Kelly McGillis broke through to film audiences with her sensational performance in 1985's Witness and quickly solidified her position as a box office draw with the testosterone-heavy Top Gun in 1986.
Director Tony Scott's follow-up to his bisexual vampire chic thriller The Hunger, Top Gun focused on a group of ace pilots training for dangerous combat missions who compete, in the interim, for a coveted prize and bragging rights during their training. As nearly the lone female amongst the bevy of the '80s "top guns" ( Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Dean Stockwell and others ) who played the charged-up wingmen, McGillis held her own. The movie was a blockbuster and is now coming to Blu-ray in a 25th-anniversary edition.
McGillis went on to co-star with Jodie Foster in the compelling rape drama The Accused and made a few other films into the 1990s, after which she did some stage work, raised a family and took a break from film acting.
She made news in 2009 when she came out as a lesbian. McGillis, a breast-cancer survivor, has slowly returned to acting in films, taking on roles in between full time work as a rehab counselor near the home she shares with her partner in New Jersey.
Windy City Times: It's hard to believe that Top Gun was 25 years ago but the minute that Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" started, I was transported back in time. [ Laughs ] You seem almost like Snow White with all those hunky Seven Dwarfs. What was it like being almost the lone female?
Kelly McGillis: Dwarfs! [ Laughs ]
WCT: Very beautifully coiffed dwarves, I might add...
KM: Yes, they were! I used to love to rub their heads—all that shaved hair felt so good. [ Laughs ] Boy, I had a great time. Gosh, I was Darla with Spanky & Our Gang.
WCT: Can you talk a little bit about the shoot itself?
KM: The shoot was really fun. I always thought about it like being at camp—it was literally like that [ laughs ] because all the boys and I all lived in the same hotel complex. We called it "Wally World" and it was literally like camp. During the day we would go act and at night we just had a wild, crazy time.
WCT: So they didn't give you a hard time?
KM: No, they were all really, really nice. We had a great time. You know—you're young, you're partying, you have no responsibilities—life can't get any better when you're in your 20s.
WCT: Can you talk about shooting some specific scenes with Tom?
KM: I loved working with Tom. I think he's the most kind, generous, giving, loving, supportive soul and I really had a great time with him. We had to do a lot of stuff over because Tony Scott was really big on that sunset light—that golden hour. I just remember going to that friggin' tarmac every day [ laughs ] at sunset to get this one friggin' shot which seemed like it took forever. I really enjoyed the whole experience.
WCT: There's a love scene between you and Tom Cruise that's very similar, photographically, to the love scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in The Hunger, Tony Scott's previous movie with the perfect back lighting. Had you seen The Hunger before shooting the movie?
KM: Oh, yes.
WCT: How do you feel about [ Top Gun ] now, 25 years later? It has a bit of a homoerotic reputation among the gay community.
KM: I don't know. I've never watched it.
WCT: What?!
KM: Well, no; I watched it when it came out because I had to talk about it but I don't sit around and look back. I have caught glimpses of it when it's on TV and my kids have been watching it or something [ laughs ] and I'm in the other room doing laundry and I go, "Oh my God. I used to be so young, what happened?!" But that's about it. I don't really go back but I just think it's really amazing that people are still interested in it 25 years later. That blows my mind. And I think it's a tribute to Tony, really, because he's such a visualist and it's a fun story, cowboys-and-Indians story—what could be sexier?
WCT: Especially that shower-room scene says the gay film critic. [ Laughs ] And you had really good hair in that film—that big '80s hair.
KM: [ Laughs ] I did! I hate when people look at pictures from that decade and say, "This was a really bad hair day" and I'm like, "In the '80s that was a fantastic hair day!" I really don't love how people dump on the '80s—the '80s were my genre. I just think it's funny how when we look back people have such judgments on their lives and I think, "Oh my gosh, it was so cool and hip and wonderful. Why judge that?"
WCT: I agree 100 percent So, this film led to one of your best, The Accused, with Jodie Foster. What was it like to go from such a fun, blockbuster-type movie to something a lot grittier from an acting standpoint?
KM: Well, that's what acting is, isn't it? You get to do a whole bunch of different stuff and that's what I do and that's what I did. I wouldn't want to do all the same kind of characters nor the same kind of genres and I also felt that it was a huge gift to be able to talk about a subject matter that people weren't willing to talk about at the time. And that was something that was really important to me in my life and my experience at that time in life and what a huge gift that fell into my lap.
WCT: So now, here we are in the new millennium and you're back and you've come out and I'm curious, like the Dan Savage campaign proclaims, "It gets better." Has it gotten better for you now personally?
KM: I don't know if it's gotten better or worse. I try not to have a value judgment on it. It just kind of is. It's better in the sense that I don't have to skirt around the questions; I don't have to live a lie. What could be better than that? Because I think that, for me, not being able to be who I am creates so much self-loathing and self-hatred and that just got to a point to be a huge, incredible burden that I didn't want to carry anymore.
WCT: Well, kudos to you for that. I also want to say kudos for One A Minute, this breast-cancer film that you narrated. I know that's a subject that's very near and dear to you. Are there other projects like that coming up for you, Kelly?
KM: No, I haven't done any other documentaries. Right now I've just been busy working at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility and that's a full time, 40-hour-a-week commitment so I haven't had a heck of a lot of time to be doing any other kind of service stuff.
WCT: Well, doing that kind of work now, does the acting seem not as important or is it something that you want to stay with? I know you recently did a film in the horror genre called The Innkeepers.
KM: For me I would love to have a life of balance—of loving service and creativity—and I think that's the process in my life where I am. I'm trying to find a balance where I can do both because both are my passion and both I love with all my heart and soul and both feed me in incredible ways. I'm in the middle of trying to find the balance to be able to do both.
WCT: That's lovely. It's not always easy to find that is it?
KM: It isn't for me sweetheart. [ Laughs ] I'm an all-or-nothing kind of girl!
WCT: Well, thanks for being a hero for our community and welcome back—we've missed you.
KM: Thank you so much—it's good to be back.
