Tom Cruise Said Val Kilmers Return Was Crucial to Top Gun Maverick

Tom Cruise Said Val Kilmer’s Return Was Crucial to Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick star Tom Cruise explains why it was crucial to have Val Kilmer return as his character’s former rival, Iceman.

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Tom Cruise could not return to his superstar-making role for Top Gun: Maverick without reuniting with his former on-screen rival, played by Val Kilmer.

Cruise spoke to People magazine about stepping back into the shoes of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell 36 years after the original Top Gun. Out of all the original actors from the 1986 blockbuster, it was Val Kilmer’s Tom “Iceman” Kazansky who he had to persuade Paramount to bring back for a very emotional moment in the sequel. “I really rallied hard for him to make the movie,” Cruise said. “The kind of talent that he has, and you see that scene, it’s very special, it’s just very special.”

In 2017, Kilmer went public about his battle with throat cancer. The treatment and procedure on his trachea resulted in Kilmer’s voice loss and he can only speak with a plug to a stoma in his trachea. That did not stop Cruise from getting Kilmer in the movie. “He said, ‘We have to have Val, we have to have him back. We have to have him in the film,'” producer Jerry Bruckheimer said. “He’s such a fine actor, and he’s such a good individual. We had such a good time on the first one and wanted to bring some of the gang back together again.”

The original Top Gun saw Maverick and Iceman compete against each other in the Topgun fighter weapons school, where Iceman calls out Maverick’s recklessness in the air which makes him unsafe to fly with. Kilmer was initially reluctant to be cast in the movie because of the lackluster script. But his attitude quickly changed once he started working with Cruise and Top Gun’s director, Tony Scott. Kilmer’s reunion with Cruise in the sequel was equally as emotional for him. “It was a really emotional experience for all of us,” Bruckheimer said. “It was a long time getting there, but we did.”

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Set three decades years after 1986’s Top Gun, Maverick sees Cruise’s character training a new generation of Top Gun graduates for a special mission. The group includes Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Goose, who died in the original film. The Top Gun: Maverick trailer shows how Iceman plays an important role in the story. Cruise and Kilmer will be joined by franchise newcomers Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, John Hamm, Ed Harris and Jean Louisa Kelly.

Previously delayed from a 2020 release due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Top Gun: Maverick finally hits theaters on May 27.

Source: People

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/top-gun-maverick-val-kilmer-crucial-tom-cruise/

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