Movie fans weren't the only ones who got emotional after seeing Tom Cruise's long-anticipated on-screen reunion with Val Kilmer in "Top Gun: Maverick." In fact, the person most affected by their scene together was Cruise himself.
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00:00Movie fans weren't the only ones who got emotional after seeing Tom Cruise's long-anticipated
00:05on-screen reunion with Val Kilmer in Top Gun Maverick.
00:08In fact, the person most affected by their scene together was Cruise himself.
00:12When Top Gun Maverick was released in 2022, it became the rare film to achieve both global
00:17blockbuster status and be a hit with critics.
00:20Tom Cruise reprised his role as Pete Maverick Mitchell in the sequel, and he wasn't the
00:24only fan favorite to return.
00:26In addition to Maverick's nonstop action, the film also resonated with audiences on
00:30an emotional level.
00:32This was largely due to Cruise's reunion with Val Kilmer, who reprised his role as Iceman.
00:37Of course, at the center of the original Top Gun was the intense rivalry between Maverick
00:41and Iceman, two expert pilots competing to be the best in their class.
00:46Iceman won the competition, and as we learn in Top Gun Maverick, went on to become a Navy
00:50admiral.
00:51Maverick, meanwhile, is handpicked by his former rival to lead a dangerous mission with
00:55a group of the Navy's best young pilots.
00:57While both Cruise and Kilmer went on to successful careers after Top Gun, Kilmer suffered a devastating
01:02setback in 2017 when it was revealed he was battling throat cancer.
01:06And while Kilmer went on to defeat the disease, his fight largely robbed him of his ability
01:10to speak.
01:11As a result, Kilmer's health issues were worked into the plot of Top Gun Maverick, as Iceman
01:15only spoke to his Maverick in whispers.
01:18Witnesses on set, including Kilmer's daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, noted how filming the scene
01:22proved to be very special to her father.
01:25Cruise also had a strong reaction to filming the scene, as he told Jimmy Kimmel.
01:28I just want to say that was pretty emotional.
01:31I've known Val for decades, and for him to come back and play that character, you're
01:35looking at Iceman.
01:37Cruise added that he could barely contain his emotions while shooting the scene.
01:40I was crying.
01:41I got emotional.
01:42But he's such a brilliant actor, and I love his work.
01:47But Kilmer's return wasn't the only triumph of Maverick.
01:50Cruise's appearances during the awards season campaign trail often became major news stories
01:54in their own right.
01:55His presence at the 2023 Academy Awards' annual Oscar luncheon drew major attention when he
02:00was filmed having a brief conversation with Steven Spielberg.
02:04During their chat, Spielberg told Cruise how Top Gun Maverick may have saved the entire
02:08film industry.
02:10And I thought it really did put us back on the map.
02:13Spielberg was talking about the fact that Top Gun Maverick amassed over $1.5 billion
02:18ticket sales worldwide, a huge sum in the still-reeling post-pandemic film world of
02:232022.
02:24Cruise didn't land a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars for his role as Maverick, but
02:28he was one of the producers nominated in the Best Picture category.
02:32Unfortunately for Top Gun fans, the film lost to Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, which
02:36took home a total of seven Oscars.