Former star Val Kilmer, who donned the cape and cowl in 1995's Batman Forever, claims that playing the iconic comic book character felt like acting in a soap opera. Val, his newly released autobiographical documentary from A24 and Amazon Prime, presents never-before-seen footage that chronicles the life of ValKilmer as he opens up about his upbringing and career in Hollywood, sharing many personal moments along the way.
The doc not only includes interviews with Kilmer, but features tons of behind-the-scenes footage that Kilmer shot himself throughout his entire career, whether it's himself on movies, his auditions, or short films he made as a child with his brother. Viewers get to experience an in-depth look at many of Kilmer's bigger roles like Iceman in 1986's Top Gun or Doc Holliday in 1993's Tombstone. But one role stood out a lot to Kilmer, as he had quite a few words to say about it.
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Kilmer opens up in the documentary how he got to visit the 1960's Adam West Batman set with his father when he was in 2nd grade. Growing up as a fan, Kilmer dreamt about playing Batman for a long time. After receiving an offer from his agent while on vacation in Africa to star in the titular role that would replace Keaton and be directed by Joel Schumacher (which he did not know he was directing), Kilmer recalls that the experience he had on set in 1994 was not the one he hoped for.
Whatever boyhood excitement I had was crushed by the reality of the Batsuit,” Kilmer states. “Yes, every boy wants to be Batman. They actually want to be him…not necessarily play him in a movie.” Kilmer shared his frustration with not being able to showcase his artistic skills as an actor, wishing he had the same opportunities as his co-stars, Tommy Lee Jones (Harvey Dent/Two-Face) and Jim Carrey (The Riddler).
A lot of that frustration stemmed from the bat suit, as Kilmer felt that not being able to move around freely or hear all that well restricted him. "I couldn’t hear anything and after a while, people stopped talking to me," he added. In his scenes with Nicole Kidman's Dr. Chase Meridian, Kilmer recalls repeatedly putting his hands on his hips. "I couldn’t count how many times I put my hands on my hips… I think it made no difference what I was doing. I tried to be like an actor on a soap opera."
Although he was known for big-budget roles, Kilmer began taking risky roles later in his career that fully allowed him to flex his artistry. After refusing to play Batman again, Kilmer starred in 1997's The Saint, because he mentions that it was like 10 roles in one. He would later go on to star in other films like Shane Black's crime comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Kilmer, who was tragically diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, will reprise his role in the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick, starring alongside Tom Cruise once again.
Val is available to stream now on Amazon Prime.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter