The daughter of Top Gun star Val Kilmer has never seen the film that made her dad famous.
Mercedes, 30, says the 1980s classic is “not my cup of tea”. But it has allowed Val, 62, to return to the big screen this week in sequel Top Gun: Maverick following his cancer battle.
Actress Mercedes says that instead of bragging about starring alongside Tom Cruise, her dad – who plays Tom “Iceman” Kazansky – would joke about the 1986 original’s tight-fitting Navy gear and muscle-bound scenes.
Mercedes says: “I’ve never seen Top Gun. It’s not the kind of film I like, to be honest. It’s not my cup of tea.”
Of Val’s role in the film, she says: “I do think it is cool they brought him back as it adds a deeper layer to the film and that’s why he wanted to do it.
“But Dad would never be in the military – he would never have that hair in real-life!”
Mercedes, who admits her favourite film starring Val is Heat, adds: “Top Gun is classic Hollywood – total fantasy. My parents would joke about it all the time.
“It is literally an icon of gay cinema, intentionally or not. The uniforms, the muscles and the moustaches…”
In the original movie, Val played Cruise’s rival at the Top Gun flight school. And in the new film – which took £11.2million in the UK last weekend – he returns as an admiral who, because of an unspecified illness, has to communicate via a computer.
This reflects the fact that in real-life, Val has to use an electric voice box after a battle with throat cancer.
He split from Mercedes’ mum, actress Joanne Whalley, in 1996 after eight years of marriage.
To make her own way in the acting world, Mercedes says she “did try to limit my association with my dad”.
But she admits: “Even though his speech is compromised, he is such a good actor he is able to communicate physically and circumvent that. He’s very inspiring.
“When he’s not acting, he’s in his artist’s studio. He would hate it if he had to go a day without doing something – I don’t think it’s possible for him to retire.”
