Val Kilmer's daughter opens up about his 'challenging' throat cancer battle

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Val Kilmer's daughter, Mercedes, is thankful for every moment she gets to share with her dad since he battled throat cancer.

The "Top Gun" actor went public with his diagnosis in 2017 and underwent a tracheotomy that affected his speech. Now the 60-year-old is sharing the screen with his 28-year-old daughter in their new movie "Paydirt."

"It’s pretty historic to have a lead with a speech disability," Mercedes told People magazine. "I hope that it heralds more doors opening like that in the future."

VAL KILMER SAYS HE'S DOING GREAT AFTER TRACHEOTOMY

The film marks the young actress' first time starring in a feature film. She said she learned so much from scenes with her dad.

"It’s obvious my dad’s speech is compromised and so this whole experience revealed the personal effort I had put into working with actors with a disability, which I hadn’t done before," Mercedes described. "It revealed how much I had to gain from working with people who have different abilities. My dad’s able to very artfully circumvent the limitations of his speech, so I learned so much watching him, how he communicated physically. It taught me so much about acting that expanded what I thought acting was, which was central to speech."

Actors Mercedes Kilmer (L) and Val Kilmer (R) attend the 2019 annual Thespians Go Hollywood Gala at Avalon Hollywood on Nov. 18, 2019 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Val admitted he's learning "everything — life itself" from being with his daughter. "My only gripe is that I never see [Mercedes and her brother Jack, 25] enough." Val shares his kids with ex-wife Joanne Whalley.

VAL KILMER SAYS PRAYING TREATED THROAT CANCER, TRACHEOTOMY 'CAUSED' HIS 'SUFFERING'

Mercedes said Val's cancer battle brought everyone closer together.

"The health challenges have been just that, challenging, but so many good things have come out of it," she said. "We all spend so much time together. Even just getting to meet all my dad’s friends from before I was born — there are so many beautiful things that happen when you need help from people.

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"My dad is such a smart and creative person that I love hanging out with, even if he wasn't my dad, too," Mercedes described. "He’s a good friend of mine."