Tom Cruise had an “emotional” reunion with Val Kilmer in “Top Gun 2” before his death

Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise forged a special binding during Top gun It would last for decades.

Kilmer died of pneumonia at the age of 65 on Tuesday, April 1 and although he may not have done originally wanted to take the role by LT Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the Hit movie 1986, it is still one of his most memorable roles and one who left a lasting impression on his Top gun costs.

In the wake of Kilmer’s death, Cruise’s interview 2023 on Jimmy Kimmel live gets renewed attention.

During his behavior on the late evening talk show, Cruise, now 62, recalled about “Emotionally” moment of seeing Kilmer on the set of the 2022 -century Top Gun: Maverick Following his neck cancer diagnosis in 2014 and subsequent recovery. “I just want to say that it was pretty emotionally,” he shared at that time.

Cruise added, “I have known choices for decades, and for him to come back and play that character … He is such a powerful actor that he immediately became that character again.”

“You just look at Iceman,” Cruise added by Kilmer’s Cameo in Top Gun: Maverickwho sees Cruise’s character, Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who is looking for Admiral Kazansky for advice on how to handle the film’s top secret, high -risk assignment.

“I cried, I cried. I became emotional,” Cruise admitted, after Kimmel asked if he cried when he filmed the stage. “He is such a brilliant actor, I love his work.”

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In the middle of the film’s release in May 2022, Cruise opened to people About how much it “meant” to him to reunite with Kilmer for the sequel. “I’ve always admired his work, his talent,” the actor said at that time, leaving: “We meet … We just start laughing. It was special to get him back. It meant a lot to me.”

Kilmer earlier allowed In his memoir from 2020, I’m your huckleberry“I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the movie. The story wasn’t interested.” He added that he only did it because his agent “tortured me at least to meet Tony Scott and said he was one of the hottest directors in town.”

In the documentary 2021 ChoiceKilmer reflected on his first thoughts about the script and said he thought the film’s script was “stupid” and “disliked heating.” He added that he “didn’t really have any choice” about accepting the role but because he was “under contract with the studio.” Kilmer also said that there was “very little” to the character of Iceman so he invented his own back story.

“None of us knew at that time what a crazy commercial success the movie would be,” he said. “Suddenly I became a catapult in the celebrity stratosphere, and the rest of my life I would be called Iceman by every pilot at every airport I went to.”

Despite his first reservations about showing up in the film in 1986, he said he was happy to join the sequel. 2022 he told people to be back was’ as reunited with a lost friend. ”

Kilmer added, “The characters never really disappear. They live on in deep freezing. If you forgive the word game.”