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

Tom Cruise has led a tribute to his 'dear friend' and Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer. Photo / Supplied

• Tom Cruise has led a tribute to Val Kilmer, honouring their friendship and work together on Top Gun.
• Cruise described Kilmer, who died aged 65 from pneumonia after battling throat cancer, as a ‘dear friend’.
• Cruise and Kilmer had one of Hollywood’s most memorable rivalries as Maverick and Iceman but also shared a moving scene in the 2022 Top Gun sequel.

Tom Cruise has paid tribute to his Top Gun co-star and “dear friend” Val Kilmer, leading a minute’s silence for the actor and saying how honoured he was to work with him.

Cruise and Kilmer teamed up for one of Hollywood’s most memorable rivalries when they starred as Maverick and Iceman in 1986.

Kilmer died this week aged 65 from pneumonia after battling throat cancer in recent years .

Appearing at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Friday morning to promote his new Mission Impossible film, Cruise told the audience he was grateful for his friendship with Kilmer.

“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.