“Tom Cruise Is Writing Stories for Tom Cruise”: Manny Jacinto on His Axed ‘Top Gun’ Lines

Manny Jacinto is opening up on having the entirety of his dialogue cut from 2022’s summer blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick.

The star — who has tongues wagging for his current role as a saber-wielding Sith Lord in Star Wars spinoff The Acolyte — played LT Billy “Fritz” Avalone in Tom Cruise’s $1.5 billion box office hit. But after months of intense fighter pilot training and twice-daily gym sessions, the Canadian, who is of Filipino-Chinese descent, discovered all of his lines had been left on the cutting room floor. When the film came out, Jacinto saw his character briefly, in the background, of a few scenes.

Fans of Jacinto were confused — wasn’t this the same film to catapult Glen Powell and Miles Teller to international stardom? But the actor understood. “It’s flattering that there was a little bit of an outcry, but it wasn’t shocking to me,” he told GQ magazine.

“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. 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.”

He did admit feeling disappointed about the omission, but found it was good “fuel” as an Asian actor. “At the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise,” he said. “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.”