Why Val Kilmer didn’t enjoy playing Batman
Known best for his versatile acting talents, which have seen him portray the cocky fighter pilot “Iceman” in Top Gun and Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, Val Kilmer is a bonafide Hollywood legend. As the late movie critic Roger Ebert once wrote, “If there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it. He has shown a range of characters so convincing that it’s likely most people, even now, don’t realise they were looking at the same actor.”
Kilmer’s career has seen him take on a plethora of roles ranging from ordinary people to sci-fi characters and superheroes. In 1995, Kilmer appeared as DC Comics’ most popular hero Batman. He was cast as the caped millionaire of Gotham to replace Michael Keaton, who had helmed the role in 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns.
Despite its unsurprising box office success, Kilmer’s role as Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever wasn’t one of his most critically lauded. Upon its release, the movie received mixed reviews as it appeared clear that a good cast, here involving the likes of Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman, couldn’t spin gold from an underwhelming project.
For an artist to offer their greatest work, they must be fully engaged and enthusiastic about a project. Sadly, the Batman Forever role quickly became a chore for Kilmer. In his 2021 documentary Val, Kilmer discussed the movie and revealed why he didn’t enjoy portraying the Dark Knight.
Intriguingly, Kilmer’s Batman woes began with the Batsuit and its limiting impact on his performance. “Whatever boyhood excitement I had was crushed by the reality of the Batsuit,” he said in Val. “Yes, every boy wants to be Batman. They actually want to be him… not necessarily play him in a movie.”
He continued to describe how the suit restricted his movement to the point he needed help to stand up and sit down. Furthermore, the thick headpiece made hearing the crew and his fellow cast members nearly impossible. “After a while, people stop talking to you, it’s very isolating,” Kilmer commented.
Kilmer felt that, with his Bat-suit woes, he was rather suppressed as Carrey’s Riddler and Lee Jones’ Two-Face took the limelight. The on-set climate was allegedly rather fractious, and Kilmer’s isolation could have been a factor.
The director Joel Schumacher described Kilmer as “childish and impossible” while filming Batman Forever in a 1995 interview with Entertainment Weekly, adding that the actor had been abusive to crew members. Schumacher also noted friction with Lee Jones: “Jim Carrey was a gentleman, and Tommy Lee was threatened by him. I’m tired of defending overpaid, overprivileged actors. I pray I don’t work with them again.”
Watch the trailer for Batman Forever below.
