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We weren’t the only ones getting misty-eyed watching Top Gun: Maverick. Tom Cruise was right there sobbing with the rest of us. The high-flying sequel to Top Gun (1986) brought back Val Kilmer’s Iceman, but this wasn’t just a nostalgia play. The emotional weight of the scene had Cruise fighting back real tears.
Kilmer, who battled throat cancer in real life, returned to play an ailing Iceman, giving Maverick one last piece of advice. When asked about filming the scene, Cruise didn’t hold back. “I was crying. I got emotional,” he admitted during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I’ve known Val for decades, and for him to come back and play that character — he’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You’re looking at Iceman.”
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But here’s the kicker: Val Kilmer had to chase the role himself. In his memoir, the Batman Forever star revealed that he wasn’t exactly on the producers’ speed dial. “Tom was Maverick, but Maverick’s nemesis was Iceman. The two went together like salt and pepper,” wrote Kilmer (via Metro). “It didn’t matter that the producers didn’t contact me. As The Temptations sang in the heyday of Motown soul, ‘Ain’t too proud to beg.'”
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Ever the perfectionist, Tom Cruise reportedly fought hard to get Val Kilmer back. Their rivalry-turned-bromance was central to Top Gun, and Cruise wouldn’t let Maverick take off without his old wingman. The result? It’s a gut punch of a scene. Iceman, no longer the cocky hotshot, faces his most brutal battle yet, and Maverick’s forced to confront a past that won’t let go.
For a film packed with supersonic stunts and dogfights, this quiet moment hit the hardest. Even Jimmy Kimmel confessed to tearing up while watching. Kilmer, ever the fighter, embraced his real-life struggle in the role. And Cruise wasn’t acting when the emotions took over. The tears were real, the moment was raw, and Top Gun: Maverick proved that some legends never fade. They just fly higher.
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