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Iceman actor Val Kilmer has addressed his decades-in-the-making reunion with Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick.
In the legacy sequel, Kilmer’s Iceman – now an Admiral in the US Navy after graduating through Top Gun as Maverick’s wingman in the 1986 original – comes calling after Mav has doubts about leading his new cluster of recruits. Mirroring Kilmer’s own real-life health battles, Iceman struggles to speak, instead typing his pep talk to Maverick on his computer. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house – and that extends to Kilmer.
"I was very moved the first time I saw it. Almost 40 years is a long time for a reunion," Kilmer tells USA Today. "We laughed all day. Tom is great and surprisingly funny!"
Article continues belowSpeaking on the Inside Total Film podcast, director Joseph Kosinski revealed that working with Kilmer was a "dream come true."
"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," Kosinski said.
Top Gun: Maverick was also a personal milestone for Tom Cruise. The follow-up to Top Gun is now Cruise’s biggest movie ever, and has raked in close to $550m at the box office.
