Watch Val Kilmer’s audition tape for ‘Full Metal Jacket’
The films of Stanley Kubrick are known for their meticulous attention to detail, revolutionary storytelling techniques and iconic performances, with movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining and A Clockwork Orange remaining classics to this very day. Other Kubrick releases are a little more contentious, with his 1953 debut Fear and Desire and the Vietnam War flick Full Metal Jacket often being considered among his weakest contributions to cinema.
Of course, such opinions are totally subjective, with both Fear and Desire and Full Metal Jacket featuring a number of moments that boast Kubrick’s marvellous storytelling capabilities. Still, the latter wouldn’t be anywhere near as potent as it is without the performances of its lead cast members, with the likes of R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D’Onofrio and Matthew Modine giving the film its heart, soul and spirit.
Modine played the central role of Pvt. Joker, a morally ambiguous character corrupted by the horror of war and the tight vice of military authority, but he wasn’t always the choice to take on the character.
Appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Modine revealed how his role was almost claimed by none other than Top Gun’s Val Kilmer, recalling: “I was at a diner in Los Angeles… I was sitting with… David Alan Grier… We were eating our pancakes, and there was a guy sitting over there… It was Val Kilmer. And he was looking at me, saying obscene things to me”.
“I know who you are. I’m sick of you, man,” Kilmer snapped back after Modine went over to introduce himself, with the former frustrated that he had missed out on the lead role for Full Metal Jacket. Not aware that he had apparently been cast in Kubrick’s war movie, Modine called his agent to try and get some clarification, only to hear that he knew nothing about it either, prompting the actor to get on Kubrick’s radar.
After sending the director a number of clips, Modine secured the role, and Kilmer inadvertently killed his chances of getting the part himself.
Still, the audition tape that Kilmer sent to Kubrick showed that he would have certainly been capable of taking on Pvt. Joker. In the documentary Val from 2021, the actor recalled, “The best character roles were few and far between, so I’d go out of my way to make audition takes for directors I wanted to work with, for roles I wanted to play. I made multiple tapes for Stanley Kubrick when I heard he was making Full Metal Jacket“.
The clip shows Kilmer’s efforts to be cast in the role, giving Kubrick four different versions of the character he wished to play. So eager was the actor to secure the role he even hand-delivered the tapes to Kubrick in England. This wasn’t the only esteemed director he personally reached out to either, vying for the lead part in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas and Oliver Stone’s The Doors by sending over specially-made tapes.
Watch it below.
