Val Kilmer Biography
Val Kilmer is an American actor often described as a chameleon for his mastery of complex psychological roles. While some directors spoke of his difficult personality and refused to work with him, others considered him a genius. He shone as Jim Morrison in the film about The Doors iconic band, became the superhero Batman, and portrayed King Philip in the historical drama "Alexander". After overcoming cancer, Kilmer returned to acting following a lengthy break, appearing in the dramatic action film "Top Gun: Maverick" (2022).Childhood, Adolescence, Family
Val Edward Kilmer was born on the last day of 1959 to Gladys and Eugene Kilmer in Chatsworth, a suburb of Los Angeles traditionally inhabited by descendants of Native Americans. The Kilmer family did not belong to this group, but the actor's lineage included Scots, Irish, Germans, and Swedes.He was the middle of three brothers. The eldest was named Mark, and the youngest was Wesley. His mother managed the household and raised the boys, while his father worked as a real estate agent and an aerospace equipment supplier. His parents divorced when Val was nine years old. Since then, the boys lived either with their mother in Santa Fe or with their father on a ranch he purchased in 1971. The ranch had previously belonged to Roy Rogers, a 1950s Western star, which greatly flattered the teenage brothers, who were obsessed with cinema. They even tried making their own movies. Mark, whom the brothers always considered a great comedian, would come up with parodies, while Val, along with Wesley, set up a nearly professional filming area and shot invented stories with an amateur camera. He regarded his younger brother as "wildly creative," happily performed various roles in his sketches, and believed that one day Wesley would become the next Steven Spielberg . Starting at the age of twelve, Val began appearing in commercials, and at seventeen, he enrolled in the Juilliard School's Drama Division in New York City, becoming its youngest student.
Once Kilmer dreamt he was talking with a friend and her mother about death. He remembered the woman saying that she wasn't afraid to die because she would meet the Creator afterward. Suddenly, a phone call interrupted the dream. On the other end, Mark informed him that Wesley had drowned in jacuzzi at only fifteen years old.
The family was consumed by grief for a long time, but the middle brother suffered the most, even though he said:
At the same time, Val's relationship with his father deteriorated. "I think he more readily appreciated and loved my younger brother's talent," the actor explained. Returning to New York, Val pursued his studies with even greater passion. He hung Wesley's drawings on his room wall, hoping it would help him cope with the loss somewhat. Together with his classmates, he fervently began writing the play "How It All Began," based on the memoirs of German anarchist Michael Baumann. The actor believed that performing in this play changed his life:Death is an opportunity to understand life... I only truly came back to earth two or three years after my brother's death. It's like that Nickelback song: 'I'm tired of living without feeling'... I miss him and his things. I have his art. I like to think about what he would have created. I'm still inspired by him.
I've always acted, and my brother was always great at coming up with different stories. He was braver than me; he could always entertain. And I was quite shy. But I always liked to tell stories and act them out, like children do. It's probably natural. Many times, people are given a wonderful chance to make their lives brighter and enjoy them, but they don't use it, preferring gloom and darkness. I also tend to have this 'Russian melancholy' that occasionally takes over me, but stories help me feel good.
Acting Career
After graduating from Juilliard in 1981, Val joined a New York theater company, where he was offered a role in the play Slab Boys. He was supposed to play the lead character, but was initially bumped by Kevin Bacon, and then Sean Penn was brought in for the play, relegating Kilmer to secondary roles. Nevertheless, on the Broadway stage, the actor managed to play Richard III, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Kilmer had no intention of lingering on Broadway, as he was much more interested in cinema. His film debut came with the role of singer Nick Rivers in the Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker parody spy rock musical "Top Secret!" (1984). Val didn't understand the plot of the movie but spent four months learning to play the guitar. His disappointment was immense when the directors told him to just mime playing and singing, saying it would be funnier. But since it was his first film role, and a lead one at that, he decided not to argue. He turned down the lead role in "Dirty Dancing" because he didn't want to play "the stereotypical handsome heartbreaker." The role went to Patrick Swayze and made him famous. Kilmer, on the other hand, starred in the offbeat comedy "Real Genius" (1985) and was immediately offered to star alongside Tom Cruise in the action movie "Top Gun" as the main antagonist, pilot Iceman. His performance as Madmartigan in the fantasy film "Willow" (1988) was also memorable. The film was nominated for several awards, including an Oscar, but only won the Saturn Award for Best Costumes. A breakthrough in Kilmer's career was his portrayal of the famous rock musician Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's musical biographical drama "The Doors," based on the book "No One Here Gets Out Alive" by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman. The actor sang over a dozen songs in the film himself. The legendary band's producer, serving as a consultant on the movie, noted: Val resembled the singer so much that he called him Jim several times on set. Regarding his character, Val commented:Kilmer was vacationing in Africa after a shoot when his agent contacted him and asked if he wanted to be the next Batman in Joel Schumacher's "Batman Forever." The actor was struck by the coincidence - the day before he had explored a cave inhabited by bats. He agreed immediately, seeing it as a good omen. Later he regretted his decision, but he played the role brilliantly despite all the scandals with the film crew and the director. After this film, he gained a reputation as a temperamental and controversial actor, although many of Kilmer's colleagues, such as Robert Downey Jr., have since refuted this. He spoke highly of the thriller "Heat" (1995):...I like playing unusual people in extreme circumstances. These are the most challenging roles because it's very easy to become like your character. But people are so fascinated by it. I've been fortunate to play a variety of people and also to bring in a significant income from commercial films for the studio. I've made a billion dollars for my employers. Now I feel like I can participate in small projects just to enjoy working with people.
Throughout the nineties and two-thousands, Kilmer played many interesting and vivid characters. It is said that he personally corrected eighty pages of the screenplay for "The Saint," where he played the rogue and thief Simon Templar. He starred with his favorite Marlon Brando in the thriller "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (Montgomery), with Michael Douglas in the adventure film "The Ghost and the Darkness" (John Henry Patterson), and with Danny Trejo on the set of the crime drama "The Salton Sea." An interesting experience for Val was the role of King Philip II in the historical drama "Alexander." In 2008, six films starring Kilmer were released, including "Columbus Day" and "Conspiracy." Val also left an impression as writer Hall Baltimore in Francis Ford Coppola's horror film "Twixt." His character had to communicate with the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe himself and understand why a mass murder occurred in a quiet town. Reflecting on his work in this film, Val philosophized about the USA:Just imagine being able to say «Al and Bob» for the rest of your life when you meet Al Pacino and De Niro. Not many people can do that. I saw Bob giggling like a schoolgirl in the van in the middle of the night because they were shooting a scene outside... Al Pacino hugged me in the center of Los Angeles as if he were my older brother. I fired live rounds from powerful assault weapons over Bob's head while rehearsing lines from our movie. I had to kiss Ashley Judd. Sometimes I lived in Michael Mann's house. An invaluable experience. Watching all the actors do their job... loved every minute of it.
Perhaps America is too young a country to have centuries-old myths like Europe, so we invent our own. At the same time, we are very nostalgic for the times when America was small and one-story, but we are afraid to regress, so we endow these small towns with special features and animate them. Essentially, the town shown by Francis is like a typical ghost town from a western. It's part of our American mythology, part of our past that we simultaneously yearn for and fear.
Illness
After portraying Mark Twain in the film "Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn" (2014), the actor was inspired to write his own screenplay about the life of the great writer. He never finished the script for the movie, but he did write the play "Citizen Twain" and toured the country with his one-man show, hoping to raise funds for the film's production. For this purpose, he even sold six thousand acres of land in New Mexico, where he dreamed of creating a commune for fellow actors, but the film's production ended before it even began. One day, before a performance in Nashville, he lost his voice. Kilmer thought he would postpone the performances for a month or two, but it turned out to be a much longer delay. The doctors' verdict, which deeply shocked the actor, was – laryngeal cancer. Val disappeared from the screens for several years, and fans wondered what had happened to their favorite. For several years, Kilmer fought the illness with only his daughter and son by his side. It was only in 2017 that Val decided to share what had happened to him. The sight of the markedly aged actor shocked the audience, but he himself calmly accepted the changes, stating that his life had completely turned around and that he had become much more religious than before.Val Kilmer's Personal Life
Currently, there doesn't seem to be a significant other in Val's life, but he has dated various famous women in the past.For instance, in 1984, Kilmer had a brief affair with actress and singer Cher. While filming in London, Val went to see Danny Boyle's play "Genius" and fell in love with actress Joanne Whalley, who was performing in it. Kilmer watched the play countless times but never dared to approach Joanne. Fate brought them together a second time on the set of the fantasy film "Willow," and Val didn't miss his chance.
After the film's premiere, the couple married, and in 1991 they welcomed their daughter Mercedes. Four years later, they had a son whom they named Jack John Wallace. In 1996, Whalley filed for divorce, unable to cope with her famous husband's deep immersion into the troubled persona of Jim Morrison. The separation was difficult, and Kilmer went through several legal procedures to obtain joint custody of the children, while initially the court granted custody to their mother. Later on, the actor was in a relationship with supermodel Cindy Crawford for two years. He also dated Angelina Jolie, Drew Barrymore, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Kilmer wrote in his book "I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir," released in 2020, that the most painful breakup for him was with actress Daryl Hannah, whom he met on the set of the film "The Real McCoy" in the early 2000s: "God knows I've suffered from all my breakups. But Daryl was the most painful of all," he stated.
Val Kilmer Now
After his illness, the actor appeared in several projects, but due to voice problems, his son provided his voiceover. His most successful film was the sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," where Kilmer reprised his role as Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazanski. Recalling the filming, Tom Cruise said:I want to say it was very emotional. I've known Val for decades, and the fact that he came back to play this character — he's a very powerful actor, once again becoming his hero. Watching Iceman, I cried. I was moved. He's a magnificent actor, and I adore his work.
Interesting Facts
- One of Val's most vivid childhood memories was his family's appearance on a Batman TV show. He was in second grade and felt immensely happy when his father put him in the Batmobile. Many years later, the harsh reality took away his love for this superhero: the costume he wore was bulky and tight, and the mask made it difficult to breathe and hear.
- In 2021, the documentary "Val," based on Val Kilmer's amateur footage and archival materials, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. His son, Jack Kilmer, narrated because the actor's voice had not yet recovered after treatment.
- Directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo used footage for the hour-and-a-half film that Val shot with his brothers in childhood, clips with his children and ex-wife, and recordings from film sets: "Val is a very complex and amazing person with so many layers. And we wanted to try to convey this sense of him in the film, from his spirituality to his wonderful sense of humor... We never thought about doing it any other way, like using third-party interviews. We understood this very clearly from the start," Leo Scott explained.
- Some directors and actors who worked with Kilmer claimed he had a bad temper and excessive demands. The artist responded to such statements by saying he was lucky because he didn't live in Hollywood: "Hollywood is like a family, but a very bad one. But I managed to play many wonderful characters. The worst thing that happened in my career is that I played complex, contradictory characters, and people thought that was me, since I play such heroes."
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