James Gunn got candid about the movies that acted as influences for his new Superman movie.

The director shared insights into the making of Superman ahead of the film’s first trailer release this Thursday, revealing surprising influences behind his vision for the DC Studios reboot.

In a recent interview, Gunn explained how Top Gun: Maverick shaped his approach to shooting action sequences in the air for the superhero film.

“I wrote up this big document on action and what our philosophy is… keeping it alive in the air, as well as on the ground,” Gunn told ComicBook.

He elaborated on the challenge of capturing realistic flying scenes, saying, “Being able to shoot stuff in the sky like that is really hard.”

Gunn credited Top Gun: Maverick as a major influence.

“We shoot a lot of our action with actual drones flying in and around Superman and the people that he’s flying with, The Engineer, whoever else, that he’s fighting up in the air… We got these really small, crazy drones now.”

Gunn added that some of the world’s top drone pilots are working on the film to help bring his vision to life.

While Top Gun shaped the action, Gunn shared that his Superman is influenced by a wide range of DC media, including Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, the animated DC universe, and the comic book series All-Star Superman.

“I think that all previous DC media influenced me,” Gunn said in a report from IGN.

“Obviously, the original Donner movie influenced me, but there’s also a lot of things that this isn’t, like I’m just making a Donner-type movie. It’s very different from that. Zack [Snyder] did some excellent stuff.”

He cited All-Star Superman as a major inspiration:

“To take that sort of Silver Age feel, that sort of science-fiction approach to it with gadgets… Lex [Luthor] is really a sort of sorcerer in a way. He’s a scientist, but he’s so good at science… I think of him as like a sorcerer.”