What the hell happened to Val Kilmer?!?

[whitetigeress]

I absolutely loved him in Thunderheart.

[Jaymole]

I heard a rumor that Val Kilmer is doing a remake of Junior, any truth to this?

[Tarantino]

Val Kilmer is the fuckin' man.

[Solid Snake PAC]

Originally Posted by whitetigeress

I absolutely loved him in Thunderheart.

Wow...i remember that. Loved it as a kid. Dunno about now though.

[utopianz14]

Val Kilmer was in Boston a couple of months ago as Mark Twain:



http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/m...his_inner.html

[Yavin]

^ Is that an actual photo of Mark Twain in the background, because if so then damn if Mr. Kilmer doesn't look like him!

[MinLShaw]

I received an issue of Interview magazine today in which Kilmer is interviewed by Piotr Uklanski. Some of the notable statements:

Talking about living next door to Roy Rogers as a child:

"I was with five cousins and two brothers, and they all pushed me forward to knock on the door. Dale Evans answered the door the first time. She said [imitates Texas accent] "Hi, honey! Can I help you?" And I froze and said, "Can Roy Rogers come out and play?" And she said, "I think he's a little busy right now." And I ran away."

"I don't think of my life as a cliche, but I'm a cliche eccentric. Complete with a strange name--I mean, who's named Val? How many Vals do you know? I mean, really?"

On directors:

"And what I learned from [Robert Altman], and then from my own mistakes with directors or other actors--especially with directors, they go really fast. Spielberg, as prolific as he's been, he's only going to make six or seven more movies. But we don't think of directors that way. We think of them as prolific as actors. But actors can make three movies a year."

He also mentions in the course of the interview that he's got a rough draft of the Mark Twain movie, but it's not something he thinks he can get financed yet, and that he's working on putting an art museum on his ranch. There's a side conversation about his views on death (he doesn't believe in it) that's kind of heady. He also points out that this is the 25th anniversary of Top Gun, which made me feel old. All in all, a rather enjoyable piece--though I'd be very interested to hear Spielberg's reaction to the remarks quoted above.

[Dr Mabuse]

He and Kevin Spacey were childhood friends. It was Kilmer, at Julliard at the time, who talked Spacey into coming to Julliard and getting into the arts.

Spacey's production company is named 'TriggerStreet' because he grew up there near Roger's home too.

[brayzie]

Originally Posted by Burnt Thru

That being said I did enjoy him in Heat and much earlier in some of his 80s movies. It's interesting to note how successful Robert Downey Jr has become after his rejuvination in Kiss Kiss Bang Band, and how that success has not translated to Val Kilmer, who I thought put in a very impressive turn.

Did "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" rejuvinate Downey's career? I thought it wasn't till Iron Man that he started getting all these roles?

Anyway, I missed out on "Kiss Kiss..." and rented it a few months back. It was a GREAT movie. Kilmer and Downey worked great together. And I think Shane Black directed it, and he did a really good job. The style was very distinctive, and the pace of the movie never slowed.

It should have been a hit.

Anyways, I don't care if Val Kilmer puts on a few pounds (the camera always makes it worse anyways) or does direct-to-dvd movies.

Tombstone alone makes him one of my favorite actors. I still have yet to see Willow.

[MinLShaw]

Originally Posted by brayzie

Did "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" rejuvinate Downey's career? I thought it wasn't till Iron Man that he started getting all these roles?

Per IMDb, here's Robert Downey, Jr.'s filmography from 2004 through 2008:

2004
Eros

2005
Game 6
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Good Night and Good Luck

2006
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
The Shaggy Dog
A Scanner Darkly
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus

2007
Zodiac
Lucky You
Charlie Bartlett

2008
Iron Man
Tropic Thunder

It certainly appears from this that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was an early part of his recent renaissance.

Anyways, I don't care if Val Kilmer puts on a few pounds (the camera always makes it worse anyways) or does direct-to-dvd movies.

Tombstone alone makes him one of my favorite actors. I still have yet to see Willow.

I watched Tombstone a lot starting in the late 90s, to the point that I had no desire to see it again, it was so ingrained on my brain. Then I got it on Blu-ray recently and re-watched it for the first time in probably five years. I discovered that it really was as terrific and satisfying as I once felt. Kilmer was clearly a big part of that, but I also think that Kurt Russell's performance as Wyatt Earp has been overshadowed by Kilmer's nearly iconic portrayal of Doc Holliday. I can't imagine the movie without either of them.

[JZ1276]

Felon (one of his recents) was pretty good, no one mentioned it.

[james2025a]

Kilmer i have found to always be a solid performer. Like every actor, he has his fair share of crap on his resume, but he has also a lot of interesting movies. I would like to see him come back to the A list and knock a few movies out of the park.

[Meglos]

Originally Posted by brayzie

Anyway, I missed out on "Kiss Kiss..." and rented it a few months back. It was a GREAT movie. Kilmer and Downey worked great together. And I think Shane Black directed it, and he did a really good job.

He wrote it, too.

[Ash Ketchum]

Originally Posted by MinLShaw

2008

I watched Tombstone a lot starting in the late 90s, to the point that I had no desire to see it again, it was so ingrained on my brain. Then I got it on Blu-ray recently and re-watched it for the first time in probably five years. I discovered that it really was as terrific and satisfying as I once felt. Kilmer was clearly a big part of that, but I also think that Kurt Russell's performance as Wyatt Earp has been overshadowed by Kilmer's nearly iconic portrayal of Doc Holliday. I can't imagine the movie without either of them.

One of the great things about TOMBSTONE is its wonderful ensemble cast. Russell and the others clearly understood that Kilmer was giving a scene-stealing performance and allowed him to do so. They understood instinctively that it made for a better movie. And I would argue that Kilmer's crowd-pleasing performance was the single most important element in making TOMBSTONE a hit.

Cut to Kevin Costner's WYATT EARP (1994). The film's failure to capitalize on Dennis Quaid's performance as Doc Holliday is its biggest flaw. As J. Hoberman put it in his review of the film, implicitly referencing Kilmer's role in TOMBSTONE, "Costner wouldn't allow Quaid to steal the film." As long as WYATT EARP is--3 hours and 10 min.--there are few scenes with Doc Holliday. Big mistake.

[Xander]

I've always been a fan, though I haven't seen any of his recent work. He was great in movies like Top Gun and Real Genius. He was the best thing about the turd Batman Forever.

And he will ALWAYS and forever be THE Doc Holiday to me. He was so perfect in that film.

[Solid Snake PAC]

add in that he and Russell really looked Holiday and Earp made it all the better.

[Solid Snake PAC]

Originally Posted by Meglos

He wrote it, too.

and he's also directing Iron Man 3 as well.

[Johnny Boy]

Kilmer has done some great acting work, but when I see people say "he was good/interesting in Batman" that just blows my mind. I usually like Kilmer, but he was the most retarded Batman ever (so retarded that I could never have imagined just how retarded his Batman could be unless I saw it with my own eyes). He was terribly boring and zombielike as Batman. I'm sorry but Bruce Wayne is not supposed to be zombielike.

[Groucho]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake PAC

and he's also directing Iron Man 3 as well.

[Solid Snake PAC]

Originally Posted by Groucho

and also writing it...so...it theoretically could be a better film.

[MrSmearkase]

/\He's not writing it

Despite words from Black to the contrary at the Omaha Film Festival last month, it now appears that the gifted scribe will only direct Iron Man 3 – Deadline reporting that Marvel have just hired Drew Pearce for the writing duties.

[MinLShaw]

Originally Posted by Johnny Boy

Kilmer has done some great acting work, but when I see people say "he was good/interesting in Batman" that just blows my mind. I usually like Kilmer, but he was the most retarded Batman ever (so retarded that I could never have imagined just how retarded his Batman could be unless I saw it with my own eyes). He was terribly boring and zombielike as Batman. I'm sorry but Bruce Wayne is not supposed to be zombielike.

"Retarded" doesn't tell us what your problem with his performance was; it only tells us that you're used to thoughtless, immature language. I can work with "terribly boring and zombielike," though.

Bruce Wayne in this story is on the cusp of a catharsis. This storyline is a direct continuation of the previous two movies; so when Bruce tells Dick Grayson that killing Two-Face will only lead him to a temporary high, that he'll eventually become addicted to going out, looking for victims, I read it that he's really filling us in on what's been going on between movies for the character.

He's a traumatized, vulnerable Bruce Wayne trying very hard to reconcile the ambitions of Batman with his own needs. That's how he's written. I think Kilmer's portrayal was thoughtful, nuanced and perfectly appropriate for the part as it was scripted.

Edit to add:

As I've said previously in this thread, another thing I find most interesting about Kilmer's performance is that there's not a pronounced difference between Bruce Wayne and Batman. He plays the character as one guy, rather than a Jeckyll and Hyde kind of thing. I really get a sense that Kilmer was conscious that under the Bat-suit he was still playing Bruce Wayne. I can't say that about the other actors who've played Batman in movies.

[Hokeyboy]

Originally Posted by MinLShaw

It certainly appears from this that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was an early part of his recent renaissance.

Part of it? Yes. Cause of it? Nope.

[nando820]

Nothing I believe he is still acting

[MinLShaw]

Originally Posted by Hokeyboy

Part of it? Yes. Cause of it? Nope.

I don't have a time line constructed of when a movie opened vs. when Downey was signed for a subsequent movie. I hadn't even heard of either Eros or Game 6 until I cobbled together his recent filmography from IMDb. It was my understanding that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was the movie that had viewers reacting, "Hey! Robert Downey, Jr. is still alive and making movies again!"

In any event, the purpose of the information I provided was to demonstrate that he'd become quite active in recent years, prior to Iron Man.