Lewis Hamilton regrets snubbing Tom Cruise for 'Top Gun: Maverick' role

Lewis Hamilton laid bare his harboured regret of not joining Tom Cruise and Joseph Kosinski on Top Gun: Maverick two years after its release.

During an interview with GQ, the British racing star, who is currently producing a Formula one movie with Kosinski, recalled the time when Cruise tapped him to be cast as a pilot for the Top Gun sequel.

Hamilton remembered asking the Mission Impossible star and the American director long ago to let him be in Top Gun 2–which had no existence then—saying, "I will even be a janitor—just let me be in it."

Eventually, when the Top Gun: Maverick idea transitioned into a film, in its casting stage, Cruise linked Hamilton to Konsinski, who offered Hamilton a role as one of the film’s pilots.

However, he had to decline amid his jam-packed schedule in the middle of the 2018 title race.

"Firstly, I hadn’t even had, like, an acting lesson. And I don’t want to be the one that lets this movie down," he stated his reasons.

"And then, secondly, I just really didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. I remember having to tell Joe and Tom — and it broke my heart," Hamilton recounted.

He lamented, "And then I regretted it, naturally, when they showed me the movie, and it’s: It could’ve been me!"

Nonetheless, if not in the 2022 hit, Hamilton still nabbed an opportunity to work with Kosinski on an upcoming untitled Formula One movie.