One of the most emotional moments of Top Gun: Maverick is the reunion of Iceman and Mav.
Ice – who is now a US Navy Admiral – brings his old wingman back to Top Gun to train a team of aviators for a seemingly impossible mission. After Mav struggles with working with Rooster (Miles Teller), Iceman calls him in for an emotional pep talk.
The conversation has an added level of poignancy as Ice struggles to speak amid his cancer battle. He instead talks to him through his computer software.
Kilmer has since shared a photo from the scene alongside a heartwarming message to his co-star. The Heat actor chose a shot of his character smiling as looks at Mav. Kilmer captioned the picture: "36 years later… I’m still your wingman."
The Hollywood star has previously opened up about coming back for the movie, explaining how he was "very moved" by it. He said to USA Today: "I was very moved the first time I saw it. Almost 40 years is a long time for a reunion. We laughed all day. Tom is great and surprisingly funny!"
Maverick director Joseph Kosinski also told the Inside Total Film podcast that filming the sequence was "very emotional".
He said of working with Kilmer: "To do it with him playing Iceman and to be able to do it in a scene where he and Tom are together, two people who have so much respect for each other, and to have it be a reunion of not only two characters, but two men in real life… [It was a] really emotional day, a really memorable day on set."
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