Though he might play a key role in The Acolyte as the Sith Lord Qimir, things weren’t always as stellar as they are now for Manny Jacinto, who recalls seeing Top Gun: Maverick for the first time and realizing that his lines of dialogue ended up on the cutting room floor. Starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, and Glen Powell, Maverick became the smash hit of 2022, taking second spot overall at the worldwide box office with an astounding $1.5 billion dollars. However, while it helped catapult Teller and Powell into the stratosphere of superstardom, Jacinto wasn’t as lucky, as his role in the blockbuster movie was cut dramatically in the final edit.
Speaking with GQ about his career thus far, Jacinto says he took the Maverick snub in stride, knowing that sometimes that’s just the way these things go in Hollywood. Having already achieved a loyal fanbase thanks to his role as Jason Mendoza in The Good Place, however, many of those same fans were left stunned by his lack of screen time in Top Gun: Maverick, where he portrays LT Billy “Fritz” Avalone. While Jacinto appreciated the support, he comments that his time on set was still a worthwhile experience if for nothing more than to get the chance to see how one of Tinseltown’s biggest stars operates.
“It’s flattering that there was a little bit of an outcry, but it wasn’t shocking to me. 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.”
Top Gun: Maverick
Tom Cruise returns as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, and keeps pushing the envelope as a seasoned aviator for the Navy in this sequel to the original Top Gun film.
- Release Date
- May 27, 2022
- Director
- Joseph Kosinski
Born in the Philippines, Jacinto immigrated to Canada when he was three years old, and would go on to comment that he used his experience on Maverick to fuel his determination to see more diversity in Hollywood. While “Tom Cruise might be writing stories for Tom Cruise,” as he puts it, he wants to one day write stories for Manny Jacinto, something he’s already in the process of doing by collaborating with fellow Filipinos to develop new projects.
“It kind of fuels you, because at the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise. 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.”
Manny Jacinto Would Love to Work With A24 and Neon
Getting his start in 2013 on TV shows such as Supernatural and the Disney hit, Once Upon a Time, by 2015 Jacinto was appearing in the likes of iZombie, Bates Motel, and Wayward Pines. As his resume started to grow, so did his stock, and it was in 2016 that the young actor found himself starring opposite Kristen Bell and Ted Danson on The Good Place, a role that would forever change his life.
Still, while Jacinto has enjoyed success thus far thanks to not only The Good Place, but his starring role in The Acolyte as well, he’s just getting started in his career, and says that there’s still a lot he’d like to do, including working with indie studios A24 and Neon (who are fresh off the success of Longlegs), and perhaps being part of a new franchise – one that won’t leave him on the floor in an editing room.
“I would love to do an incredible A24 or Neon indie. I’d love to be part of a new franchise, whether it’s a comic or a manga or an anime, like
Naruto
or
One Punch Man
. There’s still so much I need to do.”
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The Acolyte’s latest episode confirms what fans have guessed for a while, causing many to take to social media to express their love of the Dark Side.
While he bides his time, Jacinto will appear next in Freaky Friday 2 alongside Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, a role he says he took because “it’s definitely another big shift and something I’d never done before.” Fans can expect to see him in the movie when it makes its premiere at some point in 2025.
Top Gun: Maverick
is available to stream on Paramount+, and
The Acolyte
is now streaming on
Disney+
.
The Acolyte
2/5
Star Wars series that take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.
- Release Date
- June 4, 2024
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Cast
- Amandla Stenberg , Lee Jung-jae , Joonas Suotamo , Charlie Barnett , Dafne Keen , Leah Brady , Manny Jacinto , Rebecca Henderson , Carrie-Anne Moss , Jodie Turner-Smith , Dean-Charles Chapman , Lauren Brady , Anthony J. Abraham , Thara Shöön , Danielle Xin Yao Waterman , Sienna Khiroya , Jeramiah Evans , Dan Milne , Thomas Coombes , Archie Singh Swali , Nick Court , Ed Kear , Jumayn Hunter , Scroobius Pip , Abigail Thorn , Margarita Levieva , Amy Tsang , Saskia Allen , Deborah Rosan , Tabitha Alege , Paul Bullion , Indra Ové , Derek Arnold , Lewis Young
- Seasons
- 1