Val Kilmer Opens Up About Filming Top Gun: Maverick With Tom Cruise: ‘There Was No Time At All’

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Val Kilmer Opens Up About Filming Top Gun: Maverick With Tom Cruise: 'There Was No Time At All'

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Iceman and Maverick are reunited.

Val Kilmer recently opened up about what it was like making Top Gun: Maverick with Tom Cruise almost 30 years after the original Top Gun was released.

“It was like no time had passed at all,” Kilmer shared with Entertainment Weekly on Thursday. “We screwed up a lot of takes because we laughed so much,” he continued. “It was really fun… special.”

Val Kilmer shared what it was like working with Tom Cruise on Top Gun: Maverick.
(Getty Images)

Kilmer, 62, reprized his role of Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the sequel. The actor revealed that all the stars had a close bond from a young age.

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“We were all so young when we did the first movie, but even then there was a special bond between us all,” Kilmer said. “Even after the shoot, we laughed and danced all night!”

Kilmer shared with the outlet how he received the news about starring in Top Gun: Maverick.

Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise on the set of "top gun" Directed by Tony Scott.

Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise on the set of Top Gun directed by Tony Scott.
(Photo by Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)

“Tom called me. I said yes right away,” he said.

In the newly released film, Cruise’s character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is asked to return to train a new group of pilots for the Top Gun program. The film’s director, Joseph Kosinski, told the outlet that he had to find a way to incorporate Kilmer’s character into the film.

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“They had to find a way to bring Iceman in,” he said. “We met with Val. He came up with the idea of ​​integrating Iceman in a really authentic way.”

Kilmer’s Iceman aids Maverick’s unique teaching abilities as he struggles with an illness that left him voiceless in the film. This part of the script is similar to Kilmer’s personal life.

"top gun", directed by Tony Scott.  Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "loner" Mitchell and Val Kilmer as Lt.  Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky in the background.

Top Gun directed by Tony Scott. Tom Cruise as Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and Val Kilmer as Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the background.
(Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

In 2017, the actor shared that he was diagnosed with throat cancer and has been having trouble speaking ever since. Like Iceman, Kilmer communicates primarily in writing.

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Both Kosinski and Cruise knew Kilmer’s return to Top Gun: Maverick was crucial. The scene where Iceman and Maverick reunite marked the first time both actors have filmed together in nearly 30 years.

“Apparently [we] I spent a lot of time on that scene, writing it and getting ready,” Kosinski said. “I wasn’t sure how it would work. … It’s a really beautiful scene. We shot in Los Angeles in a really nice house in a park. It’s very special to see not only Val and Tom but Maverick and Iceman back together on screen.”

Tom Cruise attends the UK Premiere of "Top Gun: Maverick" at Leicester Square on May 19, 2022 in London.

Tom Cruise attends the UK Premiere of Top Gun: Maverick at Leicester Square on May 19, 2022 in London.
(Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

Cruise had the biggest theatrical release of his career with Top Gun: Maverick, which grossed an estimated $151 million at the box office as of Memorial Day weekend.

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The Paramount film, which has been delayed multiple times due to the coronavirus pandemic, now holds the record for the second-best Memorial Day opening ever behind Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which grossed $153 million back in 2007 released.

Fox News’ Tracy Wright contributed to this report.

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