Maverick’ Reunion With Tom Cruise

Iceman and Maverick back at ’em! Val KilmerLet’s be real about filming Top Gun: MaverickWith Tom CruiseMore than 30 years have passed since their first meeting.

“It was like no time had passed at all,” Kilmer told Entertainment WeeklyThursday, June 9

The 62-year-old actor, who reprised his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the new film, recalled what the shooting process felt like this time around. “We blew a lot of takes laughing so much,” he said. “It was really fun … special.”

In his 2020 memoir, Kilmer previously revealed this information I’m Your Huckleberry that he “didn’t want the part” of Iceman in 1986’s Top GunJusqu’à he met up with director Tony Scott. Looking back, the TombstoneStar is happy that he signed on.

“We were all so young during the making of the first movie, but even then there was a special bond between us all,” Kilmer explained on Thursday. “Even after shooting we would laugh and dance the night away!”

When it came time to work Top Gun: Maverick, Kilmer didn’t need much persuading. “Tom called me. I said yes immediately,” the California native said of the casting process.

In the 2022 film, Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is asked to return to the Top Gun program and train a new group of skilled pilots. Fans later learn that it is Iceman who requests Maverick’s assistance as they both have worked their way up the ranks since battling it out at Top Gun training 30 years prior.

“You had to figure out a way to bring Iceman in,” director Joseph KosinskiTelled EW. “We met with Val. He had the idea of how to integrate Iceman in a really authentic way.”

Iceman backs up Maverick’s controversial teaching skills despite dealing with an illness that stole his voice in the movie. The story line somewhat resembles Kilmer’s own life. The actor lost his voice after a battle with throat cancer. Instead, he is a like his character. Batman ForeverStar communicates mostly through the written word.


Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’
Scott Garfield/ Paramount Pictures

Kosinski, 48, and Cruise, 59, made it clear from the beginning that Kilmer’s cameo in the sequel was a must. The scene that reunites Iceman with Maverick for the first time also marked Kilmer and Cruise’s first film interaction in three decades.

“Obviously [we] spent a lot of time on that scene, writing it, getting ready,” the filmmaker said. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. … It’s a really beautiful scene. It was shot in Los Angeles, in a gorgeous house on top of a park. Very special to see not only Val and Tom, but Maverick and Iceman back on the screen together.”

Top Gun: MaverickIt is now in theaters

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