For a long time, it was uncertain whether Val Kilmer would be back for Top Gun: Maverick, but as revealed in the recent trailer and confirmed in interview with the director and main star of the movie Tom Cruise, Kilmer will reprise his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the summer blockbuster. In a new interview, Kilmer himself has discussed what it was like coming back to the role after so long, and now it felt like being reacquainted with a good friend.
Top Gun: Maverick is a very belated sequel to the iconic 80s movie Top Gun, and seems to have been heading to cinemas forever thanks to constant delays due to the Covid pandemic. While the movie does see the return of Tom Cruise and Kilmer in their original roles, the cast is mostly made up of new characters and is all about the next chapter of the franchise rather than revisiting what has gone before. The storyline sees Pete “Maverick” Mitchell being recruited to train a group of special pilots to prepare them for a mission. While Maverick’s reputation precedes him, and he is clearly not a favorite of anyone he works with, his appointment to the role seems to all be down to Kilmer’s Kazansky.
While speaking to People, Val Kilmer spoke emotionally about being back in the franchise again and how much of a joy it was to come back to the character. Considering Kilmer’s reluctance to play the role in the original movie, the impact of the film on him is clear by the fact that he lobbied for the return of Iceman in the sequel – the only original character to appear along with Cruise’s Maverick. He compared the experience to “being reunited with a long lost friend” and commented that “the characters never really go away. They live on in deep freeze. If you’ll pardon the pun.”
Val Kilmer Says The Cast Camaraderie Made Top Gun Special.
While Val Kilmer did not give anything away about how his character appears in Top Gun: Maverick, he did reminisce about what he remembered most about working on the original Top Gun and how there was a lot of fun had during filming. He said:
“My main joy was the camaraderie of the cast, [producers] Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, along with the incredible, unflappable enthusiasm of Tony Scott and Tom Cruise. My crew was Rick Rossovich [who played “Slider”], the funniest strong man in show business back then, and Barry Tubb [“Wolfman”]… Oh, we all laughed till we fell down the hot, spiked crabgrass at the Holiday Inn in San Diego.”
So far, early reviews of Top Gun: Maverick have been mostly positive, with some even calling the movie better than its predecessor. With Tom Cruise being one of the most dedicated actors in the business when it comes to performing his own stunts, the action side of the movie was always expected to deliver all the aerial action that fans expect, but it seems that the storyline is every bit as engaging and brings an emotional narrative that wasn’t really expected.
Top Gun: Maverick zooms into theaters on May 27.