Rick Rossovich had a run of movies in the ’80s, which really stood out in the last year when he kept popping up in so many movies we happened to watch over the last year when there wasn’t much to do other than watch movies. James Cameron’s The Terminator, Walter Hill’s Streets of Fire, Sidney Lumet’s The Morning After, Roxanne, Navy SEALs … but, yes, there’s one movie that he’s in that dominates the pop culture discussion and that’s Top Gun, which is celebrating it’s 35th anniversary (and will be back in theaters) and we will (finally) be seeing its long-awaited sequel later this year. But, will Rossovich’s Slider be back?
Slider was, of course, Iceman’s (Val Kilmer) radar intercept officer who, along with Iceman, thought Tom Cruise’s Maverick was a reckless punk. (They were correct.) And Rick Rossovich has a ton of stories about Top Gun. From Tom Cruise wanting to be “a stud,” to Val Kilmer having a tendency for being a “pain in the neck.” And, of course, there’s the famous/infamous volleyball scene, which featured Cruise, Kilmer, Rossovich, and Anthony Edwards all trying to out-muscle each other. As for if Slider is back in Top Gun: Maverick, it sounds like Rossovich may not be the best at keeping secrets…
You showed up in a lot of movies I’ve watched over the last year.
Those were the days. I pulled back a little bit about 15 years ago. And I just went into my garden and my home life and working on buildings and homes and being in Sweden. And so, I had a good run for about 25 years in the business and made a lot of relationships, had a lot of fun. But you know what? I had a great life and I had a great career, a bunch of fun things. And when I do come back, it is kind of heartening to know that I’m still kind of kicking around somewhere,
Not many actors get to be in the number of successful movies you were in. You had quite a run.
It was good to be in the number one box office film in 1986, and then a decade later, being the number one television show in the country, ER. It really swept the world. And that was a real ride too, being on ER. But Top Gun really stands out, because it’s got this hold on the popular culture. And it feels good, I got to tell you. There’s no downside with Top Gun for me. It’s a beautiful thing.
Did you anticipate that? It’s hold on popular culture?
No. I made a movie before that for Paramount called Lords of Discipline. And it came out and it was a box office disappointment. So that kind of tempered me a little bit, don’t get too far ahead of yourself. But when we’re making the movie, we had so much fun, that you couldn’t help but feel like this could catch on.
As I’ve gotten older I side more with Iceman and Slider that Maverick is dangerous.
And I think that’s one of the strengths of the movie, that it has all those dynamics that keep coming at you. And most of the characterization, it runs pretty straight through, and Tom really did a great job. I take my hat off to him. And Val, for all the pain in the neck he wanted to be – and the Julliard brilliant student, and the bonafide actor – he really delivered, too. And all that kind of stuff just kind of crept in just by osmosis. And me, being the guy on the side, the wingman, I took that to heart. And I just wedged myself wherever I could and I made my presence known. It was a fun challenge.
What do you mean by the pain in the neck part?
Val?
I mean, I get it generally with stories I’ve heard and from what Val has even said, but just more what do you mean by that?
He’s my son’s godfather. I love him like a brother. And we had a party for Top Secret the night that it opened on Hollywood Boulevard at our house up in our backyard in the Hollywood Hills. My wife and I had a nice little place there. And there were 12 of us and we walked from our house to Hollywood Boulevard. We watched the movie, and I think we were a little drunk. Weren’t we hon?
[Eva Rossovich chimes in from the background, “We were drunk.”]
We were drunk. And Val was kind of deflated. That was a good movie. He did a great job in that movie. He was great. He’s a prima donna, but deservedly so.
In our generation, arguably, he’s one of the best. He’s one of the finest actors that our generation produced really. He’s done some just brilliant work.
Oh, I agree.
And, so, I love that guy. I love him. But he could wrinkle his nose. I’m more of a yeoman. I’m the guy that just packs a pail. And I go to work and I get it done. I mean, he sat in my kitchen and did Hamlet for 20 minutes. I had to slam something down and say, “Shut up! You’re driving me crazy now!” He was trying to learn lines for the play. But he’s brilliant. He’s a brilliant thing. And that kind of transcended the film in a way, in the relationship. And Val and Tom, they kept that relationship kind of at an arm’s length kind of deal. And kind of a tit for tat, a little bit. Kind of like a competition kind of thing. Tom stayed to himself a little bit, and we all partied like hell, the rest of us.
I am curious about the volleyball match. When that was coming up for shooting, were you ready for that? Or did you have to do some pushups?
I knew I had to kick everybody’s ass. I knew I had kicked everybody’s ass all the way down the line. I got the role, and then Paramount said, “Well, this character, he’s like the hulking guy that’s just like a monster in a way. You’ve got to beef up.” I said, “I’ll be beefed up. I have 10 weeks. Give me time.” And I went to Power Gym in West Hollywood and I worked out. I always was a bodybuilder from day one. I idolized Arnold Schwarzenegger and I worked with him on Terminator and we did a couple of other things down the road. So I was kind of into the body scene. It was kind of on the verge of everyone’s a bodybuilder back then. By the mid to the late ’80s, everyone was a tough guy with a bunch of biceps.
Of course, Tom wants to be a stud. Tom is a stud. This is where I had Val. I had Val on the ropes on this. And I’ve got to tell you, there’s one funny scene, and I always pick on him about it, because he always liked to pick on me on things, too. But in the steam shower scene, okay? Check that scene out. With Val kind of with his back up against the steam room wall and like a cat scratching his back on a post or something. It’s so endearing in a way, but it’s so Val. I knew that the volleyball scene was going to be fun, and it was fun. It was half a day. It’s kind of an afterthought when you shoot something like that, you just have fun and set the camera up, and everyone just runs at it. You know?
But you didn’t know “Playing With The Boys” by Kenny Loggins would be playing over the whole scene, where it comes it becomes a rock video.
I knew there’d be a song, but that’s the whole thing about Top Gun, the music. I mean, Berlin doing “Take My Breath Away.” And Kenny doing “Danger Zone.” And Giorgio Moroder, writing this music. And even all the old classics that are peppered in the movie. The music really drove. And Harold Faltermeyer, who did the original score, he’s back for the next installment too, I think. So that really helped drive the movie that summer. It was just on the airwaves all the time.
Did they approach you about the new one? Are you in it? I really have no idea.
I kind of visited the set one day and kind of maybe slipped into a scene. But maybe, I don’t know, I can’t talk about it. But here’s the deal: Tom’s going to deliver.
I bet.
It’s going to be great. I mean, it’s been gestating for 30 plus years. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to do nothing but make the original kind of feel like … you know what? I love that old Porsche. I love the new one. Let’s just get out and drive. You know?
I can’t wait for this new one.
It’s coming out at the perfect time. I told Tom when I saw him last, “You know what? A movie like this can really heal America.” Because when they were making the film, America is kind of mixed up and kind of everyone at each other’s necks and blah, blah, blah, whatever side you’re dealing with. But you know what, I said, “Tom, this is the kind of movie that can heal America.” And he looked at me kind of quizzically and said, “Well, I’m not really …” He’s not a political at all, Tom. Tom is just, he’s a filmmaker. He’s a guy who just makes his way and makes a beautiful product to entertain us. And he’s done it for all these years. And I take my hat off to him. So I really think Top Gun: Maverick is really the best of America.
It’s funny, I read once that the Japanese academy gave Top Gun best foreign film of the year, that year.
I finally watched Streets of Fire for the first time recently. What on earth is that? I’ve never seen anything quite like that.
I made that in between Lords of Discipline and Top Gun, and Walter Hill directed. We shot day and night. So we were under a tent, six stories high, for months. And it was just this rock and roll, great cast, great people, Willem Defoe, Rick Moranis…
Yeah, everyone’s in it.
Diane Lane, Michael Paré, just a bunch of great actors, a bunch of great music. Why wasn’t that the biggest movie of the year? I don’t know. Bill Paxton! me… yeah. Well-made, well-made. They spent a fortune on it. I think it was $35 million back in the day, and that was a huge sum. And I was happy to be a part of it. I played a sniveling kind of cop, who was like a sniveling, little weakling. It was fun. We had fun.
There is no movie like that movie. That is a 100 percent a one-of-a-kind gem.
It really is. I’m glad you brought up all these old ghosts. It’s a lot of fun.
I even watched The Morning After recently. Like I said, you’ve popped up a lot.
Oh, you have? I met Jane Fonda, Raul Julia. Imagine, I got to be on a set with Sidney Lumet and Jane Fonda. That’s what I think about when I think of my career, those people I got to be around.
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