Tom Cruise pays tribute to the Top Gun Val Kilmer co-star

Tom Cruise paid tribute to his co-star Top Gun Val Kilmer, who died earlier this week at the age of 65.

Appearing in Cinemacon in Las Vegas, Cruise led a crowd to the Théâtre Colisée in a moment of silence to “honor a dear friend of me, Val Kilmer”.

“I cannot tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human being and how grateful and honored when he joined Top Gun,” Cruise said about Kilmer, who played his rival Ice Man at Top Gun in 1986.

The rest of 2022 Top Gun: Maverick marked the last role of film of Kilmer. Kilmer, also known for his roles playing Batman and Jim Morrison in the doors, died Tuesday evening in Los Angeles.

In Las Vegas, Cruise fell headed in the Caverneux theater, which was filled with cinema owners and others who work in the industry.

“Thank you, Val – I wish you good luck on your next trip,” said Cruise afterwards.

Cruise spoke during the paramount presentation Pictures at Cinemacon. He also showed a mission trailer: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which should be released later this year, and honored the director of the film Christopher Mcquarrie, who was appointed director of the year of Cinemacon.

The trailer showed Cruise, which is famous for making its own waterfalls, in a series of action scenes – on fighter planes, in explosions and wings walking on a vintage plane.

While Hollywood paid tribute to Kilmer, Cruise had been one of the few stars to have waited to comment on the actor’s death publicly.

The star expressed how much he liked to work with Kilmer. He said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! That he cried for having it on the set for Top Gun: Maverick.

“I was crying, I was crying. I became emotional,” said Cruise in the program on work with Kilmer. “He is such a brilliant actor. I love his work.”

The family of Kilmer told us of the media that he had died after having succeeded in pneumonia. The actor had two tracheotomies during treatment for throat cancer.

The procedures forced him to use a vocal box to speak, and in the film 2022, he hits a screen to communicate with the character of Cruise. Towards the end of their scene together, Iceman de Kilmer gets up from his chair and roughly said to Cruise: “The navy needs Maverick”.

The two hug, then Iceman laughs at pleasure, questioning Cruise on who is the best pilot.