The Co-Star of Tom Cruise Honors “ Top Gun ” Val Kilmer in Cinemacon

Tom Cruise paid tribute to his co-star of “Top Gun” Val Kilmer, who died on Tuesday at the age of 65.

Cruise attended Cinemacon, the annual cinema owners which currently takes place in Las Vegas, to exhaust the release of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”, which opens in cinemas during the summer. But before you start telling the crazy waterfalls he knows for having undertaken under the name of Ethan Hunt Globe-Trotting, Cruise asked the exhibitors’ crowd to join him in a moment of silence to kilmer.

“I would like to honor a dear friend, Val Kilmer,” said Cruise from the Caesars Palace scene. “I cannot tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honored when he joined” Top Gun “and returned later for” Top Gun: Maverick “. I think it would be really good if we could have a moment together because he loved the films and he gave us a lot.

Cruise concluded the touching moment saying: “I wish you good luck on the next trip.”

Cruise and Kilmer met on the set of “Top Gun” of 1986, in which they played pilots of rival hunters Maverick and Iceman, who ultimately became friends at the US Navy’s Fighter Arme School. “Top Gun” has become a huge commercial success with 350 million dollars worldwide (this year’s most profitable film) and has propelled full -fledged cinema stars and Kilmer.

They met almost four decades later for the “Top Gun: Maverick” of 2022, in which Kilmer returned as Iceman for an emotional sequence which ended up being the last appearance on the actor’s screen. Kilmer received a diagnosis of throat cancer in 2015 and lost most of his ability to speak, so his voice was recreated in the film using AI. In the following, Cruise’s Maverick entrusted to Iceman, who fights against a terminal phase disease, on the opportunity to send his Protegé Rooster (Miles Teller) to a potentially fatal mission.

“It’s time to let go”, is type Iceman on his computer who then pronounces the words: “The navy needs Maverick. The kid needs Maverick. That’s why I fought for you. That’s why you are still there.”

As Cinemacon participants know this, “Top Gun: Maverick” has become a successful success even greater than the original with $ 1.4 billion worldwide and six Oscar nominations. A third “Top Gun” is in preparation.

After the beginnings of the second film, Cruise recalled the challenge of retaining tears while pulling the sequence affecting with Kilmer.

“I just want to say that it was quite emotional. I have known Val for decades,” Cruise said years ago at Onjimmy Kimmel Live. “” To come back and play this character … he is such a powerful actor that he instantly became This character again. You look at Iceman.