Sun 22 December 2024 14:35, UK
Val Kilmer has had the pleasure of sharing screen time with some of the best actors and biggest movie stars of all time. Of course, he played opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun, but he’s also worked with Kurt Russell in Tombstone, Jim Carrey in Batman Forever, Robert Downey Jr in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Patricia Arquette in True Romance.
Working alongside such behemoths no doubt influenced his own acting choices, but when it comes to the performers who had the biggest impact on Kilmer, two esteemed names stand head and shoulders above the rest.
“Marlon Brando and George C Scott. They are consummate actors that I looked up to,” he told C Magazine. He also recounted a story about his time at acting school. “At Juilliard, I had a master class with a Japanese director who brought a half Chinese, half Japanese actress that was as good as Brando,” he revealed. “I wish I remembered her name.”
While that performer’s name might never be known, his other two heroes have gone down in cinema history. Scott, a master of both stage and screen, will be most familiar to fans of Dr Strangelove, The Hustler, and Anatomy of a Murder. He won a ‘Best Actor’ Oscar for Patton in 1971, but became the first on-screen talent to decline the award, claiming that performances couldn’t and shouldn’t be compared to one another. He also called the ceremony itself a “two-hour meat parade.”
As for Marlon Brando, his name speaks for itself. Regarded by some as one of the greatest actors of all time and by others as a gigantic pain in the backside, the man best known for playing Vito Corleone in The Godfather remains one of the most controversial figures in Hollywood history. Kilmer got the chance to work alongside him on 1996’s The Island of Dr Moreau, one of Brando’s final films. Production was dogged with issues, including the On the Waterfront actor refusing to learn his lines and retreating into solitude following the death of his daughter. The end result was a garbled, muddled film that doesn’t hold a candle to the HG Wells novel on which it is based.
Despite the troubled environment and poor reception of the film, Kilmer defended working with his idol when conducting an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit. “Brando was everything you want the major icon in your world to be, a genius and a gentleman,” he said. “I was getting divorced at the time and he was so gracious about offering me time and considered thought. He offered to call my ex on behalf of the children.”
As well as being a stand-up friend, Brando was also a pleasure to act with, according to Kilmer. “It was such a privilege to work with the greatest,” he continued. “He was not really respected tho [sic] and the film suffered greatly by not taking his suggestions. He always took major chances and that true daring always makes people nervous. He would improv, which I love, but they wouldn’t film it or use what often did do. To be that great and that misunderstood. So sad.”
With both Brando and Scott as frames of reference, it’s no wonder that Kilmer has turned out as successful as he has. They may have their own complicated legacies to deal with, but inspiring one of the standouts of his generation has got to be a major tick in both of their columns.
