Val Kilmer Meets with Top Gun Fans at Special Screening in Austin, Texas
Val Kilmer stepped out for a screening of his 1986 iconic film Top Gun in Austin, Texas over the weekend.
The actor, who will star in the anticipated sequel Top Gun: Maverick opposite Tom Cruise, appeared to be in good spirits at the event, meeting with fans and posing for photos. Kilmer, 59, wore a pale pink shirt for the outdoor screening, which was hosted by the Austin Food and Wine Alliance and Rolling Roadshow.
In July, Kilmer stepped out for the NOVUS Summit SDG Moonshots at United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
The actor was on hand to deliver a speech before being honored for his work with the TwainMania Foundation, created to educated children on author Mark Twain’s legacy.
His outing came days after his costar Tom Cruise took fans by surprise when he stopped by the San Diego Comic-Con and debuted the first trailer to the highly-anticipated Top Gun: Maverick. Both actors are reprising their iconic characters in the sequel to Tony Scott’s film.
“You’ve all asked for many, many years asking, ‘Why don’t you do another one? When are you going to do another one?’ In 34 years you guys have been very, very patient with me,” Cruise told the excited crowd.
RELATED: Tom Cruise Surprises Fans at Comic-Con and Debuts the First Trailer for Top Gun: Maverick
“I felt it was my responsibility to finally really deliver for you. I have a little piece here if you want to see it. This is our very first trailer. You are the first people in the world to see it. And everything you see in this film is for real,” Cruise added. “For me, Top Gun is about competition, it is about family, sacrifice, heroism, aviation. It’s a love letter to aviation.”
Top Gun: Maverick takes place decades after the original film and features Cruise’s return as Maverick with Miles Teller playing Bradley Bradshaw, the son of Anthony Edwards’s pilot Goose.
Kilmer’s comeback role in the film comes after what has been a mysterious Hollywood hiatus for the actor. After years of rumored health problems, he finally opened up about his battle with throat cancer during a December 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
His health issues first became apparent in January 2015, when a spokesperson told PEOPLE that he was rushed to the hospital “for a possible tumor.” Soon after, he took to Facebook to deny having a tumor, saying only that he “had a complication.”
Further rumors were repeatedly shut down by Kilmer, who was spotted out with a tracheostomy tube in October 2015 and then without it the next February.
RELATED: Inside Val Kilmer’s Life After 2-Year Cancer Battle: Touring a One-Man Show and Making Top Gun 2
Kilmer opened up about his cancer recovery to The Hollywood Reporter in an interview alongside his children with his ex-wife Joanne Whalley: Mercedes and Jack.
The article revealed that the actor’s two-year fight with throat cancer had “taken its toll” on the family and noted that Kilmer had undergone a procedure on his trachea which made his voice raspy and left him short of breath.
Top Gun: Maverick is set for a June 26, 2020 release.
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