THE DON Season 2: Maverick, Top Gun, Don’s Greatest Hits, And The Addictions That Killed Him”  

In this episode,  we track Don’s collision  course with Tom Cruise-- beginning with Tom’s role in "Endless Love" and the world’s obsession with Brooke Shields virginity, Tom's breakout performance in the military film "Taps", the sex comedy he did with Shelly Duvall from Cheers, and his love affair with Rebecca De Mornay in "Risky Business". This episode is all about Tom.

THE DON Season 2: Maverick, Top Gun, Don&rsquo;s Greatest Hits, And The Addictions That Killed Him&rdquo; &nbsp;
In this episode, &nbsp;we track Don&rsquo;s collision &nbsp;course with Tom Cruise-- beginning with Tom&rsquo;s role in "Endless Love" and the world&rsquo;s obsession with Brooke Shields virginity, Tom's breakout performance in the military film "Taps", the sex comedy he did with Shelly Duvall from Cheers, and his love affair with Rebecca De Mornay in "Risky Business". This episode is all about Tom.

THE DON is a docu-drama on the life of the producer of TOP GUN, Don Simpson, which uses narration, clips, and fictional re-enactments via “lost tapes'' to take you behind the scenes into Hollywood’s decade of decadence, the 1980s. Before the era of MeToo, there was Don Simpson the poster boy of toxic masculinity, whose outlandish behavior was not only tolerated but encouraged by the film industry who profited greatly off Don’s movies. Don Simpson was, like the character he named after himself in his movie TOP GUN, a maverick. His signature style of filmmaking created one hit after another— AMERICAN GIGOLO, FLASHDANCE, BEVERLY HILLS COP, TOP GUN- they all came from the mind of Don Simpson. Don loved the movies so much that he created a mythological persona known as “The Don” to match his signature movies— loud, ballsy, cheesy— his movies were full of homo-erotic testoterone-driven race car drivers and navy fighter pilots and stripper/welders who wanted to be ballerinas— these were the movies from Don’s absurd fantasy world— this was the world that Don actually lived in— there was no separation between life and art. And that movie persona that he created— “The Don”— grew more and more outrageous and more extreme— until ultimately… it killed him.

The first season of the Based on True Events Anthology which dramatizes true stories in the tradition of Hollywood storytelling.

THE DON

THE DON is a docu-drama on the life of the producer of TOP GUN, Don Simpson, which uses narration, clips, and fictional re-enactments via “lost tapes'' to take you behind the scenes into Hollywood’s decade of decadence, the 1980s. Before the era of MeToo, there was Don Simpson the poster boy of toxic masculinity, whose outlandish behavior was not only tolerated but encouraged by the film industry who profited greatly off Don’s movies. Don Simpson was, like the character he named after himself in his movie TOP GUN, a maverick. His signature style of filmmaking created one hit after another— AMERICAN GIGOLO, FLASHDANCE, BEVERLY HILLS COP, TOP GUN- they all came from the mind of Don Simpson. Don loved the movies so much that he created a mythological persona known as “The Don” to match his signature movies— loud, ballsy, cheesy— his movies were full of homo-erotic testoterone-driven race car drivers and navy fighter pilots and stripper/welders who wanted to be ballerinas— these were the movies from Don’s absurd fantasy world— this was the world that Don actually lived in— there was no separation between life and art. And that movie persona that he created— “The Don”— grew more and more outrageous and more extreme— until ultimately… it killed him.

 TOP GUNS DON & TOM

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/fa9c290c-4714-46cf-8891-aea80149c056/transcript

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