“I would rather fly an F/A-18 any day of the week” — Lewis Pullman and Monica Barbaro have a Top Gun reunion to revisit their bond and how they’ve reached new heights ever since.
SUIT & SHIRT: OFFICINE GÉNÉRALE | LOAFERS: SCAROSSO | WATCH: ROLEX
POLO & PANTS: KING & TUCKFIELD | WATCH: CARTIER
A place in the sun
April 5, 2025 — 2PM PST
SUIT & SWEATER: STILE LATINO | WATCH: ROLEX
LEWIS PULLMAN: Good! Thanks for your time and taking your Saturday afternoon.
MB: Thanks for inviting me to do this! I’ve done a Grumpy one before [as the interviewee], so it’s nice to pass on the torch. Something tells me you’re not in your own place. What city are you in?
LP: Couve. Where are you?
MB: This is my house. I’m on floor pillows and there are boxes, because I’ve been here for a year and a half, but technically I’ve not been here at all. [Laughs]
LP: I still haven’t seen this.
MB: I was trying to think about where I saw you last — I think it was in LA, but it wasn’t either of our places. How is [Vancouver]?
LP: I haven’t been here since 2018, but it’s great. It’s starting to get sunny and now everyone’s loving to talk about that.
MB: [Laughs] You don’t want an interview about the weather? Got it. What are you shooting right now?
LP: I’m doing a movie with Sally Field for Netflix, based on this book, Remarkably Bright Creatures.
MB: Is there a music component to this movie?
LP: My character is a guitarist and there is a part in it where he plays this song. As you know, I’m not a guitar player, so I was thinking about you and your experience [as Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown] quite a bit, because it was one of the scariest things I’ve done in a long time!
MB: You do kind of play, though? I remember we were at Glen [Powell]’s ranch and you were noodling on a guitar. Your ditty looked impressive and I was like, “He drums — of course, he can play the guitar.”
LP: I got three little ditties that I can do. Then I put the guitar down and people think that there is a million other ditties behind it.
MB: That’s what we all do. I had 10 or 11 Joan Baez ditties [required for the film] — they make it look like I can play, and I can’t play anything else.
LP: I don’t know if you found this too, but for me, the most self-conscious part was all the extras in the crowd. I wanted to be like, “Listen, everybody — I know that I’m not good!” [Laughs]
MB: I did that every day. [Laughs] The background artists on the movie were the best and made me more afraid, because I was like, “Oh, they’re actual actors, so they could be up here doing this probably better than I could.” I felt that listening to your own voice and singing it back was excruciating.
LP: Even listening to your own voice memos is so hard to do. [My character] is not supposed to be an actual singer, so I had that. Whereas you were Joan Baez, and you were so calm and comfortable.
Read the full story in the print or digital issue (a 20+ page booklet dedicated to one talent). Order it now or subscribe below to the digital edition.
CARDIGAN & PANTS: KING & TUCKFIELD | LOAFERS: SCAROSSO | WATCH: ROLEX
BLAZER & TANK: ALLSAINTS | WATCH: CARTIER
LOOK: OFFICINE GÉNÉRALE | BOOTS: TECOVAS | WATCH: CARTIER
THUNDERBOLTS* IS NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS
PHOTOGRAPHY: Raul Romo TALENT: Lewis Pullman INTERVIEW: Monica Barbaro VIDEOGRAPHY: Yong W Kim STYLING: Evan Simonitsch SET DESIGN: Carolina Benitez GROOMING: Barbara Guillaume at Forward Artists PRODUCTION: Jasmine Perrier MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN: Christophe Daigle LOCATION: NLA Studios SPECIAL THANKS: ID PR, Narrative PR & Disney
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