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.
