Tom Cruise speaks out on his late friend Val Kilmer's 'special and beautiful' return to screen for Top Gun: Maverick
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Tom Cruise has revealed how 'very special' it was to reunite with Val Kilmer in Top Gun: Maverick - just months before his co-star's tragic death.
The Hollywood legend said it was 'beautiful' having Kilmer reprise his iconic role as Iceman in the 2022 sequel, more than three decades after they first flew together on screen.
Kilmer - who passed away in April following complications from pneumonia - made a brief but powerful appearance in the film, despite years of serious health struggles.
Cruise, 62, told Sight and Sound magazine: 'To come back all those years later, and it was amazing being on set for Top Gun: Maverick because it was like time had not passed. We were laughing and it was joyous.
'And then we started acting and it's just, you see it… he became Iceman. The power that this guy has, even not saying anything, to become that character. You see how even the sniff that he gave. He was Iceman.
'And you saw the dynamic between these friends.'
He added: 'It was very special, to say the least, for me personally.
'I just tell people… you take Iceman from the first film and you look at it here, that whole journey, he became Iceman. And he didn't even have to speak.
'That's what he's able to do. Beautiful, really beautiful. A gift that he had and that he shared with all of us.'
The reunion almost didn't happen, with Cruise admitting Kilmer originally turned down the role back in 1986.
'He didn't want to be a supporting actor - he wanted to star,' Cruise explained. 'We did a lot to get him in the movie.'
'I was calling his agent, and Tony Scott was hunting him down and meeting in an elevator with Val, and he was like, 'Please, Val, please.'
'You just see what a great actor, charismatic guy he was. And in that scene, what I love about what he did and how he played it, he just knew that tone to hit.
'He had to play it so you wanted these guys to be friends in the end. Do you know what I'm saying? And I remember those scenes like they were yesterday, acting with him, where he did the bite thing.'
Looking back on their scenes together, Cruise also said Kilmer's impact on the original film was unforgettable, despite limited screen time.
He added: 'If you look at 'Top Gun', I think he's in the movie maybe ten minutes. That's the impact of an artist like that.'
Cruise, played Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell alongside Kilmer's Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky in the 1986 classic, with the pair reuniting onscreen for 2022's Top Gun: Maverick.
Taking to the stage at the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas for CinemaCon 2025, Tom paid an emotional tribute to Val Kilmer after his shock death last month.
Cruise said per Variety: 'I'd like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer.
'I can't tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.
'I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.
'I wish you well on the next journey.'
Cruise put his head down as he held his hands together while on stage at CinemaCon 2025 held at The Colosseum.
The action star was the event to talk up his next film, Mission: Impossible -The Final Reckoning, which will open on May 23.
Tom had said in 2022 that he was very pleased the Kilmer joined him on Top Gun: Maverick.
'I just want to say that was pretty emotional. I’ve known Val for decades,' Cruise said while on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
'For him to come back and play that character… he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You’re looking at Iceman.'
The movie's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, told People in 2021 that Cruise 'was the driving force' in getting Kilmer to work on the film.
Val, who rose to fame in the 1980s with roles in films such as Batman Forever and The Doors, died from complications related to pneumonia after a long battle with health issues.
Val, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, spent the later years of his life largely out of the public eye.
Val is survived by his daughter Mercedes and son Jack, whom he had during his marriage to actress Joanne Whalley.
Val Kilmer's heartbreaking final words before he lost his voice revealed
Val Kilmer's heartbreaking final words have been revealed from his final interview prior to him losing his voice.
The Hollywood star, who passed away from pneumonia aged 65 on Tuesday, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and underwent surgery, including a tracheotomy which created an artificial hole in his neck to help him breath.
However this significantly impacted his ability to speak and permanently damaged his vocal cords and forever altered his speaking voice.
His last interview prior to the life-changing surgery was with Norwegian television at Val's Malibu home, thought to be recorded in 2014.
During the reflective interview, Val made the heartbreaking admission that he wished he had 'loved more' and been a 'better person' when he was younger.
Confessing that he was a nightmare to work with he said: 'I was a dumb actor. I complained quite a bit when I was younger.
'I didn't appreciate the business that afforded me the lifestyle that I very quickly enjoyed. Very quickly. I starred in my first movie. I was the lead in the first play I did professionally.
'And now that I don't have that privilege, I wish that I loved more. I want to be a better person. I try to figure that out every day, how to be more grateful.'
Val was once one of Hollywood's most prominent leading men in the 1990s after his iconic roles in Top Gun, Batman and The Doors.
However numerous spats with directors and co-stars and a series of flops dented his career and over the years, he gained a reputation as temperamental, intense, perfectionist and sometimes egotistical.
Asked by the reporter in his final interview in what way he was so full of himself, Val jokingly replied: 'In every way.'
He continued: 'I had ideas, I had insecurities about myself that I projected on to the movie business. Just the sounds from my mouth. So absurd. Absurdly unrealistic. Apparently, I had an evil twin.'
'Do you think that people found it difficult to work with you,' the journalist asked.
'Yeah, what's the one past difficult...impossible,' he admitted, again laughing at himself.
Speaking about how his career dried up the star explained: 'Yeah, I'm kind of blacklisted. I haven't gotten a studio job in 15 years.'
Asked whether he wanted to get into the industry, Val confirmed: 'Yeah, I'd always watched movies and wondered what I'd be like in that part.'
'If you get back, will you behave in another way?' the interviewer asked, as he admitted: 'Yes. In the way that gets me hired.'
Val's voice was left forever changed after he was forced to undergo an emergency tracheotomy following his throat cancer diagnosis.
After coughing up blood in 2014 he was rushed to hospital and had two emergency tracheotomies - where a hole is created in the neck and windpipe for a tube to be inserted to breathe - as well as chemotherapy and radiation.
The cancer caused his tongue to swell and block his lymph passages and after the surgeries, he had to put a finger to the aperture in his throat to speak and be understood.
The star revealed he had been free of cancer for four years in 2020, but the tracheotomies permanently affected his ability to speak.
He lost his natural voice and had to use an electronic voice box to communicate, opening up about his struggles in his 2021 Prime documentary, Val.
A voice box device is most commonly a battery-operated machine that produces sound to create a voice, and is used to help those suffering with throat cancer communicate.
After stepping back from the public eye, he emotionally admitted it was 'difficult to talk and be understood' amid his lengthy recovery from throat cancer, which also saw him fed meals through a tube.
'I've tried to see the world, as one piece of life,' Val said using his voice box during his documentary.
Though communication became more difficult for him, the Batman star insisted it was just like any other challenge he had to tackle in life.
'I'm doing great. I feel a lot better than I sound,' he told Good Morning America in a 2020 interview.
Incredibly, Val's voice was recreated using AI technology, which was used when he emotionally returned to screens for the Top Gun sequel in 2022.
London-based firm AI company Sonantic recreated his voice in a lifelike yet artificial mock-up, which Val was able to use to help him communicate in everyday life.
Praising the results, the star shared: 'I'm grateful to the entire team at Sonantic who masterfully restored my voice in a way I've never imagined possible.
'As human beings, the ability to communicate is the core of our existence and the effects from throat cancer have made it difficult for others to understand me.
The chance to tell my story, in a voice that feels authentic and familiar, is an incredibly special gift.'
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