In Top Gun: Maverick, Val Kilmer reprises his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, and while he has relatively little speech, there are both real-world and fictional reasons for this. Despite several delays, Tom Cruise’s Top Gun sequel became one of the most anticipated films of his career.
In Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise reprises his role as hotshot pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who is now charged with training TOPGUN grads for an exceptionally difficult aerial mission.
Kilmer appears as Iceman, Maverick’s former opponent turned buddy, in the film, with the two characters communicating through text message early on and Iceman announcing he has terminal throat cancer.
As Maverick begins to question his ability to prepare his crew in time for the mission, Iceman summons him to his home for a pep talk. Iceman, now a four-star Admiral, writes his response to Maverick on his computer. However, he overcomes the agony of speaking at the end of the sequence to verbally urge Maverick on his difficult endeavor.
Throat cancer is something Kilmer has also battled himself. Though the actor has succeeded in beating the condition, the effects of the disease and his numerous surgeries to combat it have unfortunately severely impacted his ability to speak. Kilmer now communicates through an artificial voice box, making his scene in the movie Top Gun: Maverick even more emotional with his being a real-life cancer survivor.
Source Credit: screenrant.com
