Val Kilmer and his friendship with Tom Cruise after Top Gun

“I have always seen Tom as a friend and we have always supported each other,” said Iceman’s interpreter before his death.

6ter continues its Tribute to Val Kilmerthis Sunday: the actor died at just 65 years old. Reached throat cancer for several years, he had chronicked his career, to his illness gradually preventing him from speaking, in a superb portrait, Valve. A few days after proposing Willow To viewers (to be reviewed in replay on M6+), the chain will redispuse the first Top Gunreleased in 1986 in the cinema.

Iceman and Maverick badly shot themselves in this action film by Tony Scott, quickly became cult. But if the two pilots were rival on the screen, behind the scenes, the two stars of the film, Val kilmer And Tom Cruisewere far from hate.

This is what this incredible documentary suggested in substance, shown in Cannes in May 2021 before being broadcast on Arte, just before the duo finds itself for a very moving scene of Top Gun 2.

The star of The Doors and Batman Forever then confided his experience in Top Gunrevealing personal videos he shot during production. He also told his personal memories and how he developed the character of Lieutenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky:

“On paper, in the script, there was very little about the character of Iceman. So I tried to make him true. I imagined a story for him, where he had a father who ignored him and, therefore, was motivated by the need to be perfect in every way. This obsession with perfection is what made him arrogant.”

Top Gun Maverick: Behind the scenes of the poignant scene between Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise

Val kilmer also explained that he had played “Voluntarily on the rivalry between the character of Tom and mine off screen. What then happened on the set is that the actors ended up forming two distinct camps. You had the Maverick and Goose team on one side, and Slider, Hollywood, Wolfman and I, Iceman, on the other. It was fun to play the conflict between our characters! But in reality, I never was in conflict with Tom. I have always seen him like a friend and we have always supported each other. “

Here is the trailer for Top Gun First of the name, to be reviewed this evening on television:

Tom Cruise – Top Gun (1986): “Maverick takes himself for a star”