Top Gun: Maverick Star Gets Emotional About Their Return
One of the returning stars of Top Gun got emotional about reprising the role in Top Gun: Maverick, and we can hardly blame them.
Top Gun: Maverick is fast approaching, set to fly through US theatres on May 27. The long-awaited macho-movie sequel sees the return of Tom Cruise’s titular fighter-pilot hero Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell. Also returning for the sequel is Val Kilmer’s ‘Iceman’ and Kilmer has spoken of the emotion surrounding his return, as reported by ET Canada via People.
Just two months ago, fans caught a glimpse of Val Kilmer’s ‘Iceman’ in his current guise, via a snapshot of a photo in one of the Top Gun: Maverick theatrical trailers. ‘Iceman’ and ‘Maverick’ came to blows throughout the run time of the original Top Gun, egotistically competing to be the best before the film’s climax saw the pair reconcile and move forward as friends. ET Canada cites an interview of Val Kilmer where the veteran actor is speaking to People about his return to the role after several decades, saying it was; “like being reunited with a long lost friend. “The characters never really go away. They live on in deep freeze. If you’ll pardon the pun.”
Val Kilmer’s fondness for one of his most famous roles harks back to his memories of the original Top Gun film shoot, which he also speaks of in the interview with People; “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.” With Cruise, Kilmer is one-half of the only returning cast members from Tony Scott’s groundbreaking Top Gun, and Crusie couldn’t be happier to have Val Kilmer back on board; “I’ve always admired his work, his talent. “We get together. . . we just start laughing. It was special to have him back. It meant a lot to me.”
Undoubtedly, Val Kilmer’s return for Top Gun: Maverick means just as much to him as it does for Tom Cruise. Covered in both I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir (written by Kilmer himself) and his self-shot documentary Val, the Batman Forever star covers his recent battles with throat cancer. Top Gun: Maverick will surely have been the icing on top of the cake for Kilmer following his success in overcoming the difficult illness and fans will rejoice to see ‘Iceman’ back on the big screen. Fans have been made to wait some time as well, following a series of delays in the film’s release due to the difficulty of the covid pandemic and its effects on the cinema industry. Top Gun: Maverick has suffered five delays from its originally slated release of July 2019. From here the release was pushed back to June 24, 2020, then December 23 of the same year. Again the film was pushed back from this winter release at the end of 2020 to a summer release in 2021, which then turned to a thanksgiving release, before its final delayed release to the now confirmed date of May 27.
If Indiewire’s review of Top Gun: Maverick is anything to go by, then the film, for both Val Kilmer and cinemagoers will be more than worth the wait. It would appear that in the several decades since ‘Maverick’ and ‘Iceman’ soared across cinema screens, the excitement and thrills haven’t waned and fans should be in for an amazing treat come May 27. If this truly turns out to be the case, it will be yet another success for Tom Cruise, whose star never seems to falter. However, for Val Kilmer, it will represent a fantastic end to what has been a long and arduous journey through personal illness in recent years.
