Cruise, 62, reflected on his work with Kilmer for Sight and Sound magazine's latest cover story, in which he praised Kilmer's approach to acting in both 1986's Top Gun and 2022's Top Gun: Maverick. Kilmer died of pneumonia at 65 on April 1. The action star shared that Kilmer initially wasn't interested in the role.

The actor says "it was like time had not passed" when he and his late costar reunited for a pivotal scene in 2022's "Top Gun: Maverick."

In the final years of his life, Val Kilmer spoke fairly bluntly about how he didn’t want to make one of his most famous movies: Top Gun. “I thought the script was silly, and I disliked warmongering in films,