Chung Sung-Jun/Getty; Stephen Vaughan/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Maverick and Iceman may have had a rocky relationship, but that didn't stopTom Cruisefrom being awestruck byVal Kilmer. Cruise recently opened up about sharing the screen with Kilmer in the 1986 action movie and its 2022 sequel,Top Gun: Maverick, heaping praise on his powerful performance as Cruise's onscreen rival. "First of all, I felt so grateful that he decided to make the film," Cruise began, tellingSight and Soundmagazine in a new cover story that Kilmer needed some convincing. "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 eventually came around, signing on to play villain-turned-hero Lt. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, who ultimately became a wingman for Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise) after the tragic death of his best friend, Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). While Kilmer did not have the lead role, Cruise argued that he made the most of his scenes, proving what a "great actor" and "charismatic guy" he was. Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty "What I love about what he did and how he played it [was] he just knew that tone to hit," Cruise said in the interview, pointing to the original movie's infamous locker room scene, in which Iceman gnashes his teeth at Maverick. "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 continued, "When you're acting with somebody and you just see they're just on fire, it's exhilarating. I love when the scene just goes to a different place. If you look atTop Gun, I think he's in the movie maybe 10 minutes. That's the impact of an artist like that." Cruise added that Kilmer brought that same level of charisma to set nearly four decades later, when the costars reunited for the film's sequel. "It was amazing being on set forTop Gun: Maverickbecause it was like time had not passed," Cruise said of his relationship with Kilmer. "We were laughing and it was joyous. And then we started acting and it's just, you see it… he became Iceman." "The power that this guy has, even not saying anything, to become that character," Cruise said. "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." In apivotal scene in the sequel, Maverick turned to Iceman for advice, revealing that his old competitor and frenemy has since become a dear friend and risen through the ranks to become Admiral Kazansky, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The conversation between them marks an emotional turning point — though Iceman delivers just a single line of dialogue due to an illness that eventually takes his life (Kilmer himselfhad trouble speakingafter his battle with throat cancer). Paramount Pictures "He didn't even have to speak," Cruise recalled. "That's what he's able to do. Beautiful, really beautiful. A gift that he had and that he shared with all of us." Kilmer diedat 65on April 1. Days later, Cruise paid tribute to his late costarwith an emotional moment of silenceatCinemaConin Las Vegas. "I'd like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer," Cruise told the crowd at the start of hisMission: Impossible — The Final Reckoningpresentation on April 3. "I really can't tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human, and how grateful and honored I was when he joined [the] firstTop Gunand came back forTop Gun: Maverick. He gave a lot to all of us with his performances." Want more movie news? Sign up forEntertainment Weekly's free newsletterto get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Top Gun: Maverickwould be Kilmer's final onscreen appearance. He spoke highly of acting alongside Cruise while unpacking their powerful scene withEntertainment Weekly. "Coming back to work with Tom more than 30 years later, it was like no time had passed at all," Kilmer told EW at the time of the movie's release. "Being next to him instantly makes you better. That said, we blew a lot of takes laughing so much. It was really fun — really special." Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
