Tom Cruise honored the memory of his late Top Gun co-star, Val Kilmer, who died on April 1 at the age of 65.
During CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 3, where Cruise was promoting the release of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, he first took a moment to remember his dear friend and paid his tributes.
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Cruise paid his tributes
He was on stage at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace where he led the audience to a moment for Kilmer before starting his promotion, saying: “I’d like to take a moment before we get started today to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer.”
He was grateful for working with him
“I can’t tell you how much I admired his work and him as a human being, how grateful and honored I was that he joined Top Gun and came back for Top Gun: Maverick,” Cruise continued.
A moment of silence
“I think it would be really nice if we could just have a moment all together and just take a moment because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us with his performances with his films,” Cruise explained.
“If we could just all take a moment and just think about all the wonderful times that we had with him,” he said, leading the audience to a moment of silence.
It left Cruise emotional
“Thank you, Val. I wish you well on your next journey. Thank you all for doing that. I know he appreciates it,” Cruise concluded.
Kilmer’s journey on Earth was a tortuous one as he died of pneumonia and was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014.
Cruise and Kilmer were close friends
Both superstars starred in the original Top Gun movie in 1986, where they were both rivals at the titular fighter pilot training school.
Decades later, Kilmer made a comeback with Cruise in what was his final appearance onscreen in the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
They had an impact on each other
The Top Gun: Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer told People in 2021 that Cruise “was the driving force” in getting Kilmer to play a part in the sequel.
“Tom was really adamant that if he’s going to make another Top Gun, Val had to be in it,” Bruckheimer continued.
And the love was mutual
The late actor told People in 2022 that getting back to work with Cruise on the movie was “like being reunited with a long lost friend.”
Additionally, when he was asked about his friendship with Cruise, he said: “I am happy to announce we have home movies to prove how much fun we had!”
