“I love her”: Val Kilmer, Cate Blanchett, and a disturbingly one-sided 72-hour obsession
There’s nothing wrong with having a Cate Blanchett obsession, which many people do, but Val Kilmer took things to the next level when he developed a weekend-long infatuation with his fellow actor.
Of course, Kilmer earned a reputation for marching to the beat of his own drum in almost every walk of life, which did his career more harm than good in the long run, and he must have enjoyed his solitary experience of sharing the screen with Blanchett in Ron Howard’s 2003 western, The Missing.
In fact, ‘enjoyed’ might be underselling things slightly, since the star decided that almost 15 years after the film was released would be the perfect time to reiterate, underline, and add several exclamation points to his undying infatuation, with ten social media posts in less than 72 hours making things more than a little weird.
The beginning of Kilmer’s odyssey was a sign of things to come when he shared with his followers that “once, I flew all the way to Australia just to talk to Cate Blanchett,” only to be greeted by someone else. “Her husband met me first,” he added. “Or, instead, I guess, to be accurate.”
Not to be deterred, he shared that he’d recently had two dreams about Blanchett, and “her husband wasn’t in either of them.” Chalk up one for the Kilmer dreamscape, then. He then declared that he’d agreed to a cameo appearance for the sole purpose of spending time with her, which was presumably The Missing, since that’s the only movie they’re both in.
Inevitably, things took a turn for the creepy when he posted and swiftly deleted an image of her, with the illuminating addendum of, “I mean, even if she couldn’t act, you know what I mean?” We knew what you meant, Val, and it was very unbecoming. Was he done there? Was he fuck? In total, Kilmer posted about Blanchett ten times that weekend, before removing half of them.
Of course, nothing on the internet is ever truly wiped from history, including an explanation for why he decided that a weekend in 2017 was the perfect time to go public with his Blanchett obsession, and why “anyone who thinks I need to curb my enthusiasm for a great rare artist doesn’t understand how difficult the job is and how we artists count on the respect of out peers.”
“She will back up every word I say and love that I say I love her,” he adamantly declared. “I would love an actor I didn’t even enjoy if he flew the world to talk about a role.” Kilmer, who also said he was “so dazzled” by how Blanchett picked up a shovel in their scene together that he forgot his lines, was evidently taken aback by her on several levels.
Still, and we cannot stress this enough, it was really weird. Did Blanchett respond to verify Kilmer’s claims that she would love him saying that he loved her in a 72-hour barrage of unsettling fawning? Of course she didn’t, and it was the right call.
