Although Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick are two of the most iconic movies of all time, all of their fallout hasn’t been positive. Many may not know that the filming of the first film led to a rivalry between Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. Even though their characters were at odds with each other, the actors shared quite a friendly relationship.
However, as filming went on, a drive began to happen, and all they could do was watch as their characters came in between them. During an interview, Kilmer revealed his theory for why this was happening. According to him, only his character and circumstances are to blame.
Val Kilmer Needed More From His Character
In 2021, Val Kilmer was involved in an Amazon documentary called Val, which covered all aspects of his professional and personal life. His feud with Top Gun star, Tom Cruise was also a part of this project, and he revealed why he thought they drifted apart. The actor started by talking about his character in the 1986 film.
On the page, there was very little to the character Iceman, so I tended to make him real,
It would seem that when Kilmer initially got the script, his character, Tom Kazansky, was extremely two-dimensional. His motivations were left unsaid, and all of his personality traits were left open to interpretation. Rather than letting this continue and playing the character just as he was written, Kilmer decided that he would give him depth.
I manifested a backstory for him, where he had a father who ignored him, and as a result, I was driven by a need to be perfect in every way. This obsession with perfection is what made him so arrogant.
He gave Kazansky a complex backstory that made his actions in the present make a lot more sense and turned him into an interesting personality. Although fans certainly loved this aspect of the film, it seemed to have backfired in another aspect of Kilmer’s life on that set.
Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer Got Lost in the Haze
Val Kilmer then went on to talk about his relationship with Tom Cruise in the documentary, finally revealing how he thinks it soured. After giving his character depth, he would continue to live in his shoes even after the cameras were turned off. Since Tom Kazansky has a rivalry with Pete Mitchell, tension began growing between Kilmer and Cruise.
I would purposefully play up the rivalry between Tom’s character and mine off-screen as well,
And what ended up happening is the actors in true method fashion, split into two distinct camps. You had Maverick and Goose (Anthony Edwards) on one side, and Slider (Rick Rossovich), Hollywood (Whip Hubley), Wolfman (Barry Tubb) and me, Iceman, on the other.
Both the actors got so lost in their roles that they forgot that they were portraying a work of fiction. They got so invested that other actors, like Anthony Edwards, Rick Rossovich, and Barry Tubb, also got involved in their squabble. They were two major groups made on set, and so much strain tends to turn friendship bitter.
Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick are available for streaming on Paramount+.
