The late Val Kilmer was once asked how homoerotic the original Top Gun film was, and had the best possible answer.
Kilmer, who passed away on 1 April in Los Angeles, California, will forever be best remembered for his role as Iceman opposite Tom Cruise in the original Top Gun film in 1986, and a brief return for his last onscreen role in sequel Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.
The sequel follows in the footsteps of its predecessor by including high-octane aerial dogfights, Cruise as a hotheaded maverick (!) and some really very homoerotic scenes involving the buff, shirtless graduates of the U.S. Navy’s Top Gun programme.
Though the latter ran by getting Glenn Powell and Miles Teller topless and sweaty on the beach, the former walked with a similarly topless and sweaty volleyball scene featuring Cruise, Kilmer, Rick Rossovich and Anthony Edwards that’s still ingrained into the minds of homosexuals everywhere.
Speaking to Elle Magazine in 2006, 20 years after the release of Top Gun, Kilmer was asked, “Having Played Iceman in Top Gun, please rank its homoerotic content from 1 to 10, 1 being not gay at all, and 10 being Liberace in an F-16?”
Without missing a beat, Kilmer replied, “11.” And there you have it folks, from the top gun himself.
Kilmer died aged 65 on Tuesday, having suffered from pneumonia, his daughter Mercedes told US media. She shared that her father had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.
The movie star also portrayed Batman in Batman Forever (1995) and Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991) – and dated Cher, who has remembered her “funny, crazy, pain in the a**,” ex-boyfriend as “brilliant” and “brave” following his passing.
Kilmer is survived by Mercedes, whom he shared with ex-wife Joanne Whalley. The pair also had a son named Jack.
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