Val Kilmer’s Fight With the Director of ‘Island of Dr. Moreau’ in Amazon’s ‘Val’ Is Painful to Watch

Val, the new Val Kilmer documentary that began streaming on Amazon Prime Video today, is not exactly an uplifting film. Written and produced by Kilmer himself, with Leo Scott and Ting Poo directing, it’s certainly an absorbing retrospective on Kilmer’s life, an actor best known for his blockbusters like Top Gun and Batman. But it’s also, often, incredibly hard to watch—for more reasons than one.

Kilmer, now 61, has a tube in his throat, thanks to the two tracheotomies he underwent while treating his throat cancer. While he’s come out on the other side of the battle successful, his voice has been reduced to a toneless rasp, and he must cover the hole in his throat to speak. Much of the film is narrated by Kilmer’s son Jack, reading from a script written by the Batman actor. It’s clear that one goal Kilmer has with this film is to correct what he feels is an unfair reputation for being difficult to work with. He makes it clear that he cares deeply about his work, and that the reason for his perfectionism—and, at times, difficult behavior—stems only from that.

One of the most famous stories about Kilmer’s attitude problem came from the set of the 1996 science-fiction horror film, The Island of Dr. Moreau, a notoriously difficult production. Kilmer reportedly showed up to set late, started arguments, recited lines meant for other characters, and, infamously, burned a cameraman with a cigarette. (Kilmer and the movie’s producers say it was an accident, but others say it was intentional.) In his documentary, Kilmer attempts to tell his side of the story by releasing behind-the-scenes footage on the set, filmed by Kilmer himself on an old-school home video camera.

“The movie was doomed from the start,” Kilmer says via his son’s voice-over. Kilmer says that he had been excited to work on the film with his hero, Marlon Brando, but that the film’s second director, John Frankenheimer—who took over the production from Richard Stanely—wanted to finish the film as quickly as possible and was, therefore, “unwilling to explore Marlon’s ideas.” (He does not mention the stories that Kilmer would reportedly refuse to show up until Brando was on set, in an effort not to be upstaged.) Brando, whose 25-year-old daughter died during the production, often wasn’t present, and, in one scene in Val, another actor stands in for Brando, apparently unbeknownst to the rest of the cast.

“What’s your name?” Kilmer calls out to the stand-in, zooming in with his video recorder before he mutters to the camera, “Marlon Brando is played by Norm.”

In another scene that is mostly recorded audio, Kilmer films a fight he has with Frankenheimer, who repeatedly instructs him to shut the video camera off.

“We are about to rehearse, would you please shut the video camera off?” Frankenheimer says sharply.

“No, because I’m in a highly emotional state, because you said earlier to David and I that you were going to leave this movie,” Kilmer replies.

“If this continues, I don’t see how I can function under these conditions. I’m supposed to be doing creative work and this is not conducive to creating a good scene,” Frankenheimer says.

“Well, can I have a minute, because I’m in an emotional state and I won’t be able to read my lines,” Kilmer says. Later, when Frankenheimer asks again for Kilmer to shut off the camera, he replies he won’t because “I need a witness because of things that you’ve said. You’ve debated in front of your two lead actors as to whether you will continue to direct this film. That puts me in a state of mind not conducive to creating.”

“Please shut the video camera off,” Frankenheimer says yet again.

“I will keep it on until we are rehearsing,” Kilmer says decisively.

Kilmer was served divorce papers on set, so one can understand why he was stressed. Still, the footage is uncomfortable to witness. It’s hard to feel that the guy shoving the camera in everyone’s face and providing snarky commentary was doing anything to help an already difficult production, even if it’s true that many of the difficulties weren’t Kilmer’s fault. And you can’t help but notice he makes no mention of the infamous cigarette burn incident.

But seeing him in such poor health in the present-day, you do feel bad for him. No one can deny that he’s a hard worker, especially not when, in one particularly heartbreaking scene, he vomits while signing Batman posters at a convention, and then goes back to signing posters. Kilmer argues he’s only difficult because he cares, and you believe him. But the question is—is that a valid excuse?

Watch Val on Amazon Prime