Thirtysix years later, Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer reprise their roles in the 1986 classic Top Gun.
One of the most anticipated releases of the year, Top Gun: Maverick is the sequel to one of the greatest classics of the 80’s: Top Gun (1986). 36 years later, Tom Cruise takes on the role that launched his Hollywood career, and in addition to starring, Val Kilmer is back as Tom “Iceman” Kasanzky, who was Tom “Iceman” Kasanzky’s (Cruise) main rival in the first film. .
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Val Kilmer has a small cameo in Top Gun: Maverick, but his presence caused quite a stir on set when the actor lost his voice following treatment for throat cancer. As a result, his voice had to be artificially recreated through innovative technology using audio files of Kilmer himself.
His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, told the New York Post that she saw her father film her role in the production. “I was on set, I saw it live and it was extraordinary,” he recalls. “It means a lot to my father as he is very proud of this film. He likes to do that. It was weird and really special for my dad to be on set with all his friends who made this movie when they were my age.”
“They were able to dub it with their own voice, which is amazing,” Mercedes said. “It’s such a feat of engineering to be able to project his voice in this way, which is an extension of the film’s feat of engineering,” Mercedes explains of the Maverick production team and AI company Sonantic, which recreated Val Kilmer’s voice through artificial intelligence have so that he can act again.
Val Kilmer revealed his battle with cancer in 2017 while undergoing treatments including chemotherapy, radiation and tracheotomy. “I am cured of cancer and there has never been a relapse. I’m so grateful,” the actor wrote in his memoir, I’m Your Huckeberry. Her career and personal life, like her battle with cancer, were recently covered in the documentary Val (2021).
Tom Cruise requested Val Kilmer’s presence in Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun stars Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), a young pilot who enters Air Academy to become a fighter pilot. In the end, he gets involved with Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) and has to face a rival of his opponent in Tom “Iceman” Kasanzky (Val Kilmer).
Val Kilmer learned about the production of Top Gun: Maverick while recovering from cancer, but was later invited to direct the sequel, with Tom Cruise making Kilmer’s presence a condition of filming, producer Jerry confirmed. Bruckheimer to THR.
“Volume [Cruise] said, “I’m not going to do this movie without Val. So he had some ideas about what he wanted and what he wanted to do with it, and we loved it. When we filmed it, it was a very emotional day to have Val there and to see him work with Tom after 35 years. These two brilliant actors did it and it was truly a once in a lifetime experience to have these two gentlemen back in front of the camera.”
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In Top Gun: Maverick we follow Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a vintage Navy pilot who collects decorations, but his career hasn’t really taken off in the decades since the first film. He went from captain to instructor, remaining the same rebel pilot as ever, pushing boundaries and defying death. In this new adventure, Maverick must prove that the human factor is still fundamental in the modern world of technological warfare.
Top Gun: Maverick opens in Brazilian cinemas on May 26th.