Days of Thunder: Tom Cruise's car racing epic full of roars and excitement

Days of Thunder Synopsis

A team owner introduces a young man named Cole to Harry, who is renowned as a race car builder. Cole shows off his genius driving technique and is welcomed as a driver. With Harry's guidance, Cole further improves his skills, but in one race he crashes violently with a rival roadie and is almost unable to recover. Since then, Cole has developed a fear of racing, so with the support of his teammates, he takes up the challenge of racing again...

Looking back at the career of Tom Cruise, who has been active in Hollywood since the 1980s, we can see that he has had ``yang'' periods when he was on a roll, and also ``yin'' periods when all the passion and effort he put in seemed to be going to waste.

Especially after a string of hits, the public's eyes become strangely harsh, and flaws are pointed out one after another, and the film is branded as a bad one. The 1990 blockbuster film "Days of Thunder" is a prime example of this, or rather, it is the film that is always at the forefront when discussing Tom's unpopular works. But is it really such a bad film? I was still young when it was released in theaters, but when I saw this film for the first time as an adult, I was surprised and said, "It's not bad at all!" If you haven't seen it and are bound by the stereotype that "Days of Thunder is a bad film," I would like you to take this opportunity to see it.

Index

• Top Gun on four wheels
• An extraordinary excitement fills the circuit
• Repeated Stories of "Absent Fathers"
• What emerges from Duval’s relationship

Top Gun on four wheels

Tom is always more engrossed in the films he stars in than anyone else, and he gives it his all. Among them, "Days of Thunder" was a project he was particularly passionate about. His commitment and enthusiasm can be seen not only in the opening credits, but also in the rare fact that his name is listed as "Story by."

First of all, how did Tom get into the world of car racing? The answer is simple. It all started with an invitation from the great actor Paul Newman, with whom he co-starred in " The Color of Money " (1986) and with whom he had developed a deep respect and mutual trust despite the age difference.

Once Tom got in the car and experienced the speed and vibration of racing around the circuit, he was completely fascinated by this world. At the same time, he began working with a screenwriter to come up with a plan to turn this into a movie story.

"Days of Thunder" trailer

When the direction finally started to become clear, they approached producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with whom they had worked on Top Gun (1986), and the project began in earnest. Don and Jerry had always been sending love calls to Tom, saying, "Let's make a sequel to Top Gun someday!", and this project, which was like a four-wheeled Top Gun, was a dream come true for them.

Naturally, Tony Scott, the director of Top Gun , also rejoined the project, and the budget (60 million dollars) was overwhelmingly huge compared to each of their previous works. For reference, the production cost of Top Gun was $15 million, Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) was about $27 million, and the subsequent Crimson Tide (1995) was $53 million. In terms of works produced by Bruckheimer, the production cost of Days was not surpassed until The Rock (1996/$75 million).

An extraordinary excitement fills the circuit