We believe Val: Why Kilmer was a living legend

Jim Morrison and Iceman, Batman and Billy the Kid, Elvis and Philip the Great — Val Kilmer created as many vivid screen images in just a few years as others do not manage in their entire lives. Most of his films failed at the box office, and instead of an Oscar, he was usually nominated for a Golden Raspberry, but it was Kilmer who became more than an artist, superstar, or sex symbol for the viewer. He became a legend. Izvestia, along with Russian filmmakers, explain how this happened.

Jim Morrison — the best role of Kilmer

There are actors of the same role. There are strong super professionals. There are universal favorites and fan-terribles. Val Kilmer was a myth in the flesh, a sphinx who agreed to come to life for the sake of a grateful humanity. His angelic face hid such infernal passions that it was impossible to look away: I wanted to peer and solve this mystery indefinitely.

Therefore, Val Kilmer, unscrupulous in roles, ruined his career at the zenith, played in a series of absolutely disastrous films, will remain with us forever, just like the Batman he played. It was impossible to be around him, let alone work with him, say those who knew him. As soon as he came to the shooting, a scandal began. He quarreled with directors, film partners, even the most famous, producers, cameramen. He had affairs with Cher, Angelina Jolie, Cindy Crawford and other major beauties of his time. He was a devout Scientist until the end of his days, was involved in charity work, fought cancer for about ten years, and lost this battle with valor.

Everyone has their own ideal image, embodied by Val Kilmer. But the main one for him, and perhaps the one that will remain in the history of cinema, is Jim Morrison, whom Val played in Oliver Stone's The Doors (which is probably also the best picture of his career). To transform into Morrison, Kilmer took a year to prepare. He dressed like Morrison, walked in the places where the main shaman in the history of rock music lived, listened endlessly to his records. He rehearsed 50 songs from the band's repertoire, although only 15 were later included in the film, but he sang them in such a way that the band members themselves could not distinguish his voice from Morrison's. He spent weeks with the band's producer, Paul Rothschild, making him remember every detail about Morrison, the band, the era. It's not surprising that Kilmer had to go to a therapist for a long time to get Jim Morrison out of him. Because Kilmer was reincarnated in the truest sense of the word.

"He made it like... like skin," director Vladimir Kott shares with Izvestia. — That is, actually, many viewers, and I too, decided that it was not Val Kilmore who played, but Jim Morrison himself. That's why I think the film has become a cult film. There are central big roles that have made an actor. So, it seems to me that this role made him. Despite the fact that he starred in action movies and was generally a good actor, Jim Morrison is a great role, because when the viewer is confused about whether this is really a character or an actor, this is aerobatics. I remember Jim Morrison that way and no other.

"The Doors" is not a movie, but rock and roll as it is. Uncompromising, crazy, hallucinogenic. We see how Jim Morrison, a not very successful film student, breaks into the rock scene and conquers it, becoming an icon of rebellion and freedom for millions of people. The real members of the group later grumbled that the real Jim was not an "uncontrollable sociopath" and an alcoholic, that he was much brighter, friendlier, more cheerful. But it's too late. For Oliver Stone and Val Kilmer, Morrison was a cursed poet, a member of the "27 club", fully consistent with his music. Therefore, today, when we watch the chronicle with Morrison, we still have the feeling that this is an impostor. Kilmer became more Jim than Jim himself, even if he had to sacrifice the truth of life for it — the artistic truth turned out to be stronger ... and more unbearable. The rental of the R-rated film, where sex and drugs were no less than rock'n'roll, was difficult, and instead of the Oscar and Golden Globe, Kilmer received a cast on his arm, which he broke on the set, forgetting about his own safety.

Where else did Val Kilmer play

Perhaps not everyone immediately believed that Kilmer was capable of playing a Morrison-level figure. Still, for most of the audience, he was the guy from Top Gun, where even against the background of Tom Cruise, he didn't get lost. His character was the antagonist, but he was the one who could tell the character of Cruise in the face.: "You're a common problem! I don't like you because you're dangerous," and at the same time smile ambiguously and chew gum. The hero's name was Iceman, and Kilmer's great career began and ended with him. When the sequel to "Top Gun" was released, Kilmer could no longer speak, his voice was recreated from old recordings using a computer. And it felt like when we watch this movie, it's also a farewell. Kilmer decided to meet with us one last time.

— Of course, one cannot help but recall the role of Batman, — says director Yuri Sharov. — It is considered to be one of the worst films about the dark avenger. He completely failed.

Jim Morrison and Batman are completely different roles, but super memorable, thanks to them, Kilmer became the idol of his generation, Sharov believes.

"His Bruce Wayne is, of course, a completely different Bruce Wayne," agrees screenwriter Andrey Zolotarev. — Not classic. Not what we're used to seeing. He was an artist with great potential. He had much more amplitude than the opportunities Hollywood had given him. He didn't finish the game. And he left early.

Val Kilmer's Batman has the coldest face of all the screen incarnations of this character. Michael Keaton relied on eccentricity because he was a comedian par excellence. George Clooney created a sex symbol in a black cape, his Batman could go straight to an elite party or to the red carpet. Christian Bale played an adult child with a wounded soul. Ben Affleck is tough, Robert Pattinson is melancholy. Kilmer's Batman is a statue whose eyes light up only at night when the dandy turns into a bat. You shouldn't expect mercy from such a person, but these eyes can suddenly fill with tears or become touchingly tender, and all this in an instant.

Perhaps the path towards action films was a dead end. Yes, for many, Kilmer's best role is in Michael Mann's "The Fight." In this crime drama, he played the role of a bank robber, and since the film immediately became a cult, Kilmer became part of this cult for many cinephiles.

"He has a very interesting image of a silent and cold—blooded tough guy with long blond hair," muses director Maxim Kulagin. — It seems to me that he is not inferior to either Robert de Niro or Al Pacino. He has a very unusual appearance and has a certain charisma. The camera certainly loves him. He can say nothing and remain attractive. It was the peak of his career.

However, many viewers looked at Kilmer in this role and couldn't help but smile. After all, just a couple of years earlier, Kilmer had played a bank robber in The Real McCoy, paired with Kim Bessinger, and it was a comical image. His character there was a nerdy thief, for whom McCoy was the ideal of a super-robber, his teacher and great love, and he constantly screwed up, despite all attempts to seem cool.

They don't remember much about it now, but Kilmer had a great sense of humor, and he was great at making people laugh on screen. And he came to the cinema with the experience of working on the Saturday Night Live show, and his first picture was the hit "Top Secret!" by Abrahams and the Zuckers, the main comedians of that time. But Kilmer was cramped within the same role. He wanted to be both Billy the Kid and an imaginary Elvis (in "True Love"), he even dared to play side by side with the great Marlon Brando in "The Island of Dr. Moreau", and was not at all shy about working alongside one of the main artists of the twentieth century.

Then it was shot by Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Smith and Larry Charles. Kilmer had a chance to play in the same scene with Bob Dylan himself, also an idol, although, perhaps, if Val had been given, he would have been able to transform into him. Oliver Stone invited him to his peplum "Alexander", however, for a supporting role. But for the most part, Kilmer has been playing action movies and dubbing cartoons for the last quarter of a century. It was as if he had given all his energy to cinema back in the early 90s.

"I remember him as a man whose last name is voiced by the voice of those legendary translators of the 90s,— Zolotarev admits. — For me, he's a character from cassettes where genres were written on a typewriter. For Russians, this is a man from the era when we first got acquainted with the big Hollywood cinema.

Maybe that's why he will always be more than an actor for Russians. He will remain a part of the amazing world that opened up to us in its entirety and at the right moment, when the freedom of Hollywood films surprisingly met our aspirations. And Kilmer was a prophet of this freedom, its embodiment and its living anthem, which will not subside, despite the fact that the actor himself was literally silenced by a terrible illness. We can hear his voice!