“You really can’t tell the difference”: the acting skill Meryl Streep taught Val Kilmer
As one of the greatest actors to ever grace the big screen, anyone seeking to enjoy a career even half as successful as Meryl Streep would be foolish not to pick her brain whenever the opportunity presented itself, and Val Kilmer was more than happy to.
The pair have never worked together on the same project, but they did come mighty close on one occasion when they were both announced for the cast of opera director Chen Shi-Zheng’s feature-length debut Dark Matter, only for the one-time Batman to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.
However, just because a performer hasn’t stood opposite Streep on set, it doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from her tutelage. Kilmer might have initially broken out and made his name in mainstream cinema, but he’s a classic thespian at heart, becoming the youngest-ever person accepted to Julliard’s drama programme when still in his teens.
The most difficult performance he’s ever been tasked to give didn’t come in cinema but when performing Shakespeare during his time treading the boards, so it’s not as if Kilmer had his sights set on the summit of the A-list from the moment he decided to dedicate his life to the profession.
There have been ups and downs along the way, with the actor being tagged as “difficult” by several former collaborators. There have also been a couple of flare-ups into physical violence on films he’s worked on. Still, the man loves the craft, but it was a trick told to him by Streep that allowed him to plumb brand new emotional depths.
Admittedly, it sounds like it’s been ripped directly from the Joey Tribbiani school of acting after the Friends character revealed that because he can’t cry on cue, he cuts a hole in his pocket and starts attacking his own leg with a pair of tweezers. For Kilmer, though, his Streep-endorsed technique helped him get into the right mindset.
As he explained to Combustible Celluloid, when he needed to convey the anguish of a character, he twisted his thighs together so hard that the pain was etched on his face. “Meryl Streep taught me that,” he admitted. “That’s the thing about movie acting; you really can’t tell the difference between me losing my wife and the pain of twisting my thighs. You make the same face.”
An interesting technique for sure, but clearly an effective one. Streep’s thigh-twisting has proven mighty beneficial over the years after she racked up accolades and awards like there was no tomorrow. While Kilmer’s trophy cabinet isn’t quite as full, they’ll forever have a shared connection thanks to their preferred methodology of giving their thighs a right good seeing-to whenever there’s an emotional beat afoot.
