MuckRaker96 said:
nosoupforyou said:
Where is Ice Man? That's the only miss from the trailer...
TC said he might not make the final cut because his health impacted his performance.
This is all I know...
- Val Kilmer's scene(s) were some of the first scene(s) shot, simply because they didn't know what his health status was going to be down the road. He did two days, I think, in San Diego, right at the beginning of filming. Then I
think he came back at some point later and did another day or two, if that.
- There was apparently an old draft where Maverick was more of a retired hermit and no one knew where he was, save for Iceman. So whoever it was who needed Maverick went to a poor-in-health Iceman and he gave them Maverick's location. That was his only scene. Seeing as this trailer confirms that Maverick is no longer retired, I have no idea what Iceman's new role might be.
- Val Kilmer can hardly speak nowadays due to his throat cancer (which I think he beat but still left him in pretty bad shape). I have no idea how this is approached in the movie, but I do know that he filmed actual lines (i.e. he's not a mute in the movie).
- Christopher McQuarrie came aboard right before filming to give last-minute notes, then basically stuck around and rewrote/reshaped a lot of the script, to the point where he's a credited writer on the movie now. Point being, either he could have eliminated Iceman in his rewrites, or the filmmakers could have decided Kilmer's performance just doesn't work due to his health/voice. That's probably another reason they shot his scene(s) first, to give themselves the flexibility to cut him or not, but it sounds like his role wasn't that consequential to begin with.
- If they keep him, I think a good scene to compare to could be Edward James Olmos' one scene in
Blade Runner 2049. Gosling's character visits him in an old folks home, and Olmos' character (from the first movie) gives him a minor but crucial piece of info that helps Gosling's character find Harrison Ford's character. Again, no one is obviously looking for Maverick in this version, but I could see Maverick visiting a poor-in-health Iceman for some minor but crucial bit of info that helps move the plot forward. Maybe something along those lines.