Mumbai, May 11 (IANS): Hollywood star Tom Cruise says he "really rallied hard" for actor Val Kilmer to appear in 'Top Gun: Maverick'.

The Hollywood star, who brought to life Lt Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, really wanted the man who played his on-screen rival Lt Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky to come back for the sequel.

"I really rallied hard for him to make the movie," the 'Vanilla Sky' star told Entertainment Tonight of the 'Batman Forever' actor, reports aceshowbiz.com.

The 59-year-old Tom praised 62-year-old Kilmer's "talent" and how they made a very "special" scene together. He said, "The kind of talent that he has, and you see that scene, it's very special, it's just very special," he continued speaking of a powerful scene in the film.

In 2021, 'Maverick' producer Jerry Bruckheimer echoed the sentiment, saying that Tom "really wanted" Val to join in with the flick. He said, "'We have to have Val, we have to have him back. We have to have him in the film.'"

"And he was the driving force. We all wanted him, but Tom was really adamant that if he's going to make another 'Top Gun', Val had to be in it," Jerry added.

"He's such a fine actor, and he's such a good individual. We had such a good time on the first one and wanted to bring some of the gang back together again."

Jerry also labelled their coming back together on-set as "very emotional" for the pair and production. He said, "It was a really emotional experience for all of us. It was a long time getting there, but we did."

'Top Gun: Maverick' is due to hit theaters on May 27 after making the rounds at the Cannes Film Festival.