Tom Cruise is reflecting on his work with late friend Val Kilmer, who he recalled being a “great actor” and “charismatic guy” on set of Top Gun
The pair worked together in the 1986 film and later reunited for its 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick
“I remember those scenes like they were yesterday, acting with him, where he did the bite thing,” Cruise told Sight and Sound magazine
Tom Cruise is looking back at the “exhilarating” experience of working with the late Val Kilmer.
Cruise, 62, reflected on his work with Kilmer for Sight and Sound magazine’s latest cover story, in which he praised Kilmer’s approach to acting in both 1986’s Top Gun and 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick. Kilmer died of pneumonia at 65 on April 1.
The action star shared that Kilmer initially wasn’t interested in the role.
“First of all, I felt so grateful that he decided to make the film,” Cruise said, per Entertainment Weekly. “We did a lot to get him in the movie. Originally, he just didn’t want to make the movie: ‘I don’t want to be a supporting, I want to star in films.’ I was calling his agent, and [director] Tony Scott was hunting him down and meeting in an elevator with Val, and he was like, ‘Please, Val, please.’ “
Kilmer, who took on the role of Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, was both a “great actor” and “charismatic guy” on set, Cruise recalled.
“What I love about what he did and how he played it [was] he just knew that tone to hit,” Cruise, who starred as Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, said. “He had to play it so you wanted these guys to be friends in the end. Do you know what I’m saying?”
“And I remember those scenes like they were yesterday, acting with him, where he did the bite thing,” he added of a scene where Kilmer gnashed his teeth at Cruise’s character.
Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise in 1986’s ‘Top Gun’
Cruise also called it “exhilarating” to be “acting with somebody and you just see they’re just on fire.”
“I love when the scene just goes to a different place. If you look at Top Gun, I think he’s in the movie maybe 10 minutes,” he said. “That’s the impact of an artist like that.”
Of course, the duo eventually reunited on the big screen in 2022 for Top Gun: Maverick, during a scene where Cruise’s character sought out Admiral Kazansky for advice on how to handle the film’s top secret, high-risk mission. As Cruise revealed, “it was like time had not passed” between the two films.
“We were laughing and it was joyous. And then we started acting and it’s just, you see it… he became Iceman,” he said. “The power that this guy has, even not saying anything, to become that character. You see how even the sniff that he gave, he was Iceman. And you saw the dynamic between these friends. It was very special, to say the least, for me personally.”
“He didn’t even have to speak,” Cruise added. “That’s what he’s able to do. Beautiful, really beautiful. A gift that he had and that he shared with all of us.”
Top Gun: Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer previously told PEOPLE in 2021 that Cruise was the “driving force” behind getting Kilmer to appear in the follow-up film, which ended up marking the beloved actor’s final movie performance. At the time, he confirmed that Cruise “was really adamant that if he’s going to make another Top Gun, Val had to be in it.”
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Days after Kilmer’s death in April, Cruise led an audience during a moment of silence for his former costar and “dear friend” at CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas.
“I can’t tell you how much I admired his work and him as a human being, how grateful and honored I was that he joined Top Gun and came back for Top Gun: Maverick. I think it would be really nice if we could just have a moment all together and just take a moment because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us with his performances with his films,” Cruise said at the time. “If we could just all take a moment and just think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.”
After the moment, Cruise wished Kilmer “well on your next journey.”
Read the original article on People
