- Tom Cruise led CinemaCon 2025 attendees in Las Vegas in a moment of silence to remember Val Kilmer, who died at 65 on April 1.
- “I can’t tell you how much I admired his work and him as a human being,” Cruise said of Kilmer, whom he memorably costarred with in the Top Gun movies.
- Kilmer died of pneumonia on April 1
Tom Cruise is honoring his late friend and costar Val Kilmer.
Cruise, 62, appeared at CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 3, to present new material from Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, but before he began his presentation, he led the audience in a moment of silence to honor his Top Gun costar Kilmer, who died at 65 on Tuesday, April 1.
“I’d like to take a moment before we get started today to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer,” Cruise said, to applause from the audience. “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. 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. If we could just all take a moment and just think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.”
“Thank you Val,” Cruise said, after the moment of silence. “I wish you well on your next journey. Thank you all for doing that. I know he appreciates it.”
Kilmer died of pneumonia on Tuesday, April 1, as his daughter Mercedes Kilmer told The New York Times. Val was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, which he recovered from, his daughter also confirmed.
Kilmer and Cruise in ‘Top Gun’ (1986). Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
Cruise famously starred alongside Kilmer in the 1986 original Top Gun film, portraying Cruise’s character’s rival Tom “Iceman” Kazansky” at the titular fighter pilot training school. The pair reunited as their iconic characters in Kilmer’s final appearance onscreen in the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick. The movie’s producer Jerry Bruckheimer told PEOPLE in 2021 that Cruise “was the driving force” in getting Kilmer to appear in the sequel.
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Tom Cruise on April 3, 2025. Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
“He said, ‘We have to have Val, we have to have him back… ‘” Bruckheimer said at that time. “…We all wanted him, but Tom was really adamant that if he’s going to make another Top Gun, Val had to be in it.”
In February 2023, Cruise said on Jimmy Kimmel Live that filming his reunion scene with Kilmer was “pretty emotional” on set; the actor even said he cried during filming.
Kilmer died at age 65 on April 1. Rob Kim/Getty
Cruise and Kilmer remained good friends over the years offscreen. For Cruise’s 60th birthday in 2022, Kilmer posted a message to Cruise on X celebrating the milestone. “Happy Birthday Mav @TomCruise from Ice!” he wrote, referring to their Top Gun characters.
The late actor told PEOPLE in 2022 that working with Cruise again for the sequel was “like being reunited with a long lost friend.” He also said of his experience on the original film that his “main joy” was working with Cruise. Kilmer added of the pair’s relationship offscreen, “I am happy to announce we have home movies to prove how much fun we had!”
