Jennifer Connelly on Entering the ‘Danger Zone’ in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’
Seems like you went to your personal “danger zone.”
So many things about Top Gun feel so emblematic of a time, and the song “Danger Zone” is one of them. I would say I stood on the edge of the danger zone. I walked the perimeter.
Tell us about your character, Penny Benjamin, who wasn’t in the original film. Did you get a nickname like Ice Man or Goose?
Penny’s an independent, optimistic, glass-half-full kind of woman. She’s someone who’s known Maverick for a while. They have a history together. But no nickname. Only pilots get nicknames, and she works in a bar.
“I STOOD ON THE EDGE OF THE DANGER ZONE. I WALKED THE PERIMETER.”
We’ve been trapped inside for a year. Here’s to hoping we can see Top Gun: Maverick in an actual movie theater.
I had the good fortune of seeing a screening in a theater with my family. No one else was there, so I missed that crowd experience. But there was a huge IMAX screen, not just our television. My 9-year-old daughter, Agnes, was bouncing in her seat the entire time. We were all saying afterward, “Wow, we missed the theater experience so much.”
Go-to concession stand purchase?
Honestly, I’m not a huge movie snacker. I don’t know how to make this a more interesting answer. I’m a compulsive confessor. And I’m bad at bullshitting. So, no…I’m not a big popcorn eater.
You and your husband, Paul Bettany, who stars in WandaVision, seem to be hitting the 2021 zeitgeist sweet spot.
We feel privileged to do the jobs we do and loved the time spent working on those projects. If audiences enjoy them, that’s gilding the lily.