Death In Entertainment
Kyle Ploof, Alejandro Dowling and Ben Kissel discuss Hollywood murders, true crime, on-set deaths and more!
Death In Entertainment
Iceman to Ashes: The Val Kilmer Story (Episode 160)
Val Kilmer wasn't just an actor – he was a chameleon who disappeared so completely into his roles that the line between performance and reality often blurred. His journey from Hollywood golden boy to cancer survivor reveals the extraordinary price of his artistic devotion.
Born on New Year's Eve 1959 in Los Angeles, Kilmer's childhood was both privileged and tragic. Growing up on Roy Rogers' ranch gave him a playground for creativity, but the sudden drowning death of his 15-year-old filmmaker brother Wesley shattered his family and became the ghost that would drive him relentlessly forward. At just 17, he became Juilliard's youngest-ever drama student, displaying the singular focus that would define his career.
Kilmer's method approach yielded unforgettable performances – from the cold, calculated Iceman in "Top Gun" to his transformative embodiment of Jim Morrison that fooled even The Doors themselves. As Doc Holliday in "Tombstone," he delivered perhaps his most beloved performance, crafting a character of lethal charm and vulnerability. Yet his perfectionism and intensity earned him a reputation as "difficult" that eventually overshadowed his undeniable talent, leading to professional exile just when he seemed unstoppable.
When Hollywood turned away, Kilmer reinvented himself through a deeply personal one-man show about his hero Mark Twain. Then came the cruelest twist – throat cancer that robbed him of his powerful voice through treatment that saved his life but permanently altered it. Even in this devastating setback, Kilmer showed remarkable resilience, embracing technology to preserve his voice through AI and making a poignant return in "Top Gun: Maverick" that acknowledged his real-life struggle.
In his own words: "I have behaved poorly, I have behaved bravely, I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets." Val Kilmer's legacy transcends his filmography – it's a testament to artistic commitment, personal reinvention, and the courage to face life's harshest challenges without surrendering your essential self.
Join Kyle Ploof, Ben Kissel and Alejandro Dowling as they raise a toast to the man, the legend: Mr. Val Kilmer.
Death in Entertainment is hosted by Kyle Ploof, Alejandro Dowling and Ben Kissel.
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Val Kilmer was one hell of an actor. He didn't just play roles, he became them. I mean seriously. He spent an entire year living as Jim Morrison.
Speaker 2:I am the Lizard King.
Speaker 1:Yet there was a method to his madness. From Iceman to Batman, audiences couldn't get enough.
Speaker 3:You can be my wingman anytime.
Speaker 1:Behind the scenes, however, it was a different story. He had a growing reputation of being difficult to work with, you know, shouting at crew members, shoving directors, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:So what you're saying is this guy's a total wacko.
Speaker 1:Then, after years of Hollywood jail, he staged a career comeback with a one-man show about Mark Twain. But as soon as he found his voice again, fate cruelly took it away. And now, to finish the intro, I'd like to channel the great Mr Twain himself. This here is a tale that's plum ripe for the telling. It's about a larger-than-life character who made some good pictures and was faced with mortality far too soon. Come sit a spell, laugh a little cry if you must, and remember, val Kilmer is your Huckleberry. That's today on Death in entertainment. Live from Los Angeles 911,. What is your emergency?
Speaker 4:Here in Hollywood now.
Speaker 6:Two counts of murder, injury and death.
Speaker 7:Oh my God, shocking new details. That has stunned the entertainment world.
Speaker 2:This makes me a little nervous. The hair stood up on my arms.
Speaker 9:Just like in the movies. What do you call this thing anyway? Death in Entertainment.
Speaker 10:Greetings Ditto Universe. Hello there, what's up? How is everybody? What's going on? My name is Kyle Plouffe.
Speaker 7:I'm Ben Kissel and I'm Alejandro Dowling Today's episode of Death and Entertainment. We are absolutely thrilled to bring you the life story of the one and only Val Kilmer.
Speaker 10:Ooh, yes, this is going to be a crazy one. We are talking about his death, but we are also a comedy podcast, so we will be making some jokes, right?
Speaker 7:Absolutely so.
Speaker 1:get a margarita suck it through your tummy and enjoy the show. Yeah, his life is disturbing and funny, yes, and sad.
Speaker 7:Just like our podcast yeah just like the Joel Schumacher Batman.
Speaker 10:Yeah, exactly which we will talk about in this episode. And here we go.
Speaker 1:Okay, Val Edward Kilmer was born on December 31st 1959. You remember what day that is? No, the day he was born, that is New Year's Eve, folks.
Speaker 7:Oh yeah, Wow, you actually stumped me on that one Damn.
Speaker 1:Because they make a big thing out of the New Year's baby. Yes, the first one born, but what about the last one of the?
Speaker 10:year trains leaving the station. Yeah, I thought val might have been short for something. It's just val val.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, okay what'd you think it was short for valiant? Valerie, that's a woman's name valerio, not that it matters.
Speaker 10:listen it, yes, but that was 1959.
Speaker 1:Correct, sure, come on now. I agree. And he was born in Los Angeles. Ooh wow, the great state of Los Angeles, beautiful town, just seeing if y'all are awake State of depression. Oh boy. More specifically, it was Chatsworth.
Speaker 10:Oh, where they film all the pornography.
Speaker 7:Is that?
Speaker 10:right, yeah, wow, yep, and that's where Adam Sandler threw a piano in the street.
Speaker 1:Oh, in Punch Drunk Love yes.
Speaker 10:No kidding, yeah, so there's a lot of weird stuff happening there.
Speaker 1:All right, a lot of brilliant stuff.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it was a tough day to be a sound guy on the porn set. Yeah, don't do me harder, daddy, do me harder. Did someone throw a piano on the street?
Speaker 1:You see Adam Sandler in a big blue suit cursing to himself.
Speaker 7:I can't come looking at you, Adam.
Speaker 1:So his dad, Eugene, was an engineer slash land baron.
Speaker 10:Land, baron, yes Wow.
Speaker 1:Very wealthy so Val grew up in affluence. Okay, he was not a poor kid, wow.
Speaker 10:Like.
Speaker 1:Anna Nicole in Texas. Yeah, okay who had to eat her dinner on the dirt floor. She says, yes, oh, that's too bad. Complete opposite so they could basically do whatever they wanted.
Speaker 7:Yeah, Anna Nicole Smith and Val Kilmer. I do think of them as sort of opposites.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 7:I never thought of them together personally.
Speaker 1:No, and perhaps maybe a bit of kindred spirits too. Okay, you know, because they both didn't give a fuck.
Speaker 7:I was always confused, because Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer was named Howard Stern.
Speaker 10:Howard K Stern.
Speaker 7:And I couldn't figure out how the hell he could do a radio show every day and take care of this chick.
Speaker 1:And coincidentally Val Kilmer was later on Howard Stern.
Speaker 8:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:His dad was doing so well that he went and bought Roy Rogers Ranch what? Not just anybody can buy Roy Rogers Ranch, where they make the drink, the man that the drink was named after it comes out of the faucet. Yeah, and the kids turned it into a movie set of sorts, wow. So Val was the middle brother. Okay, he had a younger brother named Wesley and an older brother named mark, and wesley was a cinephile, he was a fanatic of the files, that's the best one that's the only file that I actually kind of liked.
Speaker 1:It's a tough, it's a tough thing, yeah and he would recreate scenes from famous movies like jaws, and really well done too. If you've seen the 2021 documentary called Val, it features a lot of his brother's work at the beginning. Oh, ok, cool, you could tell that he's going places. Yeah, so they had a lot of fun with that, and imagine how fun that is in general, like no worries at all. You get to basically have this giant playground to yourself. Pretty sweet In California. Yeah, you got wealthy.
Speaker 7:All you get to basically have this giant playground to yourself pretty sweet in california. Yeah, you got wealthy parents. What could happen? What could go wrong with those brothers?
Speaker 1:and it worked out well because val was always focused on acting and his brother was focused on directing, so it was a very good team. And in high school, you know the, the actress, mayor Winningham, I don't know, I forgive you if you don't, I have no idea.
Speaker 7:It sounds like a horse, I don't know. Oh my God, mayor.
Speaker 1:Winningham.
Speaker 10:Mayor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she was in a lot of great things. Okay, she was in the movie Georgia with Jennifer Jason.
Speaker 7:Leigh. Yeah, we come from a long line of Winningham, turner and Hooch. Yeah, turner and Hooch. Oh, I did like Turner and Hooch.
Speaker 10:Miracle Mile, which I've talked about on this podcast, being the scariest ending probably to any movie I've ever seen.
Speaker 1:She's the love interest. Oh, she's the one that's screaming. Yeah, oh, my god, that's Val Kilmer's high school sweetie, wow.
Speaker 7:Hide your pork, Hide your pork products. The winning hams are coming and they demand all ham.
Speaker 1:And his classmate was none other than Kevin Spacey.
Speaker 7:Oh, interesting Yikes. Yeah, I mean, you never know how life is going to pan out.
Speaker 1:What was that like? I wonder. Because Val was into acting, he was starring in all the wonder? Because Val was into acting.
Speaker 7:He was starring in all the productions, but Kevin was in. I don't know I was going to say in men's, but it doesn't matter what I was going to say, beat me to it. Yeah, there you go. You take it, kyle.
Speaker 1:Kevin must have been an egomaniac in high school, competing for the same roles as Val.
Speaker 10:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I wonder what their relationship was like. Hopefully it was consensual. Did they ever talk about that? I couldn't find much info on that.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it is rare to have two superstars come from the same class. Yeah, kevin Spacey must have grown up fairly wealthy then as well.
Speaker 1:He had a very strange upbringing.
Speaker 7:Oh, okay, I'm sure we'll cover that at some point Hopefully soon, we'll be able to cover it Well, all right, we don't wish death upon anyone.
Speaker 1:I didn't mean it like that, oh okay, unfortunately, although business was going well, eugene and Gladys divorced in the late 60s, when Val was eight years old, so that kind of-. It's always a shitty thing, sours thing a bit.
Speaker 10:Yeah, it's brutal.
Speaker 1:And the thing is the dad had all the wealth and power. So the mom moved to Arizona without the kids and the dad won full custody of the boys.
Speaker 10:Wow, what are you going to do If everything was going well? You're going to leave a baron just to go to Arizona.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're going to leave. You live at Universal Studios, basically, right, the former Roy Rogers mansion Roy Rogers, baron of Grenadine, over here.
Speaker 10:You're leaving, what are you doing?
Speaker 7:She must have really hated that guy. Yeah, let's go to a two-bedroom flat in Arizona instead of this paradise.
Speaker 1:That doesn't sound too bad, but it is unfortunate, though, because they loved their mom and she was the main practitioner, looking for the right word. Main believer in Christian science? Okay, oh God, and so she got everyone into that Jesus. Believer in Christian science Okay, oh God. And so she got everyone into that Jesus. Yeah, see you later. Well, you know, don't judge Kyle Because you don't believe in it too Well they don't believe to get help for sick babies and they let them die. Oh, is that right, yeah, so wait what is?
Speaker 10:it exactly it's just garbage. They think that people are gifts from God and you can't intervene in God's work, so they don't believe in modern medicine. And then, yeah, I think I've told this story on the podcast before, but my buddy's grandfather showed up and there was a dead baby. They're like oh yeah, the baby died. He's been sick forever. And they're like well, why didn't you get help and go to the hospital? And they're like we're christian scientists, we don't believe in going to the hospital. And so he was like he's a cop and he's saying so. If you were severely injured right now, would you go to the hospital? He's like of course not. And so he beat the shit out of him and he immediately went to the emergency room. Huh, that's a cop brutality story. You can get behind that's really interesting.
Speaker 7:sometimes they beat up the right guy. Yeah, exactly, All right there we go.
Speaker 1:It's nice to hear a warm cop story sometimes Another thing is Eugene had a lot of affairs and that's what partly led to the divorce, so he wasn't really that he sounds like a wealthy land baron.
Speaker 7:Yeah, yeah he does so.
Speaker 1:One night Val had a strange dream and it's very specific. He read word up magazine. He's hanging out with mayor, his high school gal. Well, they were both in high school at the time. I don't want to make it sound like Kevin.
Speaker 7:Spacey.
Speaker 1:And he's sitting there with Mare and her mom not even his mom. So he's talking with Mare and her mom in this dream and they start talking about death. And then Mare's mom tells him that she's not afraid of death because she was excited to meet the creator. Okay, and so he wakes up from this, doesn't think anything of it. But then that day, his brother wesley his younger brother, the director, the up-and-coming director had an epileptic seizure and drowned in the family jacuzzi. Oh my God, he was 15 years old. Wow, that's an older person's death?
Speaker 7:Yeah, Usually the jacuzzi. You're in your mid-50s, you have a martini, you have your heart attack.
Speaker 10:You were on NBC for 20 years, sure.
Speaker 7:You're found by either a sex worker or an employee.
Speaker 1:Or you're at the Beverly Hilton and you just had a smorgasbord plate delivered to the room.
Speaker 10:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you're about to go to a Clive Davis party. Yep, then you drown. Whitney Houston. Yeah, so he suffered from seizures and he had medication for that, but his dad blamed himself because he feels like he wasn't strict enough about making Wesley take the pills all the time and the circumstances that day that the housekeeper was away buying groceries at this moment. So if someone had been around he could have been saved right and with that it's done.
Speaker 1:Like his brother's dreams, like his life is over and this was absolutely devastating for val because they were a team and after that val's dad, eugene, became detached. The the life had drained out of his personality and he just didn't really. He never got his spark back, which I understand.
Speaker 7:Absolutely, it's devastating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a very traumatic event. So Val uses that tragedy to, I guess, inspire him to make it. Yeah, that makes sense, you know to fulfill.
Speaker 7:Live for his younger brother's dream Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he becomes the youngest kid ever accepted into the drama school at Juilliard Wow At age 17. Good for him. That record was later broken by someone named Seth Numrick Numrick. Oh yeah, Seth. Someone named Seth Numric Numric. Oh yeah, Seth. Yeah, Seth Numric. Who was admitted to the school at age 15. Many years later, no one knows who Numric is.
Speaker 7:Numric.
Speaker 1:While he was at Juilliard. By the way, this is the stomping ground of Robin Williams, christopher Reeve Everyone that matters, everyone that matters, everyone that matters. Val helped start a program for playwriting, because I guess they didn't have one at the time.
Speaker 7:They didn't have one of those at the time.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 7:Weird.
Speaker 1:And he wrote a play with his fellow thespians called how it All Began, about a leftist German militant, okay, and he called this a life-changing thrill to be able to perform his own words on stage. And he was the star of this play. Love it, it's Juilliard, you know it's.
Speaker 3:New.
Speaker 1:York. It's huge, you're young, jeez Handsome. Yeah, all of the above. Every box is checked here and he's so confident at this point because it's going so well. He turns down an offer from Francis Coppola to do the Outsiders Wow. And instead he says you know what I'd rather do? Broadway right now? Wow, because he's an actor. Right, he's not an actor, right, he's an actor. He would have an actor. He's an actor, he would have been great in the Outsiders.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but couldn't a lot of people have been good in that? It's not really what do you mean? You've got to have a tongue.
Speaker 10:you've got to have nice arms, rough and tumble kids.
Speaker 1:I could have done that. Hey yo, I'm a greaser. Kick his ass.
Speaker 7:You could have done that line.
Speaker 1:I'm a greaser. By the way, tom Cruise was in that. Yeah, a man he will share the screen with in a little while. That's not all they shared either. Oh Okay, I don't even know what that means actually. Very good, I don't even know what that means actually Very good. The play that he had turned down the outsiders for was called Slab Boys, written by Kevin Spacey. No, but he became the third lead, behind Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn.
Speaker 10:Those two were both at Juilliard.
Speaker 1:No, now they're doing this play on Broadway.
Speaker 10:Oh, now he's gone pro. Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Slab boys, but he's supposed to be starring in it. But then Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn roll in, and then the director's like, okay, now you're the third lead, because these two they're going to take over, which again it sort of makes sense because they had a lot of buzz around them too. Right, those two guys I mean, come on, yeah of course. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon. You don't make that game around just anybody. Yeah, absolutely. And.
Speaker 7:Sean Penn. He was right fresh off the Beaver Trilogy.
Speaker 1:Remember that I don't remember the Beaver Trilogy, just Google Beaver Trilogy.
Speaker 10:Okay, I think I did last night yeah.
Speaker 1:Pornhubcom. Yeah, we're back in Chatsworth now, but fear not, because Val's movie career is about to be launched with an underrated comedy called Top Secret. Oh yes, but this is quite the movie debut because he's the star of it. And this is from the Zucker Brothers Before they found success with Naked Gun. This is their first. Well, of course there's Airplane and all that, but this was like the first big one after that success, wow. So they were trying to duplicate the formula in some ways, but financially it didn't do very well Because it's sort of like a world war ii comedy and I guess audiences weren't into that. And on the set, this is where, all right. So val, fresh off juilliard broadway.
Speaker 7:He's a method actor and he's taking it so serious even, even for Top Secret, which is a goofball movie, exactly so he's asking the directors all these questions about his motivation.
Speaker 1:Why is his character doing this? Why is that lamp over there in the corner? Why is the Nazi symbol there? So is he Buddhist? He's roided on my jacket Am I a? Buddhist, what's the point? And they're just like look, kid, just hit your mark.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we can do the gags right, I will say, in comedies like that it's best to play them totally straight oh, absolutely like if you actually look at leslie nielsen in naked gun, he is being pretty authentic yeah and I was shocked to find out, after I had been a fan of all the naked gun movies as a kid, that he was a serious actor.
Speaker 1:Leading up to airplane there's a twilight zone episode with leslie nielsen and I watch it and I laugh, but it's not funny and he's the captain in the poseidon adventure and he does not have a very good fate in that movie and it scared the shit out of me as a kid because I loved him as Frank Drebin. That's so funny.
Speaker 3:I'm like no.
Speaker 1:Not. Drebin Don't die. Really, and he played a serious role in this Barbra Streisand movie called Nuts, where he's like this violent asshole who gets murdered. Oh, I need to see that. Yeah, back to Val. So, yeah, top Secret didn't do so well at the box office, but it got a lot of good reviews, including two thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert.
Speaker 7:Wow, they liked the comedy. Yeah, they liked the goofball comedy. They sure did Rare.
Speaker 1:After that he followed it up with Real Genius, sort of a teen comedy, and he co-starred with John Grice from White Lotus, who plays Gary Gregg.
Speaker 10:Oh, yeah, nice, Uncle Rico.
Speaker 1:And Uncle Rico yeah from Napoleon Dynamite. Another thing that blew my mind. Those two are the same people.
Speaker 7:Yeah, that's where I know him from. I haven't watched this White Lotus show. I just hear so much about it. I heard it's boring. Then I heard all the families are having sex with each other yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1:People are like it's boring, it sucks, but I'm going to make a million YouTube videos about different theories and explanations and reactions. Yeah, so real genius. That worked out pretty well for him. So now he's established like he's in the movies, but the next offer he gets is for a, a movie that he wasn't too keen on doing because he felt that it was promoting warmongering and it was a little too rah-rah. Oh the usa, this is hollywood man, that's what they do. Yeah, a little movie called top gun thought the shorts were too short but he was under contract, okay, so he had to do it.
Speaker 1:It's a good thing he did it.
Speaker 10:Yeah, he ended up enjoying the experience so this was a part of a multi-picture deal for him then, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he didn't see it that it was going to be so successful, obviously.
Speaker 10:And it's his third movie. It's his third movie.
Speaker 1:That's incredible Because, keep in mind, tom Cruise wasn't Tom Cruise quite yet Right, he was kind of like Val Kilmer and like up and coming had done a couple of movies he had done Risky Business at this point and things like that.
Speaker 7:So he was sort of seen as a goofball lover boy, yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this was the first huge blockbuster that they're both a part of. Yeah. Okay. So in the movie he's the villain of sorts and Tom Cruise is his rival, and so offscreen, val Kilmer played up that rivalry. He didn't speak to him that much, and when Cruise and some others would go to the bar, like with Anthony Edwards, he'd go to a different bar with the other guys.
Speaker 7:I like that. Keep Kayfabe alive, that's pro wrestling, there used to be where the heels and the faces they separated completely.
Speaker 10:this is good acting it's great, you're gonna get a great product, but god, is it probably annoying to be around come on, you want to be with the bad boys no, this is classic, like the method acting dustin hoff, where on the Marathon man set, he's trying to get in character like running in place.
Speaker 1:And then what's his name? The Thespian, the Master, thespian, master, thespian From the Marathon man, oh, you know, I just remember a guy getting choked up. He's the greatest actor of all time, dom.
Speaker 7:DeLuise. I time Dom DeLuise. I'm going Dom DeLuise, laurence.
Speaker 1:Olivier, laurence Olivier. Oh, okay, so Dustin Hoffman is running in place getting sweaty like punching himself in the forehead and then he's like what on earth are you doing?
Speaker 7:Dustin Hoffman's like I'm trying to feel this yeah, I'm running, you know it's a marathon, I'm a marathon man and then he tells him why don't you just act?
Speaker 1:So there's the line I love that Method versus, I guess, just acting. Well, val is from the method school. But yeah, as Kyle said, you get a good performance, I get a great performance.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:I would say why don't we check it out? Actually, we have a scene from Top Gun here. You are still dangerous.
Speaker 3:You can be my wingman anytime. Bullshit, you can be mine.
Speaker 7:Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss kiss, kiss.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are a lot of homoerotic elements to Top Gun. You can be my wingman anytime, including that sweaty volleyball scene.
Speaker 7:Oh, it was one of the sexier scenes of all time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, incidentally, tom Cruise's love interest in the movie, kelly McGillis. She was a classmate of Val's at Juilliard. Wow, you can't escape these people?
Speaker 10:No, you really can't. No, it's a small world.
Speaker 1:That's where.
Speaker 10:Seth Nagoni or whatever. His name was Numric.
Speaker 7:Numric. Where are you Numric? Yeah, I was the youngest kid ever to get invited to Juilliard how about it.
Speaker 8:Hey buddy, can you just pump my gas already?
Speaker 7:Yeah, yeah, jersey just treats me well.
Speaker 1:Speaking of Uncle Rico, that guy's probably talking about how he broke Val's record. Anyone who'll listen?
Speaker 7:Absolutely, I was 15.
Speaker 1:Val was so hot as an actor that he brought Cher to the premiere Woo.
Speaker 7:Wow, still absolutely beautiful to this day.
Speaker 1:And she never stopped loving Val. To this day, cher, they remained very close, even though they broke up, wow.
Speaker 10:Okay, yeah, did she wear assless chaps?
Speaker 1:I'm sure she took them off for him. Nice so Val is now extremely successful. You know one of the biggest actors around. Yeah, Nice so Val is now extremely successful.
Speaker 1:One of the biggest actors around, and his dad is on his way down at this point. So he still wanted to keep the land-bearing thing going, because he owned a lot of well land in the valley, but he wanted more. So then Val would co-sign loans for him, and then, when those projects fell through, val had the choice to either sue his dad or just write him another big check. Yeah, it's tough to sue your dad? Yeah, so he just wrote him the check.
Speaker 7:Okay, so his dad was kind of failing financially.
Speaker 1:Yes, I see so you know that's not great, but you got a feel for the guy. He's gone through a lot. Yeah, After that Val does a movie called Willow.
Speaker 7:Yes, my favorite Val Kilmer movie.
Speaker 1:Which Kyle shocked us just before saying he'd never even heard of it.
Speaker 7:I never heard of it is one thing. Usually I've heard of everything I don't watch.
Speaker 1:How did you miss Willow?
Speaker 10:I didn't know Warwick Davis and Val Kilmer were in the same movie.
Speaker 7:Yes indeed, Warwick Davis, super stud yeah.
Speaker 1:And on the set he met his future wife, joanne Wally. They married that same year. That Willow was released in 1988. And he had felt a special bond with the state of New Mexico after visiting there as a kid, because that's where his grandpa resided. And so he decided let's move to New Mexico and start a new life.
Speaker 7:I love it. Nothing bad could happen there. No, nothing at all. Nope. My wife is from Spain.
Speaker 1:And he never really liked the Valley. In fact, he's on record as saying he hated the Valley. Wow.
Speaker 7:I would assume it feels like you're at work all the time Right yeah?
Speaker 1:And you get out of the Hollywood bubble, which we'll go over a little bit later. People weren't so kind to him. When you're not doing so well, it's brutal and he loved his life in New Mexico, herded buffalo. Oh all right, and he flirted with the idea of running for governor even. Wow, no kidding, how's that?
Speaker 7:That's interesting, governor Kilmer.
Speaker 1:I'd vote for him. Yeah, why not? So Val is at a crossroads, career-wise. He's just experienced the biggest success a young actor could experience.
Speaker 7:Right, top Gun With Top Gun. And then I'm assuming Willow probably wasn't quite the hit that they wanted it to be, not even close, but it was a cult classic oh, yeah, now people love willow and it did pretty well on video, okay, and that's probably how you remember it of course, yeah, yeah because it was, there, were.
Speaker 1:It was like that back then, like there'd be a perceived huge flop, but then you'd see it all the time at the video store. Dave Lebowski is a prime example.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Now Val is itching to work with some of the great directors. He loved working with Tony Scott, by the way, who directed Top Gun, and he loved working with Ron Howard, who directed Willow Wow, which is another surprise if you didn't know that.
Speaker 10:He has such a weird filmography. Yeah, I thought he just started getting into directing in like the early 2000s. I didn't know.
Speaker 1:He's been since like the 80s. He did Willow and Apollo 13 and Ed TV, ed TV.
Speaker 10:Yeah, like what the fuck. With McConaughey. Yes, oh my God.
Speaker 1:No, the other Ed TV.
Speaker 7:And then he also made the JD Vance docu-movie. Oh God that's right.
Speaker 1:Wow, with Glenn Close.
Speaker 7:It's so bizarre. The.
Speaker 1:Hillbilly Elegy yeah. And she was nominated for both a Razzie and an Oscar for the same performance. Razzie and an Oscar for the same performance.
Speaker 7:Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:She's like listen to me, boy, You're going to be big someday. Make your grandma proud. See, I could have won an Oscar for that movie?
Speaker 7:Absolutely, you still have a chance.
Speaker 1:Val sets his sights on the Stanley Kubrick and he makes an audition tape for Full Metal Jacket. Not only that, and, by the way, he does like eight different versions of a soldier in the tape, like a brave one, a shy one. You know, yeah, all the different character types they expose and then he books a ticket to England and-delivers the tape to Kubrick.
Speaker 10:Oh, while he's doing Eyes Wide Shut. No, no, this is way before.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, way before. Yeah, this is in the 80s.
Speaker 7:Right, yeah, is that creepy or is that good? Well, if you're Kubrick, you're like, hey, you're, hey, you know how? Do you know where I live?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know I directed A Clockwork Orange, but this is a little creepy here. A little strange, but I know, but he makes a hard pass on Kevin Moore, unfortunately.
Speaker 10:Probably because he's so involved and he knows he's going to be very involved too, and they can't both be that involved.
Speaker 1:Can't do it. That is wow. That's so insightful of Kubrick.
Speaker 10:Yeah, I mean he's like dude. Why the fuck are you here right now?
Speaker 1:So then Matthew Modine walks in the room like hey, how's it going? You're hired, yeah.
Speaker 10:He's like dude, if you're showing up to my house across the pond, you're going to show up to my trailer and really annoy me.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, hollywood is the most fickle of all romance and if you want it too much, they'll be like no, yeah, it was, pretend like you're too cool for the job. It's like whatever which val kilmer was also good at doing, so that's why it's like it's too bad that well, some people saw his potential. But yeah, but yeah, I guess it didn't. It didn't work that time, but I mean in the sense he was definitely with that persona in the 90s, like too cool for all this. Oh yeah, like he didn't care at all. Yeah, so then he sets his sight on Martin Scorsese. Oh, and he makes he's going down the checklist An elaborate audition tape for Goodfellas, like hey, bada, bing, bada go.
Speaker 7:You know I could see him in full metal jacket. Goodfellas, he's not fat enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually think he's too attractive. Leota was fat, no, I know, but he's got a big old fat head.
Speaker 7:Yeah, he looks like he could eat a lot of meatballs. You know, fat is an attitude.
Speaker 1:Well, Val Kilmer could have later been in Goodfellas then.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I just can't see young Val throwing someone's legs into a trunk and then be like they don't fit and then breaking them and stuff. I don't know.
Speaker 1:You're right about Goodfellas Full metal jacket he could have easily killed it in that role. Yeah, he could have done something, maybe in Goodfellas.
Speaker 10:Another method actor is Vince D'Onofrio. He got in trouble for opening up his own PI agency and trying to take on real cases and they're like you can't do that, wait what.
Speaker 1:When.
Speaker 10:When he was doing Law Order. Really, yeah, he's another freak when it comes to method acting.
Speaker 7:Oh my God, jesus Christ, that movie the Cell still haunts me. Oh my God, yeah, with.
Speaker 1:J-Lo. And he's of course, brilliant in Robert Altman's the Player. Hell, yeah, he, he's the Tim Robbins victim. Yeah, don't want to give anything away here. So then Val sets his sights on Oliver Stone. Maybe Oliver is as mad as Val because he loves the crazy audition tapes he gets.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's Val singing Doors songs, acting like Jim Morrison, and he did a great job, so he got the role. Okay, he memorized all the lyrics to every Doors song. All right, that's dedication. Yeah, not even memorizing the script. Yeah, also, the entire catalog of the Doors.
Speaker 7:Right, I mean I'm just to push back just a little bit. It's not the most intricate lyrics. Light my fire. I kind of remember that one.
Speaker 1:And in the movie that was supposed to be so controversial, the moment where Well, I mean in real life, it was when on Ed Sullivan, he's like Couldn't get much higher. It's like, come on, doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 4:Do you get it who?
Speaker 1:cares. Yeah, you make a good point, but at the same time you are emulating an icon, Absolutely.
Speaker 7:It's not exactly easy to do. Who died the way all rock stars should die fat.
Speaker 1:Fat and in France. Oh nice, you didn't know that. No, I didn't know. He was in france. In fact, his he's buried there and his grave is a tourist attraction. That's what a frenchman said to me once, uh, when I was there as a young man. Okay, I wanted to go check out the mona lisa or something, but he was like I can show you jim morrison's grave, I'd rather see the. But he was like I can show you Jim Morrison's grave, I'd rather see the grave.
Speaker 1:No, I was like I don't need to see that Interesting, I just want to see Mona Lisa.
Speaker 7:He's got a little hump for his little belly. That would be kind of nice. The Mona Lisa's boring it's tiny.
Speaker 1:It is very. It can fit in my pocket. I don't get it. Yeah, but so is a gravestone. It's like Boston. You go there. It's like, oh, here's where the massacre happened and there's where the tea party happened. It's a fucking Dunkin' Donuts now. It's like come on, get a Dunkie why even bother. Bacon egg and cheese please.
Speaker 1:It's on a T-joint, that's for damn sure. Apparently, he spent thousands of dollars on the eight-minute audition tape Yikes. And then get this To prepare for the role. He stayed in character as Jim Morrison for an entire year. Oh my God, so annoying. And it drove his wife Joanne crazy. See, this is what I'm talking about. Yes, he would dress in his clothes, go to his old haunts on the Sunset Strip.
Speaker 10:I don't know. He's probably crying while he's leaving. Like you, have a family.
Speaker 7:No, I don't, I'm Jim Morrison.
Speaker 1:And he was so consumed with Morrison that he had to seek psychiatric assistance to get help to get Jim out of his head.
Speaker 7:I agree with Lawrence of Olivier.
Speaker 10:Yeah, come on.
Speaker 7:It's like who's that one dude recently who couldn't stop being Elvis? Oh, Austin Butler, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he went to the Golden Globes and when he got his award he was like thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 7:And it wasn't facetiously. He said he had to go to classes to un-Elvis himself.
Speaker 10:What the hell is happening. I got de-Elvised.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I think they would do us all a bit of good to de-Elvis ourselves actually.
Speaker 7:Oh my God, I know I haven't been regular in a while.
Speaker 1:This reminds me of Jim Carrey on the set of man on the Moon, where probably for more than a year he went around going. Thank you very much, pissing everybody off.
Speaker 10:No.
Speaker 1:Jim, I asked what do you want for lunch? Thank you very much.
Speaker 7:I guess I have a soft spot though, because he did so good yeah.
Speaker 1:He did and he didn't?
Speaker 7:He also wasn't correct with Larry Lawler.
Speaker 1:Jerry Lawler.
Speaker 4:I'm sorry with Jerry.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 7:That's your friend. No, I know. No, no, no, I love that, though you corrected me in a pro wrestling thing. I love that, though, you corrected me in a pro wrestling thing.
Speaker 1:Yay, you guys think I don't know anything about wrestling. He's becoming a real boy.
Speaker 7:Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman were actually friends and that was one thing that Jim didn't understand, Because Jim was very mean to Jerry Lawler, but in reality backstage they would just laugh and laugh.
Speaker 10:Yeah.
Speaker 7:Because they were pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that always confused me, that behind the scenes that he was cruel to Jerry Lawler.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, because it was famously known that him and Andy Kaufman were friends in real life. Yes, so if he was authentic, he would have been friends with Lawler. Yes, and you're right, it is a very good performance. He would have been friends with Lawler. Yes, and you're right, it is a very good performance. But what I'm responding to is later on, when I rewatched it, after the magic faded. Like I loved it when it first came out when I was young. But now it's very I don't know, like almost like cringy, the way they recreate the Andy Kaufman moments.
Speaker 1:You know like this guy's brilliant and it just comes off as kind of annoying. Now, yeah, all right, but I think it's about as good of a Kaufman movie you could make.
Speaker 7:Oh, absolutely, yeah, I thought it was great.
Speaker 1:I'm dying over here. Help me out, guys. The surviving members of the Doors said that when they listened to Kilmer's voice, they couldn't distinguish it from Morrison's. Oh my.
Speaker 10:God, that's amazing. How's that? I mean that probably made his entire life.
Speaker 1:So he embodies Jim Morrison. Everyone pretty much accepted that was the best casting for that role. An example of like, like wow, they got that right, absolutely. And there was buzz about an oscar nomination. Oliver stone has just come out recently and said that that he was robbed that year. So what do you think?
Speaker 7:you think he deserved that I think the oscars always get it wrong they sure do.
Speaker 10:Yeah, like this year, they made it seem like they were going to give it to demi more for the substance yeah, she just had to live the movie they also just came out and said there was, they had a 12 million dollar oscar winning uh campaign for that girl who won for anora. They sent. They spent 12 million dollars sending out uh packages to all the uh voters. That's disgusting, and the budget for the movie was six6 million, by the way. Wow, no, so the fix was in on that one. Oh my God, she did great, but it's all politics.
Speaker 1:It really is. Are you trying to tell me that Hollywood is cutthroat? I guess, so I don't want to believe it, it's on the take baby.
Speaker 10:It's a little corny, I think. So let's get to tombstone, and I'm not talking about the pizza.
Speaker 7:I'm not talking about the finishing move from the undertaker. Yeah, what if he tombstones someone on a tombstone pizza?
Speaker 10:oh so that would be great.
Speaker 7:Burn your scalp yeah oh, hot pizza, but if it was a cold pizza you could get concussion oh, that's true, the though if you put Iceman on it, then it would cool down.
Speaker 1:Right. There you go. I don't know, tombstone is a Western. Did you know that?
Speaker 4:What.
Speaker 1:And it came out at a similar time as another Western with Kevin Costner called Wyatt Earp. Oh yeah, tombstone also has Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer plays Doc Holliday. And Tombstone beat Wyatt Earp's ass at the box office Whoa.
Speaker 10:It's like Dante's Peak and Volcano coming out at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yep, and this, of course, is famous for a certain line. Let's listen to it. I didn't think you had it in you.
Speaker 3:I'm your huckleberry. Why, johnny Ringo? You look like somebody just walked over your grave.
Speaker 8:Fight's not with you Holiday.
Speaker 3:I beg to differ, sir. We started a game we never got to finish Play for blood remember.
Speaker 1:He is good, Mm-hmm. And again, people say he was robbed for an Oscar for that movie. Yeah, and that line I'm a huckleberry. That's something that Doc Holliday did say in real life. It was one of his favorite terms and some people misheard it as hucklebearer. Okay, Because I guess huckle was a term used for the handles on caskets at that time.
Speaker 7:Well, what does huckleberry mean?
Speaker 1:So you would think to them maybe it has to do with Huckleberry Finn. That's what I thought you would think to them. Maybe it has to do with Huckleberry Finn. That's what I thought. By the way, mark Twain is a huge hero of Val Kilmer's, but it's not. It has nothing to do with Huckleberry Finn. So it really was just a line that.
Speaker 9:That just makes no fucking sense. It doesn't really make sense.
Speaker 7:I love it.
Speaker 1:So Val Kilmer wrote an autobiography near the end of his life and he titled it I'm your Huckleberry, and he said that it means I'm your man, like you've met your match.
Speaker 7:All right that works.
Speaker 1:That works Interesting.
Speaker 7:That's fine.
Speaker 1:Fine, I'll take it. And in the movie, Doc Holliday is dying of tuberculosis which we've learned, is not a very pleasant way to go. No, vivian Lee from Gone with the Wind.
Speaker 10:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we both had it last summer, or all three of us. Yes, yeah, nightmare.
Speaker 3:That was not fun.
Speaker 1:That was not fun. So in his death scene Spoiler alert he had the crew put A bag of ice under his bum. Saw this, so that he could be authentic. It was all cold and shit. Is that method, you think, I guess? Or is that cheating? It's not cheating? No, you have to act Like you're cold. Yeah, well, it's something. Or is that cheating? It's not cheating, it's cold. So then he can be like I'm cold. No, you have to act like you're cold, well it's easier if you're actually cold.
Speaker 1:I guess. So Val Kilmer enjoyed traveling, you know, and he went to Africa Okay, after Tombstone, to explore, okay, and while he was in Africarica, he went inside a bat cave, oh no. And then he gets a message from his agent about an offer for his next movie. And you know what that movie was? What? The saint no batman, forever all right, the third batman. And the Saint no Batman Forever, all right, the third Batman. And to keep you up to speed, there were two other Batmans before this. Yes, theatrically, all right. Now I'm just talking in circles. There was one silly Batman movie based on the series.
Speaker 10:In the 60s, Adam West yeah.
Speaker 1:But the first real Batman movie Tim Burton, 1989, michael Keaton. They both came back for the sequel Then both of them didn't want to do another one Right? So then Joel Schumacher comes in and he's hot off of Falling Down.
Speaker 7:Which was a great movie.
Speaker 1:I think of that movie all the time when I'm sitting on the 405. Absolutely Just want to get out of my car and leave it.
Speaker 7:Every time I get a fast food burger, I think about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, does this look like the picture, and so Val Kilmer says yes, without even reading the script, because he thought it would be cool.
Speaker 7:Yeah, who the hell wouldn't want to be Batman?
Speaker 1:Well, val Kilmer eventually, because on set it wasn't as much fun as he thought it'd be. Apparently, the costume weighed a ton. You could hardly move in it, and when he wore it he also couldn't hear anybody else, so he was required just to stand there and then deliver the line on cue. Meanwhile, he's surrounded by Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as the Riddler Right, giving these really big performances, as they hate each other as well. Yeah, oh my God, what was that line? I cannot sanction your buffoonery.
Speaker 10:Yeah, because he was up for Cobb. When he was up for Cobb was destroyed. It was his Oscar swing against.
Speaker 1:No pun intended.
Speaker 10:Yeah, against Ace Ventura in Dumb and Dumber and the Mask.
Speaker 1:And so we got a lot of interesting dynamics going on here. Meanwhile, val Kilmer is jealous of both of them.
Speaker 7:That they get to really like Right. Well, he's wearing 200 pounds worth of suit. Can't hear anything. Probably can't really be method then. No. Not really, because Batman can hear very well.
Speaker 1:And move around in that suit. Yes, we've seen it happen. Yeah, so it was very isolating for him and he wasn't in a great mood. There's a report that he was verbally abusive to a crew member and then director Joel Schumacher called him out and then Val didn't speak to him for two weeks. Oh so imagine making a movie where the main actor won't speak to you.
Speaker 7:Right, that would be difficult.
Speaker 1:Schumacher later called val childish and impossible and the most psychologically disturbed person he ever worked with that's how I would describe that movie, and this is impossible and this is the man who worked with nicholas cage, mind you wow, nicholas cage is the stud.
Speaker 7:He's a stud I.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's not great, but hey. And then there was another movie right before this he did, called the Real McCoy, where he allegedly fired a prop gun after arguing with the director, whoa.
Speaker 7:Huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, alec Baldwin style, but how's the performance? Let's take a look. This is a scene where Nicole Kidman, by the way, plays his love interest Dr Chase Meridian, and, if you'll recall, she was married to Tom Cruise at that time. You know, maverick, I'm going to bang your wife. Yes, indeed. So Val's now the love interest to Tom Cruise's wife. Take that. My opinion as a letter writer is a total wacko. Val's now the love interest to Tom Cruise's wife. Take that.
Speaker 3:Huh, my opinion is that a writer is a total wacko.
Speaker 2:Wacko Is that a technical term. Patient may suffer from obsessional syndrome with potential homicidal tendencies. Does that work better for you? So what you're saying is this guy's a total wacko.
Speaker 1:With dialogue like that it can't fail? No, and I guess his turtleneck was too tight. Oh really no, I just made that up, poor guy. Well, none of that matters, because money talks right. Batman Forever was a huge commercial hit? I'm sure it was. I saw it in the theater, so did I, and it was one of the most exciting movie experiences of my life. Yes, I was so excited to see that movie.
Speaker 7:What's wrong with you, Ben? You don't remember this. No, I liked the Michael Keaton Batman. I didn't like this goofball Batman.
Speaker 1:Even at the time, you didn't get into it.
Speaker 7:I would take Adam West Batman, Because he's trying to get rid of a bomb but he can't because there's a bunch of ducks.
Speaker 1:It's so underrated because this gets lumped in with Batman and Robin like stupid and mind you, there are stupid elements. But it is a fun popcorn movie. It's really like 1995, the movie.
Speaker 10:With one of the biggest songs of the decade.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Kiss from a Rose.
Speaker 7:Yeah, that's true, I did like that song.
Speaker 1:Right. And then you got Drew Barrymore in a supporting role. You got Sealed Flaming Lips on the soundtrack.
Speaker 4:Jim Carrey.
Speaker 1:His first big payday after becoming a superstar from Dumb and Dumber. This was so cool.
Speaker 7:I was watching Japanese death matches around this time. I don't think it really wasn't violent enough, all right, fine.
Speaker 1:So you loved Batman and Robin, the follow-up, I take it, the porno. So Val took no break after filming Batman and he immediately moved on to Heat. Ooh, yes, this is good, the LA Noire directed by Michael Mann, and actually that movie inspired Christopher Nolan's the Dark Knight. Hmm, so Interesting. Wow, batman, you know. Yeah, michael Mann said of Val Kilmer, quote I could not figure out how Val Kilmer could tolerate being Val Kilmer.
Speaker 1:In any scene, an actor and director do scene analysis, which is the action, or what does the character want? Sometimes it's in the text, sometimes it's in the subtext Val would have seven or eight different reactions and modalities, every one of them, which is great. I couldn't imagine having such an artistic range and depth, more than it's possible to control. Wow, high compliment. And I wonder if Val he loves the movie and basically, who doesn't? Yeah, he's great, it's such an amazing movie, like the shootout sequences. You're seeing legends together Al Pacino, robert De Niro. But I wonder if, in the midst of all that, val Kilmer was a little jealous of Pacino? Ooh, why? Because Pacino got. What line did he get?
Speaker 10:to say he got a big ass.
Speaker 7:Yeah, well, I mean, not everyone gets the best line.
Speaker 1:Then he went on to do a movie called the Island of Dr Moreau.
Speaker 7:And this was a classic.
Speaker 1:This was a very doomed production. Oh my God, this movie is fascinating the original director, richard stanley, was fired because the studio didn't think he he's a psychopath he's fucking nuts.
Speaker 7:They didn't think he could handle the material no, this is not on the studio. He could not.
Speaker 1:He is crazy and so there's a rumor that he convinced the makeup crew to turn him into one of the background mutants. That happened, and so that totally happened.
Speaker 7:There's a great documentary on it. Oh shoot.
Speaker 1:At the wrap party he finally unmasked himself. Val Kilmer later mentioned that Stanley would yell at him between takes in the dog man makeup.
Speaker 6:It's like who is that?
Speaker 1:guy and he was replaced by John Frankenheimer as director. This is an esteemed director. He directed the Manchurian Candidate previously and a movie called the Iceman Cometh. Coincidence, bum, bum, bum. And then I saw this title in his filmography and I'm intrigued. 99 and 44 hundred percent dead, as in 44 out of 100 percent dead. That's the name of the movie. Yes, 94, I mean 99 and 44, 100% dead. Well, I don't get it. It's a math problem.
Speaker 7:It's a math issue.
Speaker 1:I looked it up and it used to be in the ivory soap commercials. That was their slogan that their soap was 99 and 44 out of 100% pure. Oh my God. Well, that's weird.
Speaker 10:Naked gun 33 and a third yeah.
Speaker 1:So I have to see this movie now. Sounds like Scott.
Speaker 7:Steiner math. For those pro wrestling nerds out there. You'll know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:So you think John Frankenheimer came on set and everything was good? I don't think so. Everything was all well? I don't think so. Everything was all well? I don't think so. No, not at all, no, no, no. He did not get along with Val Kilmer. They fought instantly. They had creative differences and in a private vlog, kilmer started recording him while they were arguing and you can hear Frankenheimer begging him to turn the camera off and then Val tells him that no, it has to stay on because it's a witness to show that Frankenheimer is being unfair and they hated each other. And afterwards Frankenheimer said that if he was directing a movie called the Life of Val Kilmer, he would not cast Val Kilmer.
Speaker 7:I mean, that would make sense actually.
Speaker 1:And Val said that the only reason he did the movie in the first place was to work with Marlon Brando. Who was?
Speaker 10:a nightmare on set too, Absolutely.
Speaker 7:Well, this is big Brando, this is big fat, happy Brando, I mean, although he was really angry.
Speaker 10:And painted white.
Speaker 7:Yeah, yeah for no reason.
Speaker 1:And sometimes they painted this other big fat guy white to look like Brando, so some people didn't know if it was Brando or the other guy. Jesus, some days. And then one morning both Brando and Kilmer refused to come out of their trailers until the other one did, and they lost a whole day of shooting because of that, oh my God. And then Brando would request large amounts of cabbage and then eat it about an hour before he was due to shoot the scene, and then he would silently fart so that Kilmer would be thrown off guard. What, oh my God? What's happening? But Kilmer later claimed that they actually did get along on set.
Speaker 10:All right that it was all very playful.
Speaker 1:Okay, this movie also features the world's smallest man, and Brando became obsessed with him and would kind of keep him on his shoulder like a pet. I remember that guy. It was his request to have him in the movie too, brando, he got whatever he wanted. He's come up a lot lately because, remember, he worked with the great Selena in Don Juan DeMarco While on set. Another thing to add to Kilmer's craziness is that he's watching CNN one afternoon and he sees a report that his wife is filing for divorce.
Speaker 10:It's so weird how many celebrities find out things about their personal life on the news Really.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. And he was served divorce papers on set.
Speaker 7:Wow, no shit Of the Island of Dr Moreau. It's a terrible experience. Yes, not a good time for him Not at all.
Speaker 1:After that, he burned a cameraman with a cigarette On purpose. Well, that's what they say Jeez who knows? And in his autobiography he wrote that it was Daryl Hanna who was actually the love of his life and the one who got away.
Speaker 7:I thought you were going to say Daryl Hammond, yeah, maybe. Yep, you never know Great character actors. Maybe you never know Great character actors.
Speaker 1:Yep. She later married Neil Young. Of course, Daryl Hanna did.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They're still married. Wow, yes, what, yes, okay.
Speaker 3:Neil Young ain't no slouch, come on.
Speaker 1:Well, he's a little slouchy.
Speaker 7:He was known as one of the worst dressed men. I mean, I love Neil Young.
Speaker 1:He's kind of the epitome of slouch Now that you mention it, but one of my favorite, of course. So Val Kilmer then makes a movie with Michael Douglas called the Ghost in the Darkness, about a killer lion.
Speaker 7:Okay, makes sense. They didn't really change the narrative there for the lion, huh no.
Speaker 1:So he's been gone a while making these weird movies and being Batman, and when he comes back, his reputation is really catching up with him. So while he's promoting the Ghost in the Darkness, he appears on the Today Show and Bryant Gumbel grills him.
Speaker 10:Bryant Gumbel- Gumbel Come on, Gumbel. Gumbel goes after him.
Speaker 9:Over the past year, you've had a lot of bad press. How come?
Speaker 3:Well, I had a lot of good press too. My defense is that I've been working, I've been out of the country, I didn't have a publicist and didn't really have a chance to defend myself, and after I did Batman, I went immediately into Heat because I wanted to work with Robert De Niro and we should note that's the title of the movie.
Speaker 9:Go ahead. What are you talking about? I didn't get heat, I was in heat.
Speaker 3:You know, write about people they're not interested in.
Speaker 9:Is it that simple though? I mean there were, you know, for example, I mean directors have been. You know, joel Schumacher said you were difficult to work with Frankenheimer said he'd never work with you again. By now everybody's seen Marlon Brando's quote about you, that he chooses the size of his paycheck with the size of his talent.
Speaker 4:I mean why, are these people saying things if they're not?
Speaker 3:true, marlon didn't say that and Joel asked me to be in A Time to Kill while we were still editing Batman and very much wanted me to do the sequel. So it wasn't because he didn't want to work with me, it's because I chose to do the sequel. So it wasn't because he didn't want to work with me, it's because I chose to do the saint, and in batman I play two characters and the saint I play about 15. So it was kind of mathematical will you allow?
Speaker 9:there's been a cumulative negative effect on your image of all of this stuff no, he was quite handsome, oh yeah I do think he's, he's kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so was Val Kilmer. Oh hey, Brian Gumbel Gumbel. I love how Brian Gumbel's acting like he's the arbiter of good behavior.
Speaker 7:Also, they didn't grill Bill Clinton as hard as that. No shit, all right. Fine, he's difficult. He's an actor who has a bit of an ego.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 7:This is the guy who in in a memo said that he hated willard scott what? And found him annoying.
Speaker 10:Willard scott if you were a hundred. You made it on that show. Yeah, he's a wholesome guy ryan gumbel. That is wow.
Speaker 1:You just got gumbled, gumbled, gumbled whoa, and then let's see how he was treated. On david letterman oh wow letter.
Speaker 10:You know he could be mean to some people.
Speaker 1:David Letterman asked him about this and said he made up a list of all the accusations.
Speaker 4:Oh Jesus, and so just say is it true or not true when I brush?
Speaker 6:on some of these. No, that's not true.
Speaker 4:Okay, you wanted the director of that movie, island of Dr Moore, to be fired. No, no, not true. Shoved Batman director. Shoved the Batman director.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 4:No, didn't do that, Not true? On the set of Tombstone, you grabbed a locust, an extra hat, and ate it Well that is true, all right, let's see.
Speaker 2:That is true, all right.
Speaker 4:You shoved Bob Dole off stage at a campaign stop last night. You were responsible for the breakup of Hall and Oates.
Speaker 6:I was young I reformed.
Speaker 7:you were responsible for the breakup of Hall and Oates that's your classic letterman. There you go. It got any gum. That is your classic 90s letterman. He never said that, by the way. Yeah, that was norm that was no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you can see that Kilmer is having a bit of fun with it. Yeah, that was norm. That was no, yeah, so you can see that kilmer's having a bit of fun with it.
Speaker 10:Yeah, kind of brushing it off his shoulders I mean he's lucky he got the good side of letterman, because he could have tried to bury him too. He was having fun with him, which is good yeah, well, he's not lindsey lohan.
Speaker 1:No, true letterman only treats people he probably doesn't respect like that yes, love me, a me, a Lindsay Lohan buddy.
Speaker 10:And the guy who played McFly's dad, Crispin Glover. He was super mean to him.
Speaker 7:Well, Crispin Glover was insane. Well, crispin Glover was on acid, come on now I mean I like Crispin Glover's a lot. Yeah, I like him. I mean I don't know if I like him. He's an interesting person, sure, yeah, I mean I don't want to be best friends with the guy. Now that he wants to be friends with me.
Speaker 1:Well, anyway, it doesn't matter. Yeah, they used to call him Extra Crispin. Nice Mm-hmm the Saint did not turn out to be a hit. I saw it, it was fun. It is a fun movie. I didn't know it wasn't a hit. No, it wasn't. And then he followed that up with At First Sight, but not many people saw this. Nice, okay, I'm done. I'm really done for the day. On set, mary Sorvino said she loved working with him. Oh good, and found him easy to work with. Positive news. Can you imagine when she said that in the interview? They're like wait, are we talking about the same person here?
Speaker 7:Well, Hollywood gets a narrative and then they just go with it. It's like Jennifer Aniston's never going to find love. It's like she can bang a million men right now if she wants to, of course.
Speaker 1:Then he does one final big studio movie, red Planet, which was a big flop. Okay, I never heard of it and he did not get along with Tom Sizemore on set, but then again, who did?
Speaker 7:Yeah, that's fine, that's probably on Tom Sizemore yeah.
Speaker 1:There's a story where, on the set of Heat, that Kilmer would antagonize Sizemore by stealing his bag of cocaine. Oh, that'll do it. Every week he'd steal it and then he would pretend to help him look for the guy who stole it yeah.
Speaker 6:Sounds like my family.
Speaker 10:They'll steal your wallet and help you try to find it. That is aggravating.
Speaker 1:In 2004,. So Kilmer's worked with a lot of pretty good directors. He didn't get to work with Kubrick or Scorsese, but he's worked with Tony Scott, joel Schumacher by the way, I forgot to mention that what was sort of said in the Brian Gumbel interview? That he did officially turn down Batman and Robin to do the Saint. So that's quite a decision. Yeah.
Speaker 7:Sounds like it was a horrible experience, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then he worked with David Mamet for the movie Spartan in 2004. And you got to hear a little of this DVD commentary. Oh, this is incredible. This came from a friend of the show, Mark Mulcair. You remember him. He sent us this amazing clip.
Speaker 10:Yeah, where he discusses his time on set.
Speaker 1:Yeah, his love for David Mamet.
Speaker 2:That's David's style. He writes in a lot of particular rhythms. That's why it's so frustrating when he cuts all the good stuff, messes up his own rhythm. I don't understand him. He's cruel. He hates actors. Having failed in the profession himself, I hate him. The other thing is the hair his hairdo what is that? Wow, I mean, I mean. And the glasses. What I find amazing is his courage, though I mean, to still wear a beret in 2004.
Speaker 6:You've got to have guts.
Speaker 2:You've got to give that to him. I'm proud of this film and for David Mamet, because I think it's the least cussing I mean to rely on profanity is embarrassing really. Fuck it. See with the effing, why has he got to go there? I think it's great that David hired Bill Macy to play a bad guy, because he is almost insanely jealous of Bill.
Speaker 4:Bill's had a lot of success.
Speaker 2:They've known each other for 35 years and success that is alluded, David Mamet Wow.
Speaker 10:To feed Mamet to his friends, mamet Holy shit.
Speaker 7:Oh my God, god he went in. Oh, that's hilarious.
Speaker 1:Wow, so that is his persona, doesn't give a fuck right. That got good reviews, by the way, spartan, but David Mamet does have a very mixed filmography if you ask me because he has some great ones. Obviously he wrote Glengarry Glen Ross I Love House of Games but he also did movies like State and Maine and Heist and Phil Spector on HBO with Pacino.
Speaker 6:And he went on record as saying he thinks Phil.
Speaker 1:Spector on HBO, yeah, with Pacino, yeah, and he went on record as saying he thinks Phil Spector is innocent.
Speaker 7:We simply don't know, do we? We simply don't know. We kind of know, we pretty much know.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, then, val Kilmer does Kiss, kiss, bang, bang, and this was a comeback for everyone involved, for director Shane Black, because he had been kind of on the outs since the debacle Last Action Hero.
Speaker 7:I loved that movie. I thought it was great. It was a debacle.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was a big flop, it opened around what yeah? And it opened at the same time as Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park just devoured it. It's so good and Jurassic Park just devoured it, it's so good Jurassic Park.
Speaker 7:it devoured everything. It did. But that movie was great. I was like I can be sucked into the movies too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, I saw it on video and I watched it all the time. I loved it. Yeah, and it works. It's very funny and the action is good.
Speaker 7:I didn't trust anyone with a fake eye for years.
Speaker 1:It's amazing. It's really like the stunts and it's so satirical. Yeah, but unfortunately people just wanted to see dinosaurs and Wayne Knight. Yeah, well, who doesn't want to see Wayne Knight? Newman Also in Kiss, kiss, bang, bang Bang. Robert Downey Jr and this was before Iron man. This was when he was a liability in Hollywood Because of all his drug use, and this is a very funny movie. If you haven't seen it, go see it.
Speaker 7:Yeah, this is maybe my favorite Val Kilmer film.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, it's hilarious and he plays a gay detective Named Gay Perry. It's very tongue-in-cheek yes and tongue-in-butt.
Speaker 7:Well, yes, it is yes.
Speaker 1:And then he did a couple of comedies to round out, the what do they call it? The naughties, the oddies. Yeah, the oddies, the naughty oddies. That's weird the 2000s, if you're normal. And he did MacGruber. He played the villain, so good. Great death scene, yeah, an endless death scene, yeah. And then he appeared in. Well, why don't we just play the clip here?
Speaker 7:Oh boy this movie.
Speaker 1:Alejandro's favorite movie of all time my favorite scene from that movie.
Speaker 10:Favorite scene from your favorite movie.
Speaker 2:Mariska Hargitay, your holiness, Mariska Hargitay Val Kilmer.
Speaker 1:Oh, he took off a little petal from the flowers. Why do you hurt me?
Speaker 6:I know why. I know why. I know why. Mariska Hargitay, guru Piddiwala, mariska Hargitay.
Speaker 10:Mariska Hargitay.
Speaker 4:Mariska Hargitay.
Speaker 6:Kyle, don't ruin it.
Speaker 3:I so enjoyed your sutra especially the part about not being a victim.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you, Because you are such a generous benefactor, we are establishing the Mariska.
Speaker 10:Hargitay Special Victims Unit. Oh my God.
Speaker 1:You're smiling, kyle, and that is, of course, the love guru. Yeah, which was another flop, but oh, it was Dare, I say cult classic, sure, yeah, you can say that, just because I'm a seiyurist. Yeah.
Speaker 10:No one else says that.
Speaker 1:Kilmer did work with Oliver Stone once again in Alexander, and he had to gain weight for the role and unfortunately, after that he struggled to keep the weight off. Well, he's not a young man anymore either. No, and the tabloids were not very kind to him. There was a 2007 Daily Mail article where the title was Val Kilmer from Batman to Fat man.
Speaker 7:Come on, Daily Mail, you gotta do better.
Speaker 1:Do they, though? Nah, not really. They're pretty bottom of the barrel, true, true. And then he had money troubles. So in 2010, he owed a bunch of back taxes to the IRS, and in 2011, his ex-wife, joanne, took out a lien on his ranch in New Mexico after failing to pay about $27,000 worth of child support. His kids, by the way, were Mercedes, born in 1991, and then Jack, born in 1995. And then there was another lawsuit from a company called Executive Consulting, and they claimed that Kilmer hired them to help with his financial woes, but that they were never paid. So it's a big mess, right?
Speaker 1:He ended up selling his land in New Mexico. He had visions of starting an artist colony there, but unfortunately that didn't come to fruition. That's probably for the best. There was a colony there, but unfortunately that didn't come to fruition. That's probably for the best. And he hightailed it to Malibu, which he nicknamed Valibu. Oh fun. In 2012, he decided to better himself and he lost the weight, but then wouldn't you know it? What happened? The rags the tabloid rags thought that he lost too much weight.
Speaker 1:Oh, you can never win and wrote that he was gaunt and he said quote can't win in this crazy town. Too heavy for too many years and now gossip says too thin.
Speaker 7:Yep, you can't base your self-worth on these schmucks.
Speaker 1:So, after he sold his land, he sets up shop in Southern California and he uses the profits from selling his 6,000 acres of land to fund his Mark Twain project, because I told you that was one of his heroes. In fact, this is probably his biggest hero and he wrote a one-man show called Citizen Twain. I get it, I don't love it but I get it.
Speaker 7:I don't want to besmirch the dead, yeah.
Speaker 1:And he said there were many parallels between the two of them. Besides both being geniuses. Twain had lost some of his land. I guess he owned a river.
Speaker 7:He lost the river, all right.
Speaker 1:His daughter died very young. That was a tragedy. So he compared that to his brother, his brother Wesley, and then they both had debts that made them go on the road to pay them off. Okay, so you know it's very personal for him. Yeah, and then they both talk about huckleberries, they do yeah, exactly, and in 2012 he came up with the one man show. Um, he was doing all sorts of mark twain projects, and so he performed the show at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Oh nice.
Speaker 7:Wow.
Speaker 1:And later at the Kirk Douglas Theater before touring the country with it. He said about the show quote that it's simply bearing down on the big questions what and who is God? To me, what's at the core of Twain's soul? What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be a real artist? Twain is an honorary founding father, so I was very much interested in his love of humanity and specifically Americans. He perhaps did as much as President Lincoln did to confront racism in our lives. We owe him a solemn debt.
Speaker 7:Okay, so he's back to the theater.
Speaker 1:Yes, and there's another connection to Mark Twain that he related to, because Mark Twain wrote a book on Christian science, but you know it's sort of fuzzy, I can't tell he was also critical of Christian science.
Speaker 10:Yeah, it took his mother away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and especially its founder, mary Baker, eddie. So I think I think Val just liked that. He seemed to be obsessed with Christian Science, okay, even though Val, very much you know, is a Christian scientist. So I don't know it's. It's weird, though. It's kind of like there were some Nazis that were obsessed with the movie American History X. Yeah. And I just want to say to them you know that's anti-Nazi right, but for some reason they loved the movie.
Speaker 7:They're just like anyone talking about it.
Speaker 10:It depends what time they stop the movie.
Speaker 7:Right, that's true, yeah.
Speaker 1:About halfway through. Yeah, right, that's true. Yeah, about halfway through, yeah. So now I have a couple clips from this 2013 interview that Val Kilmer did with Larry King All right, the late, great and in this first clip he talks about the Mark Twain project.
Speaker 6:The difference between praying in the casino and praying in church, don't you Well in the casino.
Speaker 8:They really mean it.
Speaker 6:Well, hear me, lord. You know why the Dalai Lama loves the casino Because, he loves Tibet.
Speaker 10:This is like a stand-up show.
Speaker 7:It's not.
Speaker 8:All right, I love it. That's terrific.
Speaker 6:That must be such fun. You know it's a lot of fun. Those aren't twain quotes.
Speaker 8:Those are just jokes. Of course he didn't know the Dalai Lama.
Speaker 6:But to tell a joke on stage and get that immediate response.
Speaker 7:Oh my God, Larry King's the best.
Speaker 1:Of course he didn't know the Dalai Lama. I'm hip, I knew that was made up.
Speaker 10:What are we stupid?
Speaker 1:And then they get into the deep conversation about a subject that terrified Mr King All right, I am no pun intended deathly afraid of it.
Speaker 8:You say you don't believe in it. Death. When you say you don't believe in it, I'm afraid of it. How do you feel about it?
Speaker 6:I don't believe in death. What do you mean I believe? Well, if we just look at it physically for a moment, we are literally physically one thing. If you just pull back physically and look at the planet Earth, we're part of one organism. This is how I see the physical world, and I accept that there are things in the physical world that are not as we perceive them. Heaven is a state of mind, it's consciousness.
Speaker 8:But I know I'm not going to exist and that just I can't do anything about it. But it's like Woody Allen said I'm not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens.
Speaker 6:I like that. I can think of a Mark Twain one about death too. I changed it from Cincinnati to Australia. If I die, I want to die in Australia, because everything happens there 10 years late.
Speaker 8:We have some social media. We're never going to answer death. We have some social media questions for you.
Speaker 7:Never going to answer death. 'll have some social media questions for you. I'm never gonna answer death.
Speaker 1:I love it oh man, I miss larry king.
Speaker 1:So while rehearsing for the one man show in nashville, kilmer noticed that there was something wrong with his voice it wasn't as strong as usual and he postponed the show, and he then coughed up blood and was rushed to the hospital. Well, it turns out that he had throat cancer and he was diagnosed in 2015. At first, he had no plans to medically intervene because he was a Christian scientist and he thought that you could pray it away. But then his kids, mercedes and Jack, convinced him to undergo chemotherapy and surgery.
Speaker 7:You can do both.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the treatments were successful and he was cancer-free were successful and he was cancer free. He underwent a tracheotomy which permanently damaged his speaking voice and they installed a feeding tube on him and a voice box. And get this. He said that he believed the treatment caused his suffering. Oh God.
Speaker 7:Well, I mean, yeah, chemo does cause a lot of suffering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, suffering, oh god. Well, I mean, yeah, chemo does cause a lot of suffering. Yeah, no, but he said that the prayer is what took his cancer away. Well, and now he's left with the side effects of the physical intervention. Oh boy, you know, but he did not speak openly about this, he kept it a complete secret. Yeah, so he had to cancel his tour, which was devastating, because he was having so much fun going around being mark twain, and instead he turned it into a movie called cinema twain. Okay, is that better than fine.
Speaker 1:And so he started touring with that. Yeah, but people were starting to notice. Obviously there were a lot of paparazzi photos that showed him grabbing his neck and wearing scarves Right, and people were like, hmm.
Speaker 7:That's a tough thing to hide, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like what's going on with you.
Speaker 6:I'm an ass-caught man now, mm-hmm, yeah, what's going on with you? I'm an ass cop man now Mm-hmm, yeah.
Speaker 1:And example of this speculation is I have a clip here from TMZ. This was in 2016, when he was presenting his movie at a film festival, and it's the first time people heard his new voice.
Speaker 5:Last night in Hollywood, val Kilmer shows up to introduce a screening of his new movie, citizen Kane, and when he addressed the crowd it was very obvious Citizen Twain.
Speaker 4:Sorry, did I say Citizen Kane you may have, yeah.
Speaker 5:Citizen Twain. When he addressed the crowd, it was very obvious that he is battling something he wouldn't let on what it is, but it was very hard to understand what he was saying. You will hear this and he tries to explain it.
Speaker 1:I went to the hospital down in Florida and I started having trouble with my speech, my tongue swelled up. That has a chance of a tumor. Can you pause it? So as I'm coming, I don't know if the listeners can understand what he's saying, but he's basically just saying that he has a swollen tongue.
Speaker 7:That's why he sounds different. You can still understand him and he's recovering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just rough.
Speaker 10:And.
Speaker 1:I want to add something else that, before he admitted it, michael Douglas came out in the press and confirmed that he had throat cancer. My wife's pussy was poison, yeah that's right that he got from eating Catherine Zeta-Jones' vagina.
Speaker 10:Hell of a way to go, yeah, I mean there were probably people lining up to get the same cancer.
Speaker 1:But hold on. But Val Kilmer was pissed and wrote on. Facebook that he doesn't know what Michael Douglas was talking about and that he's sorely mistaken.
Speaker 7:So he just never Val Kilmer's. Like I never eat pussy and I still got it.
Speaker 1:I will say you guys can understand that what he just said no, but that was just one point.
Speaker 10:There we go.
Speaker 1:He said I'm showing the movie so that I don't have to talk. Yeah, got a big laugh and good sense of humor about this.
Speaker 5:You should get that checked out. He's dabbing, you know. There is something really upsetting and troubling about this whole thing, and it's so weird to me that Michael Douglas came out with a statement and then Val Kilmer came out and said it's not true.
Speaker 4:And said it's not cancer.
Speaker 7:It's just so weird. I've never quite seen anything like this. All right, Throat cancer, Harvey. You never saw it. Jeez, I hate TMZ so much he's concerned.
Speaker 10:No, he's not, he'll fuck. He's a gay man that went through like the aids epidemic.
Speaker 1:He's like I've never seen anything like this after a long hospital stay, kilmer threw himself into painting, much like david lynch did when he was ill, although he always painted. But now Val Kilmer is rediscovering the artist within. Incidentally, kilmer had turned down roles in Dune and Blue Velvet and I believe he regretted that decision. He also turned down a role in the Matrix to do that blind movie at first sight Okay. Some might say that's sort of a bad choice. What was he going to do in blind movie? At first sight, okay.
Speaker 7:Some might say that's sort of a bad choice. What was he going to do in the Matrix?
Speaker 1:I think he might have been for.
Speaker 7:Neo. No, he's not Neo.
Speaker 10:He could have been the agent.
Speaker 7:Yeah, he could have been an agent, but he ain't no, neo.
Speaker 1:The only stupider decision was Will Smith doing Wild Wild West. Instead, he did turn down the role of Neo. So, yeah, he's painting and he buys this studio space in Hollywood to work out of, and then it quickly became a sacred artist space and to this day it's a makeshift museum of Val Kilmer. Among the items there are Doc Holliday's socks, a Batman figure with a Mark Twain head and coasters featuring Jim Morrison. All right, so that's nice. He kind of got that. Remember how he wanted to do that in New Mexico? Well, it's happening at his space in Hollywood, full of coasters, yeah. And so he toured the country doing meet and greets and going to events, partly to make money because he was not doing too well after all those financial woes, but also he enjoyed meeting the fans. At one point in that documentary called Val, it shows him at a Comic-Con event and he's signing the same phrase from Top Gun over and over I'll be your wingman. They have a compilation of people saying can you?
Speaker 1:write I'll be your wingman. And then he gets so exhausted that he has to take a break and he goes and throws up.
Speaker 7:I believe it Signing stuff not to whatever, it's the best job on earth, but it does get exhausting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it really looked like it in this documentary. And then they wheel him back in and people keep thinking I'm like, thanks for coming back, so he was dedicated, thanks for coming back, so he was dedicated. But you could tell it was taxing on him to still have to go and do that. You know, what's also sort of sad is that his younger brother, wesley, died and then his older brother, mark, he had a feud with throughout the years and they were estranged for a very long time. At one point his brother said of Val he has no example in his life of a good relationship he can look to and their feud really began after their dad died in the mid-'90s dispute over the estate. Mark is a psychologist also and he doesn't vibe with the Christian science beliefs, but I heard that they made amends after the cancer diagnosis.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:In 2017, Val Kilmer finally came clean During a Reddit Ask Me Anything session. He confirmed that he was healing from cancer, and then he told the Hollywood Reporter that he'd been dealing with the illness for two years. Yeah, the biggest non-surprise.
Speaker 7:Right, yeah, but it's up to him to tell it whenever he wants to.
Speaker 1:That's true, and in 2020, he made an appearance on Good Morning America and said Is it?
Speaker 7:Is it?
Speaker 1:And said he was doing great. Yeah, good Morning America. And said Is it, is it? And said he was doing great.
Speaker 7:Yeah, good morning America. I'm dying of stroke cancer.
Speaker 1:Not so good morning.
Speaker 7:America.
Speaker 1:Ay yi yi and that he feels a lot better than he sounds. That is good Very good, which I actually don't believe. Oh wow, I think he was suffering.
Speaker 7:Well, of course he was suffering. It's horrible.
Speaker 1:But it shows his resilience, his tenacity. It's such a great attitude through all that. Let's watch a little clip from that documentary Val.
Speaker 8:I keep mentioning no, I've seen him several times. I have to figure out how to plug in his hole.
Speaker 1:Dang.
Speaker 7:Poor guy.
Speaker 1:That's hard, so I don't know if you didn't understand that.
Speaker 1:he said he can't speak without plugging the hole and he goes on to say that he has to choose between speaking and eating. Well, we all do that. He could only talk when he pushed this button on his throat, yeah, and had a lot of trouble breathing. And there's another clip here that you'll appreciate, where he's talking about religion and his son jack is hanging out with him in the room as he's talking about religion and his son Jack is hanging out with him in the room as he's talking about religion. The face of Adam.
Speaker 1:So, he's flustered now oh Falls over His house is so messy.
Speaker 7:Yeah, that's not funny.
Speaker 10:That's not funny. Not funny. I love it, not funny. That was a joke.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, my god, that is hilarious Because when you're sick, it's very easy to fool people yes, very and make them concerned, jeez is it a pratfall?
Speaker 7:Yeah, that's Juilliard baby yeah.
Speaker 1:And he still worked as much as he could. He appeared in a movie called Pay Dirt with his daughter Mercedes, and he had actually appeared in the movie Palo Alto along with his son, jack, who is also an actor following in his dad's footsteps, and he did do the voiceover for the documentary Val in place of his dad. Oh nice, because there was originally a rumor that this company called Sonatic did a voice recreation using AI technology, but that wasn't actually featured in the documentary. But Val Kilmer afterwards worked with this company to maybe do future things using his voice, and so he was very excited about that. He said. As human beings, the ability to communicate is the core of our experience, and the side effects from throat cancer have made it difficult for others to understand me. The chance to narrate my story in a voice that feels authentic and familiar is an incredibly special gift.
Speaker 6:Okay.
Speaker 1:A couple things he appeared in were not. You know, they're not his best work. I would say he did a lot of straight-to-Redbox movies in his later years, before the cancer, Kind of like how they put Bruce Willis to work before he was ill.
Speaker 10:Right.
Speaker 1:Where it's like 20 movies in one year. Yeah, like what. But one of the more infamous ones is called the Snowman and his voice is completely dubbed in the movie and it's very obvious. So it's unsettling and it's supposed to dubbed in the movie and it's very obvious. So it's like unsettling and it's supposed to be a terrible movie, so we should add that to our list, all right, and then he appeared in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot as Silent Bob's counterpart, as Bluntman.
Speaker 3:Oh, hilarious.
Speaker 1:In the Bluntman and Chronic reboot. And again, this is not his best work. Right Kind of makes the love guru look like Blazing Saddles. Yeah. You know, you know, I'm not going to judge. It was nice of Kevin Smith to do that for him, because if there was any role he could play, it was someone that doesn't talk. Yeah, absolutely. So that was pretty, pretty brilliant there.
Speaker 1:But don't worry, there's one more blockbuster movie that has val kilmer's name all over it top gun maverick all about john mccain there were rumors that he was going to appear in it and they turned out to be true, and this movie was in development for a very, very long time and it finally got released in 2022. And in the movie they have Iceman battling cancer, which mirrors his real life story, and let's watch that scene between him and Tom Cruise, the Navy needs Maverick.
Speaker 4:The kid needs Maverick.
Speaker 8:That's why I fought for you. That's why you're still here.
Speaker 4:Thank you, weiss, for everything.
Speaker 8:One last thing who's the better pilot?
Speaker 6:You or me. This is a nice moment. Let's not ruin it.
Speaker 7:Well, you can just say he was. I mean die real soon and stuff. He'd be like it was you buddy. Yeah, exactly Whatever. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So the movie received a five-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. It got rave reviews and it became the number one movie of 2022.
Speaker 7:Nice.
Speaker 1:And remember it was also the number one movie of 1986. So that's called Going Out on Top Mm-hmm. Top Gun. That is oh right, and that brings us to April Fool's Day, 2025. I'm sure you all heard some good jokes that day.
Speaker 7:I love April Fool's Day. It's not like we live a foolish day every day.
Speaker 1:And you sort of disbelieve some of the headlines that pop up on your phone. Yeah, sure, well, one of them headlines that pop up on your phone. Yeah, sure, well, one of them was Val Kilmer, dead at 65. Mm-hmm, that was no joke, he did die.
Speaker 7:Well, I hope so, otherwise we wouldn't be covering it, yeah.
Speaker 1:That would be a cruel joke.
Speaker 7:That would be a cruel joke.
Speaker 1:A retraction here, but then again it would be the kind of joke that maybe kilmer would send out himself. Yeah, based on that clip, true, there's a bit of a cut up. Yes, he was well. His daughter, mercedes, confirmed to the ap that he died in his malibu home and it was due to pneumonia. They didn't specify if the pneumonia was related to the throat cancer, but I'm sure it is.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I think everything's related to the throat cancer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. According to the American Thoracic Society, the side effects of you know, the cancer procedures, especially where the tube is inserted in the trachea, can definitely increase the risk of pneumonia. The trachea can definitely increase the risk of pneumonia. So that's sad. And then there were reports that he had actually been bedridden for years prior to his death. It was not a shocking death in the sense that they all saw it coming. He was not doing well for a very long time. Then there's this weird report that on the same day he died, that he was supposed to appear at a beverly hills film festival. Um, I guess it was a tribute to the actor michael madsen, and that his performance, or, excuse me, his appearance, had been confirmed the weekend before. Okay, but then, um, they said that around the same time that the story hit, the news that he wouldn't be appearing at the festival, the reports of his death came in.
Speaker 10:Yeah, it was his last joke. He's like of course I'll be there.
Speaker 7:Just kidding nerds.
Speaker 4:No way yeah.
Speaker 1:It was Twain that said that thing about reports of my death have been highly exaggerated, right Well. This was not exaggerated, no, no, exaggerated, right Well, this was not exaggerated.
Speaker 1:Tom Cruise honored his Top Gun co-star. Afterwards he was appearing at the CinemaCon event and he said quote I can't tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honored I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun Maverick. I think it would be really nice if we could just have a moment together, because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us.
Speaker 1:Just think about all the wonderful times that we had with him. And he said I wish you well on your next journey. And in the documentary, val Kilmer said he has no regrets, quote I have behaved poorly, I have behaved bravely, I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets, because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed, and I am blessed. Wow.
Speaker 7:RIP kilmer yeah what a life 65 packed a lot into it yeah, that brings us to final thoughts wow, what an incredible life.
Speaker 10:He did like he said. He did uh admit to, you know, being a pain in the ass for a little bit, but it was Danny Trejo that said that he wasn't a pain in the ass. Really. He wanted good work to be done.
Speaker 7:He was a perfectionist.
Speaker 1:Yes, and Michael Douglas loved working with him. Mira Sorvino, the list goes on. Tom Cruise, obviously, yeah, yep.
Speaker 7:American hero Val Kilmer.
Speaker 1:And I actually have a theory about his disdain for movie directors.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 1:I think I'm correct here. His brother, wesley, was a prodigy making great short films at the ranch, and they both had dreams together that were intertwined, where Wesley was going to become a great film director and Val Kilmer a great actor. Well, wesley's dreams were cut short in 1977, when he was only 15 years old. So for the rest of his life Val Kilmer resented some of the directors that he had to work with. It's possible.
Speaker 7:Because that should have been Wesley and they weren't as good as his younger brother.
Speaker 10:They weren't as good. Wow, alright, what a theory.
Speaker 1:RIP Val Kilmer, absolutely.
Speaker 10:Do you hear that You've got mail? We got a mail bag, whoa. Oh my goodness, can you believe it?
Speaker 7:I can yes.
Speaker 10:In the same spot, every show.
Speaker 7:At the end there.
Speaker 10:Let's see, as seen by Dave said, amazing episode, guys, regarding the Kimbo Slice episode. Kimbo Slice, my brother-in-law used to bounce at an Orange County club and Tank Abbott came in one time. He almost got killed by Tank when he touched Tank's girl during a fight and pulled her off another girl.
Speaker 7:Jeez Tank Abbott, yeah, jeez Dating chicks just like himself.
Speaker 10:Someone just wanted to remind you. Jesse Rodriguez wanted to remind you that the show you were asking that you were on was Paranormal, Caught on Camera.
Speaker 7:Oh, that's my yeah, I was on that show. That's the show I was on.
Speaker 10:Runkle Doug said this is my new favorite show. And Where's the Bear said spot on, as usual. So we appreciate it guys.
Speaker 7:Thank you all so much and thanks so much for supporting the shows. If you want to watch live, you can go to patreoncom slash diebud. Make sure to check out OK Bud. Four episodes a week giving you all the news you need to know to make your office uncomfortable and again, hail yourself and until next week.
Speaker 1:Don't go dying on us.
Speaker 6:Bye, bye-bye.
Speaker 2:You have just heard a true Hollywood murder mystery.
Speaker 8:I have never seen anything like this before the movies, Broadway, music, television, all of it.
Speaker 4:A place that manufactures nightmares.
Speaker 2:Okay, everybody, that's a wrap.
Speaker 8:Good night. Please drive home carefully and come back again soon.