News: Val Kilmer has passed away aged 65

I don't want to write a typical obituary. Obituaries are always so cold and clinical. Reducing someone life to a handful of clipped sentences and a small photo. Saying nothing but vague niceties about the deceased. Things that the author never expressed when the person was alive.

If you just want to read a brief summary of Val Kilmer's life it's probably best to look elsewhere - I'm sure wikipedia is mostly correct. All the major newspapers will have a concise obituaries that covers all his highs and lows. Better yet, just go and watch the documentary from a few years back that Kilmer himself made, titled Val (2021). It covers his career in a very eloquent way and goes into some personal life stuff that I'm going to avoid.

Instead I'm going to waffle (can't think of a better word) for a few paragraphs about what Val meant to me. Val was an actor whose life was split into four parts. Rising fame. Declining fame. Ill health. And recovery.

He trained at the New York's famed Juilliard School in the early 1980s and bar a handful of off-Broadway theatre performances and one After School TV special (with a young Michelle Pfeiffer) managed to instantly get cast in a big screen movie role.

The film was Top Secret, an eclectic spoof movie that mostly took aim at 1950s Elvis movies and World War II movies. It speaks volumes to Val's talent that he managed to snag the lead role at such a young age. The part required not only acting but also comedic chops and singing ability. The film itself is very funny in places but it didn't quite have the hit rate of the directors' earlier film Airplane! Val really committed to the role though and it's a shame that he only did a handful more comedies after this because he's very funny. Also, of note to Batman Forever fans, he has a handful of scenes with Michael Gough.

His next two films were Real Genius and Top Gun. The former a light-hearted, sometimes surreal comedy about students working at a science and technology university. The latter a pulse-pounding military movie about jet pilots. It's here that I realised what range Val had. The laid back character of Chris Knight in Real Genius is a million miles away from the super intense 'Iceman' in Top Gun. I almost can't believe it's the same actor.

And I think that ability would follow him throughout his career. He always seemed a bit of a restless actor who really wanted to stretch himself with every part he played. Never trying to repeat any of his roles. He would bring something extra to the table when he was cast in a role. Sometimes this would really pay off, like Tombstone, in which he singlehandedly runs away with the film. Other times, it wouldn't pay off, such as his bizarre turn in The Island of Dr Moreau.

Throughout the late 80s and 90s his career would go up and down. Never quite maintaining a running streak. For a while he seemed to avoid anything too commercial. Instead, looking for interesting dramatic roles in films such as Thunderheart and Kill Me Again. 

Then in 1994 he was offered the lead role in the third Batman film after Michael Keaton stepped down. It was an offer that he was asked to accept without reading the script. As the story goes he was in a bat cave at the time doing early prep for The Ghost and the Darkness (who knows if this is just one of those cute Hollywood myths). Reading his autobiography - I'm Your Huckleberry - I think he accepted the part mostly as a commercial decision. He was already working on The Saint and saw the two franchises as being nice pay cheques that would allow him the freedom to do more interesting and rewarding indie work.

By his own account, shooting Batman Forever wasn't much fun. Although I think he enjoyed working Jim Carrey, he didn't get on with director Joel Schumacher, reportedly not speaking to him directly for two weeks. He absolutely loathed the rubber costume which he equated to being like an elderly man - you couldn't stand for long, you couldn't hear people very well and you had to get help to go pee.

Some of his character arc was cut from the film due to pacing but what remains in the film is pretty solid. He played Bruce Wayne as a man who is truly haunted by his past and his interactions with other people like Chase and Edward is awkward. His best moments in the film are when he lashes out at Chris O'Donnell's Dick Grayson:-

"So you're willing to take a life? Then it will happen this way: You make the kill. But your pain doesn't die with Harvey, it grows. So you run out into the night to find another face... and another and another... until one terrible morning you wake up and realize... that revenge has become your whole life. And you won't know why."

Due to the fraught relationship with director Joel Schumacher, he was not asked to return for Batman & Robin. He was also working on The Saint, a film reboot of the 60s TV show and long running book series by Leslie Charteris. I always wonder how different Batman & Robin would have been if Val had stayed on. Would he have brought a bit more gravitas to the film like he had to Batman Forever? I certainly feel like the Bruce and Alfred stuff might have been stronger.

Anyway, he went and did The Saint which is a bit underrated in my opinion. It's got some silly bits early on where he puts on a ton of disguises and tries to seduce Elizabeth Shue but it mostly works as an adult orientated thriller. It's strange to think how the Mission: Impossible series ran and ran and this just stopped after one film. Financially it did okay but I guess the enthusiasm wasn't there to go further.

I feel like The Saint was the point where Val's career started tailing off. The big budget lead roles were few and further between and when they did happen like 2000s Red Planet, they didn't perform well. Like a lot of actors he retreated to indie fare and DTV movies, started playing supporting roles rather than the lead. I can't speak for most of these because there's a lot I haven't seen. I did notice he did more than one film with 50 Cent. Two bright spots in the 2000s were Spartan - a thoughtful, wordy thriller from David Mamet that I need to give rewatch soon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - a comedic noir thriller from Shane Black that paired him with Robert Downey Jr (Pre-Marvel). Both are well worth checking out.

The other great film from the 2000s is MacGruber where Val gamely played the villain Dieter Von Cunth but I will admit 95% of the best jokes are Will Forte's. It was around this time that Val started doing a one-man theatre show playing the role of Mark Twain. He seemed to get real joy from doing this and continued for many years performing it. I was kind of surprised he didn't turn it into some kind of film but maybe he just enjoyed keeping it a stage experience. Working on it, honing it, giving it to audiences live.

In 2015 he was hospitalized for what turned out to be throat cancer. When he finally remerged in 2017 his appearance had changed dramatically. Now only able to speak by plugging a voice box into his trachea. He returned for a few more film roles but they were mostly brief appearances and his voice was either dubbed by someone else or his character was mute. I always felt conflicted by his appearance in Top Gun: Maverick. On the one hand, it was nice for Tom Cruise to find a role for his character but on the other, killing his character off and having a funeral felt... like pre-emptively acknowledging that he was close to death.

Maybe that's how Val felt too. I wrote his autobiography - a very honest but at times very brief series of scenes of his life. He also made his documentary Val. And he got into painting. He was always throwing up whatever he had recently painted on Twitter. His voice was gone but he was still clearly bursting with creativity. Desperate to express himself.

I saw that he had started doing comic convention appearances. Dutifully signing Bat merchandise and glossy photos. I hope it paid some bills and let him travel. I was kind of hoping he'd come to a convention near me one day.

I want to finish on what Val meant to me as a child. I remember seeing Batman Forever as a kid and thinking this guy was the coolest guy I'd ever seen. Handsome, debonair, able to charm the pants of Nicole Kidman. I remember making a mental note to check out as many of his other films as possible and watching those films led me to three things I still hold dear today.

The Doors - who I was obsessed with during my teenage years and bought every album. I would have never got into them without seeing the film.

The Saint - I own at least 25 novels and have all the old TV shows on DVD. Again, I was first exposed to the character through the film.

Batman - I didn't really care that much about Batman before seeing Batman Forever. But that film, his performance, he made me a lifelong fan of the character.

Like every actor who dies, they aren't really dead. They live on films. I'll definitely be watching some Val this weekend in his memory and I suggest you do the same.

Obituary: Director Joel Schumacher dies aged 80

I really didn't want to see this day. I knew it would come eventually but it feels cruel that it comes in the midst of Batman Forever's 25th anniversary celebration.

I'm very sad to report Joel Schumacher has died age 80 after a battle with cancer. Once again I feel ill-equipped to condense the man's life into a few paragraphs. I would hope if you've come to this site you already know what an AMAZING and TALENTED man Joel was.

The bad reviews of Batman & Robin have dogged his career since the film's release since 1997 but he was a director of extraordinary range who could turn his hand from a thrillers, to comedies, to horror, to musicals, to action and everything in between.

And every step of the way he was a complete gentleman. Everyone who worked with him has said how calm and assured he was on set. His consistent workload over the years shows what a reliable pair of hands he was.

Joel began his career as a costume designer in the 1970s, working on several films including Woody Allen's Sleeper. It was on Allen's suggestion that he tried his hand at script writing and quickly found success with his first script - Sparkle - a story about three sisters forming a band in 1950s Harlem.

The same year that Sparkle was made, 1976, also saw the release of another Schumacher script Car Wash, a loose day in the life comedy about a group of friends working in a car wash.

Joel continued to do more script work - notably the big screen adaptation of The Wiz in 1978 - but he yearned to direct. In 1981 he got his wish, directing Lily Tomlin in the quirky comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman.

Although the film wasn't a big splash Joel's directing career took off and went from strength to strength. First returning to another blue collar comedy DC Cab and then hitting the big time with St Elmo's Fire - a glossy melodrama that took (some of) the stars of The Breakfast Club and placed them in life after college. The film was received poorly by film critics but audiences flocked to see the "Brat Pack" cast.

Two years later Joel directed probably one of his most famous films The Lost Boys. A tongue in cheek horror about a boy whose brother is seduced by a group of vampires that made Corey Haim and Corey Feldman household names.

It was here the Joel showed his ability to craft a crowd pleasing entertainment. Stylishly shot, expertly soundtracked, full of hot, young actors and actresses and nothing on its mind but keeping you entertained for 100 minutes.

After a brief attempt at romantic comedy with Cousins in 1989, Joel returned to horror territory with Flatliners, a neon drenched Gothic thriller about medical students trying to find out what comes after death. The production design seems to have heavily influenced Batman Forever.

The 1990s saw Joel bounce around between some very different genres. He directed two well received John Grisham adaptations The Client (where he first worked with Tommy Lee Jones) and A Time to Kill; two downbeat thrillers Falling Down (his first collaboration with production designer Barbara Ling) and 8mm; the romantic drama Dying Young and the comedy drama Flawless (his first script since St Elmo's Fire).

But it was his Batman movies that he was most noted for and would cast a long shadow over the rest of his career.

Warner Brothers had been disappointed with how downbeat and bleak Tim Burton's Batman Returns was and asked Burton to step down as director for any future installments. Burton was asked to recommend a successor and picked Joel - presumably based on his Gothic leanings in Flatliners.

Batman Forever suffered from a rushed production schedule, a last minute lead casting replacement and on set conflicts between (some of the) cast members. But despite this the film was a huge hit and Warner Brothers once again rushed Joel to make another.

1997's Batman & Robin would suffer from almost all the same behind the scenes problems - an even more rushed schedule, another lead casting replacement - but the result was much less well received. Seemingly Joel could not capture lightning in a bottle twice. Comic book fans in particular took umbridge at Joel not taking the material seriously and all manner of slurs were thrown at him for some of his design decisions.

The 2000s saw Joel initially retreat to lower budget fare, directing Colin Farrell in two movies: Tigerland and Phone Booth. Before working on two very different Jerry Bruckheimer movies, Bad Company, silly Chris Rock comedy thriller and Veronica Guerin,  a biopic of a murder Irish journalist.

Then came his big screen adaptation of Phantom of the Opera, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical which although had mixed reviews managed to make $154 million at the box office.

In 2007 he reunited with Jim Carrey and gave him a rare straight dramatic leading role in The Number 23, a ludicrous horror thriller. And followed this with a low budget horror Blood Creek that starred Henry Cavill a couple of years before he was cast as Superman. His final film was Trespass in 2011, a kidnap thriller starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman that went straight to VOD.

Though Joel had more or less retired since then, he did direct a few episodes of House of Cards for David Fincher with whom he was good friends.

I highly recommend checking out ANY interview with Joel that you can find on youtube. He was a sweet, witty, charming man who seemed to be able to take being the "worst" comic book movie director with grace and humour.

And I highly recommend you check out ANY of his films, even his "bad" ones are entertaining and worthwhile. If you want a run through his career I recommend checking out:-

https://schumacast.blogspot.com/

Here are my personal recommendations:-

FALLING DOWN - a powerhouse performance by Michael Douglas as a man who snaps in the middle of a traffic jam and attempt to walk home. Just don't misread Douglas as being the hero or the anti-hero. He IS the bad guy.

THE LOST BOYS - a super fun 80s adventure with a soundtrack to die for. Considering the script was rewritten so many times it's amazing that it still works so well. Haim and Feldman really bring the film to life and have fantastic chemistry.

PHONE BOOTH - a whole movie set in a phone booth!? starring Colin Farrell. Yep, and it's super underrated. Larry Cohen wrote a cracking script that utilises the tight location to create tight tension and Schumacher finds clever ways to make it visually interesting throughout.

Oh and of course I'm recommending BATMAN FOREVER but I'd hope you've already seen that one.

So that's it, I said I wouldn't try and condense Joel's life into a few paragraphs but I ended up doing it anyway. Sorry Joel. Thank you for all the movies.

Obituary: Actor Rene Auberjonois dies aged 79

Sad to report that Rene Auberjonois, the actor who played the role of Dr Burton in Batman Forever, has died aged 79 after a battle with metastatic lung cancer. He was probably best known for his role as Odo on all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

His role in Batman Forever was a brief cameo at the end accompanying Dr Chase Meridian as she visits Arkham Asylum to see if Edward Nygma still knows Batman's true identity.

Auberjonois also appeared at the beginning of the film when Dr Burton goes to Two Face's cell and discovers he has escaped. This sequence was deleted from the film but is available on the special edition DVD and Blu-ray.

The role was a nod to Tim Burton, director of Batman 1989 and Batman Returns, and as such his hair was styled in Burton's distinctive, manic, whirry look. And Auberjonois adopted a raspy voice that perfectly fits the gothic location.

But of far more importance, Auberjonois also read the audiobook adaptation of Peter David's novelisation of Batman Forever from Time Warner. If you haven’t heard this, please find a link below.

At 3 hours, it is actually longer than the film but has a lot of fun differences. Not least a couple of prologues featuring a teenage Edward Nygma riddling some bullies and Harvey Dent meeting Batman for the first time before becoming disfigured.

Rene Auberjonois' performance was first rate. He particularly excelled at making a much creepier sounding Edward Nygma than Jim Carrey's more live wire performance. Giving us a glimpse at what a more serious version of the film would have felt like (bear in mind this was probably recorded before or as the film was being shot so Auberjonois only had the script and whatever direction he was given to work from).

It takes a great actor to be able to read an audiobook and give distinct and memorable portrayals of all the characters. Batman Forever was even more of a challenge given that each character has a dual personality! As far as I am concerned Rene Auberjonois did a first rate job in his reading.

My thanks go to Rene for such a great performance that has given me so much joy over the years.