’s just a great guy. He’s a great family man. He’s a great father, but he’s also a legendary blues and just represents what I think is again, the best of the Navy and the best of America. He cares about this group of people so much. That’s what, to me, really defines the Blue Angels is when you walk through the halls in Pensacola, as soon as you land in Pensacola, it’s like Welcome to the home of the Blue Angels.
You see Blue Angels stuff everywhere, the restaurants, the bars, it’s all in reverence of this group of people. And really you could tell they just are inspired by this group. The whole town is defined by them and walking through the halls of the base, you really get a sense of the legacy. I think that’s one thing we really capture in this documentary is the legacy of the Blue Angels.
How dangerous this is how many people have passed away in Blue Angel Jets over the course of time. Not only that, but just the importance of this job, what it means to the world, and what it means to these individuals. And so to be the boss of the Blue Angels is such a privileged position, and you can just really tell as he’s passing that baton to another person, another boss.
We all have our moment in the sun, a moment where we get to do something extraordinary. You don’t know how long it lasts. And to have him kind of pass along that baton, it’s an emotional thing. He knows that magic, that Blue Angel’s magic, that run is over for him for now, but somebody else is going to go on a different ride. I totally agree. For me, it’s a really beautiful human moment.
Glen Powell Explains The Lessons He’s Learned For Top Gun 3
“I Can Go Into This Movie In A Different Way”
Powell’s experience with the Blue Angels could be an important part of how he approaches the nextTop Gunmovie. This gave him deeper insight into the life of skilled pilots as well as the precision and training that goes into it along with how the team dynamics are within such highly skilled service members. Although he didn’t have details about the highly anticipated follow-up toTop Gun Maverick, he did share his excitement about returning to that world.
Glen Powell: I think that’s a great question. Look, with Jerry and Chad and Joe and Tom, there are a lot of very smart brains on this thing that really do not need my brain involved at all. They’re going to put a wonderful story together.
But I will say that after making Top Gun and making Devotion, you really feel a sense of community in this Navy. When I look at my texts in the morning, the fact that a lot of ‘em are call signs is very cool, and the fact that I still call these pilots my friends is really wonderful.
I will say that when we made Top Gun Maverick, that was a new shiny world for me. And now I feel that it’s still filled with brilliance. It’s still shiny to me, but it’s also a group of people I call my family. So, I can go into this movie in a different way. Maybe just the fact that it feels a little bit more lived in and a little more comfortable for all of us will be really wonderful.
Can you talk about the technical aspects of shooting high-speed aerial maneuvers like this?
Glen Powell: Well, I think one of the cool parts, and this is straight from the brain of Kevin LaRosa and Evan Fitz Maritza at Cinejet, and they were the aerial team behind Top Gun Maverick. Obviously, all those sequences are mind blowing, but they really came up with this concept of shooting Blue Angels in a thousand frames a second.
So these maneuvers that you’re seeing at 400 miles an hour plus, and the proximity of these jets and how close they’re flying, when you see them in really, really super slowmo, you get a sense of, you can almost see how they’re moving air around these planes. You see the vapes coming off the wings and you get a sense of the Gs. That’s one thing that, when you put all these amazing brains around this project, it really raises the bar across the board.
I think that’s one thing that I’m so proud of in this doc is that all the technology has sort of evolved to a point where this documentary is now possible for the first time. Giving audiences that ride, it wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago, but it’s possible now. So this really is, in terms of access, this documentary is unprecedented, but in terms of the ride that audiences are going on, it’s never before seen.
About The Blue Angels
Follows the veterans and newest class of Navy and Marine Corps flight squadron as they go through intense training and into a season of heart-stopping aerial artistry.
