Did you know that Val Kilmer's 2017 throat cancer diagnosis largely robbed the actor of his ability
to speak? So, given his physical limitations, did Kilmer enjoy reprising his role as "Iceman" in
Top Gun: Maverick? Here's how Kilmer really feels about his role in Top Gun: Maverick.
After its release was delayed two years due to the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic,
fans are finally feeling the need for speed again with the release of Top Gun: Maverick.
The long-awaited sequel, naturally, finds Tom Cruise reprising his role as ace fighter pilot
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, but he's not the only star from the 1986 original Top Gun to return for
the sequel. Venerable actor Val Kilmer, despite a harrowing battle with throat cancer in recent
years, is back and reprising his iconic role of Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in Top Gun: Maverick.
"I don't like you because you're dangerous." "That's right, Iceman. I am dangerous."
Maverick and Iceman, of course, were rivals for much of Top Gun, but ultimately reconciled their
differences in the midst of a deadly dogfight with the enemy in the final act of the film.
New in theaters, Top Gun: Maverick reveals that Maverick and Iceman's friendship
endured in the decades since the events of Top Gun, which is why Ice, now an admiral,
calls on his old buddy and colleague to return to the Top Gun program to prepare its top 10 fighter
pilots for a crucial mission. But while a reunion of Cruise and Kilmer in Top Gun:
Maverick seemed like a no-brainer and an easy task for Cruise and his collaborators, getting
Kilmer to reprise Iceman was tricky due to the actor's real-life health battles in recent years.
In 2017, Val Kilmer revealed that he was diagnosed with throat cancer,
which largely robbed him of his ability to speak.
The actor, whose impressive list of credits includes such movie classics as Tombstone
and Heat, went very public with the lasting effects of his cancer fight in the 2021 Amazon
Prime documentary Val. During the documentary, Kilmer demonstrates how he can only speak by
plugging a hole in a tube in his esophagus, which gives off a low and gravelly tone.
Despite Kilmer's health issues, the U.K.'s Express Online reported that Cruise did not
want to make Top Gun: Maverick without Kilmer's participation. Cruise revealed:
"I really rallied hard for him to be in the movie because he's such a tremendous actor,
and [I wanted] to have him play that character."
According to the publication, Kilmer's son, Jack — who sounds
remarkably like his father as he narrates Val — lent his voice to Top Gun: Maverick,
and the production used new technology to combine their performances. The startling
result is shown in an emotional reunion scene between Maverick and Iceman. Cruise told Express:
"You see that scene and it's very special. It's just very special. He's beautiful."
In addition to his assistance with their father's work on the documentary, Val, Jack Kilmer, along
with his sister, Mercedes Kilmer, were both on set in San Diego when Val Kilmer filmed his reunion
scene with Cruise. In the scene between Kilmer and Cruise, Iceman — suffering from an illness implied
to be cancer — first communicates with Maverick by typing words that appear on a computer screen.
Ice eventually speaks to his dear friend, but his voice is clearly affected by the illness.
Kilmer's appearance in Top Gun: Maverick is a validation of sorts of what he described in
his documentary. Yes, there was a rivalry between Maverick and Iceman in the film,
but that's where the rivalry stayed. Off-screen,
the relationship between Kilmer and Cruise was much friendlier. Kilmer noted in Val:
"It was fun to play up the conflict between our characters, but in reality,
I've always thought of Tom as a friend and we've always supported each other."
In a video released by the tech company Sonantic in August 2021,
the company revealed that they culled together old recordings of Kilmer to
create a computer-generated version of his voice to remarkable effect.
"A phrase we often hear is, having a creative voice."
Kilmer was so impressed by what Sonantic produced that he issued a statement, saying,
"[Sonantic] masterfully restored my voice in a way I've never imagined possible."
Whether Kilmer will appear in future projects with the aid of voice technology is yet to be seen.
In the meantime, Yahoo! Entertainment reported that the actor will "very much
have a presence" in the upcoming Willow series on Disney+, which is based on the original 1988
film starring Kilmer and Warwick Davis. Series executive producer Jonathan Kasdan told Yahoo!:
"Val's a huge part of this, and the first conversation I had, when Warwick and I got
the greenlight to do this, was with Val. We wanted his character to be a part of the story. We wanted
him to be in the show. [...] And we're pretty excited about it ... Madmartigan lives on."
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