Top Gun star predicted Cruise success

Tom Skerritt knew Tom Cruise would succeed because he’s so “focused”.

The actors both starred in iconic 1986 movie Top Gun, which propelled Cruise to fame and was released in a 3D version this month.

Skerritt has worked with a number of talented actors in his time and says Cruise was one of the stars he knew would make it in the industry.

“I started out right after college falling into a film that starred Robert Redford and Sydney Pollack [War Hunt], and right off the bat I got a sense that these two guys were special. I knew Redford was going to be big sure enough, and I’ve had that experience with Julia Roberts [Steel Magnolias] as well,” he explained to iamrogue.com.

“I knew that they were going to be quite big in the business and Tom falls into that category too. He was a gentleman, a good guy, and really focused about his work. If you are focused, and pretty good, chances are you’re going to make it at whatever you try to do in your life.”

Top Gun was directed by the late Tony Scott.

Skerritt can remember learning a great deal from working with the legendary filmmaker, who sadly passed away last year.

“[What was it like working with Scott'] It’s always difficult to answer questions like that when you’re looking back twenty-five years,” he mused.

“All I know is that he saw that I was very interested in what he was doing, basically I love watching good directors and learning from them. I followed him around a lot, so for me he was a terrific teacher. He and his brother work in a very similar approach and he taught me a lot about filmmaking.”