Val Kilmer - Reddit 'Ask Me Anything'

[Silver Nemesis]

Kilmer has participated in a couple of Reddit AMAs over the past year with some amusing results. Here are a few screen captures of Batman-related questions and Kilmer's responses.

On Batman & Robin (1997):

On possibly reprising his role as Batman:

On the best aspect of making Batman Forever (did he misspell Schumacher's name here on purpose?):

On Michael Gough:

On a hypothetical fight between himself, Clooney and Affleck:

You can read the full interviews here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/67qzrx/hello_reddit_i_am_actor_and_artist_val_kilmer_i/
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/7hrl9o/hello_reddit_i_am_actor_and_artist_val_kilmer_ama/

[The Dark Knight]

With the Top Gun 2 trailer out, and Kilmer having a role (I assume it's minimal), I've turned my attention to Val. His past, his quotations and body of work. The fact he is unwell hastens my interest in the man.

What I've found is an incredibly interesting and unique soul.

He has the reputation of being difficult to deal with. As Schumacher is quoted as saying:

"Val is the most psychologically troubled human being I've ever worked with. The tools I used working with him—tools of communication, of patience and understanding—were the tools I use on my 5-year-old godson. Val is not just high-strung. I think he needs help."

The way I see it, Val really is his own man and beats to his own drum. I don't share his Christian Science beliefs, but it shows the strength of his convictions even against the fiercest of obstacles put in front of him (cancer).

By all accounts he was a perfectionist and really needs to believe in what he's doing. Check out him explaining getting into character for Jim Morrison in The Doors. He also got his first gig as a 12 year old for a hamburger chain. He walked off the set because he didn't like the burgers and said he wouldn't pretend to. Being a pompous and reckless jerk blowing a chance? Maybe. But it's also a strong individual staying true to himself, while looking like a weirdo to others.

He's a man who believes in hard work and being a sponge. Asking lots of questions and reading a ton. Yes, he played Batman, but there's a sense he doesn't like being pigeonholed. He has this mysterious aura about him that I find intriguing, especially for someone who was so handsome in his heyday.

I wish him all the best.

[Silver Nemesis]

Val starred in two of my favourite films of the nineties: Heat and The Prince of Egypt.

The stories about him being difficult to work with seem to mostly stem from the mid-nineties, when he was at the peak of his popularity. Success of that magnitude can have a bad influence on a person's ego, but I don't think Val's a bad guy. He's been through a lot recently, yet still has a positive outlook on life. Hopefully his health will improve and we'll see him back on screen before too long.

I wish him all the best.

Hear, hear.

[thecolorsblend]

With the Top Gun 2 trailer out, and Kilmer having a role (I assume it's minimal), I've turned my attention to Val. His past, his quotations and body of work. The fact he is unwell hastens my interest in the man.

What I've found is an incredibly interesting and unique soul.

He has the reputation of being difficult to deal with. As Schumacher is quoted as saying:

"Val is the most psychologically troubled human being I've ever worked with. The tools I used working with him—tools of communication, of patience and understanding—were the tools I use on my 5-year-old godson. Val is not just high-strung. I think he needs help."

The way I see it, Val really is his own man and beats to his own drum. I don't share his Christian Science beliefs, but it shows the strength of his convictions even against the fiercest of obstacles put in front of him (cancer).

By all accounts he was a perfectionist and really needs to believe in what he's doing. Check out him explaining getting into character for Jim Morrison in The Doors. He also got his first gig as a 12 year old for a hamburger chain. He walked off the set because he didn't like the burgers and said he wouldn't pretend to. Being a pompous and reckless jerk blowing a chance? Maybe. But it's also a strong individual staying true to himself, while looking like a weirdo to others.

He's a man who believes in hard work and being a sponge. Asking lots of questions and reading a ton. Yes, he played Batman, but there's a sense he doesn't like being pigeonholed. He has this mysterious aura about him that I find intriguing, especially for someone who was so handsome in his heyday.

I wish him all the best.

To me, one mark of a true artist is someone who creates something you love and cherish one year and then the next year they go off in a seemingly totally oddball direction.

By way of example, I can take or leave 99% of Robert Plant's post-Led Zeppelin solo work. But the main is an artist who staunchly refuses to take the easy way out or do obvious things.

In relation to Val Kilmer, I put him in the same essential category of artist as Plant. Val has been involved in some of my favorite films. But he's also made a ton of out-of-left-field decisions with his life, religious beliefs and career. He's won the undying friendship of some people and the eternal enmity of others. He's not an easy person to simplistically categorize and dismiss.

Quite apart from his talent, Kilmer seems to possess the soul of a true artist and performer. He's always done what he believes to be right. At the end of the day, I can't ask for anything more than that.

[The Joker]

Val's definitely an interesting fellow, and has starred in a lot of movies that I quite enjoyed. Top Secret, Top Gun, Willow, The Doors, Tombstone, Batman Forever, Heat, the so-bad-its-hilariously-good Island of Doctor Moreau, Ghost & the Darkness, the underrated Wonderland, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Deja Vu, ect. I know I am forgetting some, but those are the films that come to mind first.

I already know whatever screen time Val has Iceman in Top Gun 2 is going to be a highlight.