Invited on the set of Jimmy Kimmel’s show, Tom Cruise spoke of his reunion with Val Kilmer in “Top Gun: Maverick”. Not without emotion, to the point of having really cried during THE scene of the film.
An almost planetary triumph, in any case one of the biggest global box office successes of 2022, Top Gun: Maverick marked the reunion of Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. A real and beautiful moment of emotion.
36 years after Top Gun, the man who was once Maverick’s rival in the role of Tom “Iceman” Kasanzky, then his friend, has taken the lead, now becoming Admiral.
The sequence in question is certainly one of the most beautiful moments of the film. Pete Mitchell and Tom “Iceman” Kazansky find themselves at the latter’s home, weakened by illness, and the two men share a particularly intense and moving moment.
Especially since the fate of the character played by Kilmer in the sequel to Top Gun is also confused with his own life: he too had to fight against cancer. In 2015, the actor was diagnosed with throat cancer.
After having undergone two tracheotomies – an intervention which consists of making a hole in the trachea – he lost the use of his voice. For him, cinema was now ancient history. If the actor can still speak, it is still very painful and requires a lot of effort.
Below is the scene…
From there a real emotion on the part of Cruise when they shot this famous sequence, to the point of having cried, as he has just told on Jimmy Kimmel’s Show set.
“It was very emotionally intense, I’ve known Val for decades. For him to come back and play that character again…He’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You get Iceman back,” comments Cruise. who adds: “I was crying, I got emotional. He’s such a brilliant actor, I love his work”.
An emotional sequence far from being cleverly calculated and purely cinematographic, indeed very moving, when we know Kilmer’s obstacle course since his illness.