The late, great Val Kilmer was known for disappearing into his roles — but that doesn’t mean he took himself too seriously.
Though my favorite Kilmer role will probably always be as Doc Holliday in Tombstone, the masses will likely best remember him as “Iceman” in Top Gun. (Shoutout here to his embodiment of Jim Morrison in 1991’s The Doors, as well as a turn as the Caped Crusader in 1995’s Batman Forever.) No judgment here: Kilmer was killer in Top Gun, and then he broke our hearts in the best way possible with a surprise return for Top Gun: Maverick.
By the time the sequel was filmed and finally came out — there were COVID delays as Tom Cruise (rightly) insisted on a theatrical release — Kilmer was quite deep into his battle with throat cancer. Reprising the role of the cocky Naval aviator required the bravery of a real fighter pilot. I was there when Top Gun: Maverick was first publicly screened at CinemaCon 2022, and when Maverick (Cruise) finally visited Ice at his home, the Colosseum Theater at Caesars Palace got awfully misty.
Top Gun: Maverick was not just a box-office smash, it was credited with saving the theatrical experience at a time when streaming and day-and-date releases were all the rage. Kilmer’s return was crucial to the success.
And the 1986 original film and its 2022 sequel were not the only times Kilmer played the role. When Kilmer hosted Saturday Night Live on Dec. 9, 2020, he gamely put on the Iceman shades — two pairs for comedic effect, to be precise — once more. For SNL, Kilmer played the character about 15 years removed from the Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) program, colloquially known as Top Gun. Middle-age Iceman was a 727 commercial-airliner captain, still as overly confident as ever. And boy did he get on the nerves of his flight crew.
Kilmer found Chris Parnell, Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer to be “dangerous” in the skit, much like he did Mav in the Paramount classic. Captain Tom “Iceman” Kazansky was sure to repeatedly tell his co-pilot, navigator and flight attendant his feelings about them. They grew increasingly annoyed at both the sentiment and his stories, like the one in which Captain Kazansky said he recently got the 727 up to Mach 3. Parnell immediately called BS; Kilmer altered his tall tale.
“I was shaving with a Mach 3 and when you’re shaving with a Mach 3 there’s no time to think — you think, you’re dead,” Kilmer responded.
Iceman was sort of humbled, but really not — just like in the movie.
Following some stock-footage scenes of commercial airplanes and airports (with an emphasis on baggage carousels) laid under Kenny Loggins’ iconic “Danger Zone,” Kilmer spots a “bogey” out his window. Parnell reminds him that they’re just taxiing, and that the perceived enemy is actually “the 9:35 out of Tampa.”
Still, Iceman’s downward spiral continues to the point where he declares that the airliner is “in a 4G negative dive,” a maneuver straight out of the film (and one that is not actually physically possible in a fighter jet, let alone a passenger airplane).
“It’s too close to missiles, gonna switch to guns,” the callbacks continue.
“What Captain Kazanski means to say is that our in-flight movie today is Duets starring Huey Lewis,” Parnell reassures passengers.
By the time they land in Flagstaff, Ferrell and Parnell have had their fill of Iceman, though the feeling is not totally mutual. “Hey, why don’t we go to the hotel room and shower and dry off and play some volleyball?” Kilmer asks his wingmen.
It’s a pass from them, so we get no “Playing with the Boys” (also a Loggins anthem from Top Gun) scene.
Kilmer died on Tuesday. He was 65.
Watch the sketch, below.
