“I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer for a moment,” Cruise said
“I really can’t tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human being, and how grateful and honoured I was when he joined ‘Top Gun’ and then came back for ‘Top Gun: Maverick.”
Cruise then asked audience members to “take a moment and just think about all the wonderful times that we had” while watching Kilmer in movies.
“I wish you well on your next journey,” Cruise said in tribute to Kilmer.
Top Gun was Kilmer’s breakout role where he starred as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, a square jawed and cocky fighter pilot that clashed with Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959 in Los Angeles and had a career spanning more than four decades, starring as Batman in _Batman Forever_, Jim Morrison in _The Doors_ and roles in _Heat_ and _Tombstone._
Val Kilmer (L) and his son Jack Kilmer at a 2014 NBA game in Los Angeles. Photo / Noel Vasquez/GC Images
He also reprised his role as Iceman in the 2022 sequel _Top Gun: Maverick._
Kilmer drew on his real life battle with cancer and infused it into his role in the Top Gun sequel, including in a moving scene where Iceman struggles to talk and instead communicates with Maverick by typing on a screen.
Kilmer and Cruise both found the scene moving and emotional, with Cruise telling Jimmy Kimmel in 2022 that he was crying as a result of the scene.
Cruise was at CinemaCon to show a new trailer for “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” out May 23.