“Entertainment Weekly” honors the late actor by revisiting his stunning filmography.
He began his career, after all, in the sublimely sillyTop Secret!(1984).
Here are EW’s picks for Val Kilmer’s best movie roles, ranked.
Val Kilmer in ‘Heat,’ ‘Tombstone,’ and ‘Top Secret!'.Credit:Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett; Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett; Courtesy Everett
10.Batman Forever(1995)
Ralph Nelson/Warner Bros.
Nobody thinks of Kilmer when they think of Batman.
The actor even acknowledged as much ina brilliant bit onLife’s Too Short.
But he has his defenders, includingBatman ForeverandBatman & Robindirector Joel Schumacher.
Val Kilmer in ‘Batman Forever’.Ralph Nelson/Warner Bros.
“For me, Val Kilmer was the best Batman,“Schumacher said in a 2011 interview.
I thought the relationship between Val and Nicole Kidman was very sexy.”
Yes, every boy wants to be Batman.
Val Kilmer in ‘Top Secret!'.Courtesy Everett
They actually want to be him…not necessarily play him in a movie.
He continued, “I think it made no difference what I was doing.
I tried to be like an actor on a soap opera.”
Val Kilmer and Derek Luke in ‘Spartan’.Lorey Sebastian/Warner Bros.
We think he’s being modest, though.
9.Top Secret!
It was the 24-year-old actor’s first big-screen role after graduating from Juilliard.
Val Kilmer in ‘The Salton Sea’.Stephen Vaughan/Castle Rock
Kilmer, however, has admitted to taking the role a bit too seriously.
“My acting training is formal and I was fresh out of Hamlet-land and the Juilliard School.
That Kilmer is so good inSpartanbelies how much he actually grew to dislike Mamet while working on the film.
Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer in ‘Tombstone’.Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett
Hes cruel, Kilmer said on thefilm’s DVD commentary track.
He hates actors, having failed at the profession himself.
There were a lot of tears on the set.
Val Kilmer in ‘Real Genius’.TriStar Pictures/Courtesy Everett
It was tough, because youd be playing a tough guy and hed break you down.
But in front of everyone too, he wouldnt do it in the trailer.
I hate him.”
Val Kilmer in ‘Top Gun’.CBS via Getty
7.The Salton Sea(2002)
Stephen Vaughan/Castle Rock
D.J.
Perhaps that’s because it’s among the best “dudes rock” movies of the past half-century.
Its a strange, tough, violent, deep relationship.
Val Kilmer in ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’.John Bramley/Warner Bros.
Kilmer somehow makes power, frailty, and deterioration coexist as Tombstone unfolds.
We could listen to it all day.
DirectorTony Scott, however, knew that flattery was the way to Kilmer’s heart.
Val Kilmer and Ashley Judd in ‘Heat’.Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett
“Ultimately, he overwhelmed my disdain for the project with pure unadulterated positivity,” Kilmer wrote.
“Every day he would exclaim, ‘This is incredible!
This is beyond belief.
Val Kilmer in ‘The Doors’.Carolco/Getty
You guys are going to be kings.'”
Cruise reflected on Kilmer’s performanceduring an appearance onJimmy Kimmel Live.
“I just want to say that was pretty emotional,” he said.
“I’ve known Val for decades, and for him to come back and play that character…
He’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again.
You’re looking at Iceman.”
But none, I daresay, could have made the splash of the former Batman.”
2.Heat(1995)
Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett
Don’t call him a henchman.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.
Yet Kilmer did it all while capturing the timbre and distinct phrasings of Morrison’s vocals.
“As Morrison, Val Kilmer gives a star-making performance,” EW’s critic lamented.
“A sixties convertible came screeching up, blaring Doors music at top volume,” she writes.
We all looked at each other like… Who is this guy?
We were more than a little shook by the sheer audacity of his entrance.
Well of course it was Val Kilmer and from that minute on, nobody else stood a chance.
