Tom Cruise, now 62, fondly recalled reuniting with Val Kilmer for the 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick. He found it “beautiful” that his co-star from the original 1986 film reprised his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, Maverick’s former rival who became an ally.
Although Kilmer sadly passed away last month due to complications from pneumonia, Cruise remembered their time together on set as a “joyous” experience for both of them.
The Mission Impossible star shared with Sight and Sound magazine, “Returning after all those years to film Top Gun: Maverick was amazing because it felt like no time had passed at all. We shared laughter, and it was truly joyful.”
He further elaborated, “And then we started acting, and you could just see it… he transformed into Iceman. The sheer power this man possessed, even without uttering a word, to embody that character. You could even see it in the way he sniffed. He was Iceman.”
Tom continued, “And you witnessed the dynamic between these friends. It was, to say the least, a very special experience for me personally.”
He further noted, “I simply tell people… take Iceman from the first movie and observe him in this one; that entire journey shows that he truly became Iceman. And he didn’t even need to speak.”
Tom Cruise concluded by saying, “That’s the incredible ability he had. Beautiful, truly beautiful. A gift that he possessed and generously shared with all of us.”
