Top Gun: Maverick is the much anticipated sequel to the 1986 Top Gun movie about aspiring U.S. Navy pilots which starred Tom Cruise as Maverick, Anthony Edwards as co-pilot Goose, Val Kilmer as rival pilot Iceman, and Kelly McGillis as Maverick’s love interest.
Teller plays Rooster, the son of Goose who perished in the original movie. The film will be released on Friday, May 27, two days before the Indianapolis 500, where Teller will serve as honorary starter by waving the green flag Sunday.
He joins a strong list of movie stars to have started the 500 over the past dozen years, including Jack Nicholson, Michael Peña, Patrick Dempsey, Chris Pine, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale and Matt Damon.
“Miles is no stranger to action-packed roles, and waving the green flag for the 33 drivers racing for history will provide him with a similar adrenaline-fueled experience,” said IMS president Doug Boles. “We’re happy to welcome him to ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ for a day he’ll never forget.”
In 2014, Teller starred opposite JK Simmons in the Sony Pictures Classics critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated drama, Whiplash. The hit film received the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance and the Deauville Film Festival, and landed Teller a Best Actor nomination at the 2014 Gotham Awards.
Teller began reaching critical success after starring in the James Ponsoldt film, The Spectacular Now, for which he won the Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He made his feature film debut in 2010 in Rabbit Hole, after being picked for the role by co-star Nicole Kidman.
This summer, Teller will also appear in the science-fiction thriller “Spiderhead,” an adaptation of a George Saunders short story that first was published in The New Yorker and was later included in the author’s book “Tenth of December.”
