Manny Jacinto broke his silence on Top Gun: Maverick cutting all of his dialogue.
Jacinto, 36, who played LT Billy “Fritz” Avalone, filmed scenes for the 2022 sequel to Tom Cruise‘s original Top Gun film. Fans were shocked when none of it made it to the final cut, which showed Jacinto only briefly in the background.
“It’s flattering that there was a little bit of an outcry, but it wasn’t shocking to me,” he told GQ magazine in an article published on Wednesday, July 17. “There was this sense of where the film was going [on set], like I can see them focusing the camera more on these [other] guys and not taking so much time on our scenes.”
Jacinto chose to focus on the positive, adding, “Fortunately, it still was a great experience — you get to see this huge machine at work, see how Tom Cruise works, and you get to be a small part of this huge franchise.”
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After finding out that most of his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, Jacinto chose to use that as “fuel” as an Asian actor.
“At the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise,” he noted. “It’s up to us — Asian Americans, people of color — to be that [for ourselves]. We can’t wait for somebody else to do it. If we want bigger stories out there, we have to make them for ourselves.”
Top Gun: Maverick‘s loss was ultimately The Acolyte‘s gain. After Top Gun: Maverick fumbled Jacinto, he booked projects such as Freaky Friday 2 and the hit Star Wars series. Jacinto was initially introduced on the show as a simple smuggler named Qimir, but the fifth episode turned the plot on its head when viewers met the Stranger — a.k.a the man behind a brutal battle that left many Jedi warriors dead.
Despite the Stranger not having the greatest intentions, fans flocked to support the character.
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“I mean, I think baby oil goes a long way,” Jacinto told GQ on Wednesday when asked about the overwhelming attraction to his character. “Baby oil and wet hair.”
The Acolyte’s creator, Leslye Headland, also weighed in on the outpouring of support for Jacinto, saying, “The Stranger flips classic gender tropes of hypersexualization. But a true sex symbol is someone who resonates emotionally with fans. Manny’s magnetism is rooted in his acting, not just his physique. His ability to access vulnerability, empathy and longing is very compelling.”
Jacinto pointed out how the Stranger’s draw is that he doesn’t try to get fans to root for him.
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“He’s like that high school bad boy,” the actor continued. “He just minds his own business. He’s not pulling you, he’s not telling you to come and be with him. He’s just living his own life, and you wind up intrigued by what he’s doing.”
Jacinto was later asked about fans rooting for an onscreen romance between the Stranger and Amandla Stenberg‘s character Osha, to which he replied, “In the fan art I’ve seen, there’s a good amount that implies … something between Osha and the Stranger.”
He concluded: “That’s something that people, I think, have been yearning for in this genre, or at least in this IP, and I love that people are honing in on it and encouraging it. So I think people can look forward to more of that, possibly. If people want it, we can explore that in a subsequent season.”
Star Wars: The Acolyte is currently streaming on Disney+.
