This interview with “Top Gun: Maverick” cinematographer Claudio Miranda first appeared in the Below-the-Line issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
If you’re an Academy Award-winning cinematographer best known for making the impossible possible in movies where you convincingly de-age your leading man (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) or create the illusion of wild animals trapped on boats with live actors (“Life of Pi”), and your latest endeavor involves innovating naval aviation photography in the 21st century for a sequel 26 years in the making, what do you do? You become a pilot, of course.
Claudio Miranda, the Chilean-born director of photography who won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the National Board of Review honor for his eye-popping work on “Top Gun: Maverick,” knew that’s what he had to do to create the film’s instantly iconic, you-are-there air vistas.