Tom Cruise Was 'Adamant' That Val Kilmer Return for 'Top Gun: Maverick'

Tom Cruise had a big hand in Val Kilmer‘s reprising his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky for Top Gun: Maverick.

The film’s producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently spoke with People magazine and revealed that the actor fought to include Val in the sequel.

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“[Tom Cruise] said, ‘We have to have Val, we have to have him back. We have to have him in the film,’” Jerry said. “And he was the driving force. We all wanted him, but Tom was really adamant that if he’s going to make another Top Gun, Val had to be in it.”

Val took a brief hiatus from acting after he lost the ability to speak in 2014 due to throat cancer treatment.

Jerry went on to say of the Batman star, “He’s such a fine actor, and he’s such a good individual. We had such a good time on the first one and wanted to bring some of the gang back together again… It was a really emotional experience for all of us. It was a long time getting there, but we did.”

“They honor the legacy of Iceman, and he was so stoked by it,” Val’s son Jack Kilmer told the outlet. He visited his father on the set of the new film alongside his sister, Mercedes.

Jack added that they met many real pilots on set who credited the first Top Gun as their inspiration for becoming pilots.

“They were coming up to us and telling us that the first Top Gun inspired them to join the Navy and the Air Force,” he said. “Then we had these big F-bomb planes flying overhead. It was like one of the proudest moments of being American that you could think of really.”

Top Gun: Maverick is set to premiere in theaters on November 19 and will be available to stream on Paramount+ 45 days after it opens in theaters.

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