When Tom Cruise cried after reuniting with Val Kilmer for 'Top Gun: Maverick'

Veteran actor Val Kilmer, known for his roles in movies like Top Gun and Batman Forever, died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025. In February 2023, Tom Cruise appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and spoke of his touching reunion with Kilmer while shooting for Top Gun: Maverick.

Cruise and Kilmer, who played Pete "Maverick" Mitchell and Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, respectively, in the original Top Gun, reprised their roles in the 2022 sequel.

During his interview with Kimmel, the Mission Impossible actor said his scene with Kilmer was "pretty emotional," adding that he cried during the shooting.

“I just want to say that was pretty emotional. I’ve known Val for decades. For him to come back and play that character… he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You’re looking at Iceman. I was crying, I was crying. I got emotional. He’s such a brilliant actor, I love his work.”

Val Kilmer's last on-screen acting role was in Top Gun: Maverick. In 2014, the Batman actor was diagnosed with throat cancer. His voice was impacted after he underwent tracheotomy surgery.

The sequel threaded his real-life diagnosis into the script, with Iceman facing speech difficulties due to throat cancer.

In the film, Iceman mostly communicated with Maverick by typing on a computer. However, Kilmer voices one part of the dialogue.

Director Joseph Kosinski said they used Kilmer's voice for the shot and digitally altered it in post-production for better clarity during a 2022 USA Today interview.

"The Navy needs Maverick. The kid needs Maverick. That's why I fought for you. That's why you're still here... One last thing, who's the better pilot, you or me?" Iceman says to Maverick in the film.

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"I didn’t really have a choice" — Val Kilmer did not want to act in Top Gun initially

Val Kilmer reportedly did not want to act in Top Gun initially. In his 2021 documentary, Val, he claimed he had no choice because of his contract with the studio.

The actor also said he did not like the script, nor was he a fan of "warmongering" movies, adding:

“Believe it or not, I didn’t want to do Top Gun at first. I thought the script was silly, and I disliked warmongering in films. But I was under contract with the studio, so I didn’t really have a choice."

In the documentary, the actor also revealed that he would "purposely play up the rivalry" between Cruise's character and his by staying in character off-screen during interviews for the film's promotion.

“I would purposely play up the rivalry between Tom’s character and mine off screen as well. And what ended up happening is the actors, in true Method fashion, split into two distinct camps. You had Maverick and Goose on one side, Slider, Hollywood, Wolfman and me, Iceman, on the other,” he said.

Tony Scott directed Top Gun (1986). Along with Tom Cruise, the movie starred Val Kilmer and Kelly McGillis. Top Gun follows Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (a fighter pilot played by Cruise) after he joins the Top Gun Naval Fighter Weapons School.

Kilmer portrays Iceman, Maverick's rival at the naval school.

Joseph Kosinski directed the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick, where Maverick is in charge of training graduates for a special assignment while also facing his past.

The movie also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly and Glen Powell.

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Val Kilmer died in his Los Angeles home on April 1, 2025. His daughter, Mercedes, revealed his passing via an email to the Associated Press. Kilmer was 65 at the time of his death.