Val Kilmer Speaks out About Filming 'Top Gun: Maverick' Scene With Tom Cruise

Val Kilmer's return to the screen in Top Gun: Maverick was a pleasant surprise for fans of the original film. It was also a bit of a technological marvel given Kilmer's struggles with cancer in recent years. Still, he returned and audiences loved seeing him reunite with Tom Cruise on the biggest screen possible.

Despite needing an AI process to create a voice for Kilmer, the moment on screen had a similar joyous feel while filming the scene. Kilmer spoke with Entertainment Weekly recently, with the interview landing on June 9, and revealed that filming with Cruise was like picking up with an old friend immediately on sight.

"It was like no time had passed at all," Kilmer told the outlet. "We blew a lot of takes laughing so much," he said. "It was really fun ... special." The 62-year-old also added that he didn't need much coaxing to join the sequel after Cruise phoned him before the sequel was confirmed. "Tom called me. I said yes immediately."

Kilmer also looked back on the original film and how the cast lived it up when the cameras weren't rolling. "We were all so young during the making of the first movie, but even then there was a special bond between us all," Kilmer continued. "Even after shooting we would laugh and dance the night away!"

Director Joseph Kosinski agreed that Kilmer needed to return as Iceman, meeting with the actor after he accepted to figure out the method for his addition to the story. The film has Kilmer suffering from throat cancer, mirroring his real-life struggles that affected his voice and weakened his ability to speak.

"Obviously [we] spent a lot of time on that scene, writing it, getting ready," Kosinski told EW. "I wasn't sure how it was going to work. ... It's a really beautiful scene. We shot it in Los Angeles in a really beautiful house up on a park. Very special to see not only Val and Tom, but Maverick and Iceman back on the screen together."

Interestingly enough, Kilmer initially didn't want to be part of Top Gun. As he revealed in his 2020 memoir, Kilmer turned down the part in the 1986 film and required the influence of director Tony Scott to bring him around. Considering the praise the sequel has received and the lasting legacy of the original film, changing his mind was the right decision.