Maverick and Iceman are back! The two classic Top Gun characters will be crossing paths once again in Top Gun: Maverick. Tom Cruise, 57, and Val Kilmer, 60, are both reprising their roles in the sequel and Val opened up about how he felt bringing Tom “Iceman” Kazansky back to the big screen. “It was absolutely moving,” Val said on the April 21 edition of GMA while promoting his new memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry. “I really was surprised. And Tom was wearing his jacket, his original jacket from the first movie, it was just very moving.”
It’s been over 30 years since the release of the 1986 blockbuster. Tom and Val were just on the cusp of their incredible careers. Plot details about Top Gun: Maverick are been kept very under wraps, especially when it comes to how Iceman will come back into the picture. However, Val was able to share a special moment behind-the-scenes. “And I don’t want to give away anything, but in between takes, Tom and I just laughed like we were in high school.”
The sequel was initially supposed to be released in June 2020 but was pushed to Dec. 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to Maverick and Iceman, there’s another character who has a tie to the original film. Miles Teller plays Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards).
Actor Val Kilmer opens up about his battle with cancer and past relationships in new memoir. @ChrisConnelly has the story. https://t.co/8jVW3sLFzp pic.twitter.com/PzmE12EWFo
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 21, 2020
Val also opened up in his GMA interview about how his ongoing battle with throat cancer. “I feel a lot better than I sound, but I feel wonderful,” Val said. The actor discussed his tracheotomy that he got to help him breathe because the glands in his throat swelled up. The tracheotomy has altered the way he speaks and he talked about what he missed about his old voice. “That I had one! And that I didn’t laugh like a pirate,” Val said.