Top Gun: Maverick
Less than two months after Val Kilmer ’s death , hisTop Gun : Maverickco - wizard Tom Cruise has been effusive in praising the player while speak toSight and Soundmagazine . The dyad first played rival fighter pilots Pete “ Maverick ” Mitchell and Tom “ Iceman ” Kazansky in the 1986 action movieTop Gun , before they take back for its 2022 sequel . In this second installment , Iceman has terminal pharynx cancer , which was a chip in constituent to Kilmer ’s decease in existent life . Cruise describes how the belated actor still embody his character despite being ineffective to talk , explain , “ HewasIceman . ” ( viaCollider )
Kilmer return as Iceman inTop Gun : Maverickduring a three - minute scene in which Maverick run short to his character reference for advice . “ It was like fourth dimension had not passed , ” Cruise toldSight and Sound , in reference to work with hisTop Gunrival again 35 years after the first flick ’s button . “ We were laughing and it was joyous . ” When the cameras started roll , however , the mode on set immediately switch , asKilmer switched into acting way . “ He became Iceman , ” Cruise recount . “ The power that this guy has , even not pronounce anything , to become that character . ”
Top Gun: Maverick Was Val Kilmer’s Last Movie
Kilmer Passed Away From Pneumonia Less Than 3 Years After Its Release
Reprising his part as Iceman inTop Gun : Maverickproved to be Val Kilmer ’s final performing performance . He ’d already had two tracheostomies in the years prior to shooting his cameo scene for the plastic film , and could only speak with the aid of an electric vocalism box . Kilmer died at age 65 , from pneumonia , on April 1 , 2025 , with his death certificate list cancerous cells under his tongue as an inherent cause ( viaTMZ ) .
Tom Cruise has gone on to describe working with Kilmer one last time on theTop Gunsequel as “ very special , to say the least , for me personally . ” TheMission Impossibleactor also said the following about Kilmer ’s performance in the originalTop Gun :
“ I recollect he ’s in the movie maybe 10 minutes – that ’s the shock of an artist like that . What I know about what he did and how he played it [ was ] he just know that tone to hit . He had to play it so you wanted these guys to be friends in the death . ”
As it turned out , Cruise ’s Maverick and Kilmer ’s Iceman did go on to be friends , sharing a meaningful clinch when they trip up up one last time inTop Gun : Maverick . Likewise , Cruise has described histearful onscreen reunion with Kilmerin 2022 as the culmination of a decades - long friendship between the actors .
Our Take On Tom Cruise’s Comments About Val Kilmer In Top Gun: Maverick
The Respect Of A Fellow Acting Great As Well As A Longtime Friend
Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer may have only appeared onscreen together during the twoTop Gunmovies , buttheir legacy will forever be intertwine thanks to these seminal , high - fly smash hit . It wasTop Gunthat first launched the life history of both actors into the stratosphere , and it ’s only fitting that Val Kilmer’sTop Gun : Maverickcameo has proven to be his final curtain call as an role player .
Tom Cruise is one of the most legendary movie mavin of all time , with his career being delineate by some of the most iconic scenes in film history
Sources : Collider;TMZ
