10 Awesome Actors Who Fell Hard From The Spotlight

4. Val Kilmer

Despite being a well known actor, Val Kilmer never hit the heights he should have. An extraordinarily gifted actor (the youngest ever to be admitted to Julliard, KIlmer was able to marry that prodigious dramatic ability with pin-up looks. He started with the underrated Zucker and Abrahams comedy, Top Secret, and then completed every teenage girl's wet dream by starring opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun. Unfortunately, Val more less interested in chasing commercial vehicles and more interested in appearing in what took his fancy. And so he ended up in such less than thrilling The Man Who Broke 1000 Chains, Kill Me Again and Thunderheart. The one obviously commercial vehicle, Willow, never performed as had hoped but has become a firm home video favourite. Commendation for his acting chops came his way via Oliver Stone's The Doors but the film underperformed, not helping Kilmer's rise to the top of the food chain. In 1995, he snagged the lead role in Batman Forever yet relinquished the chance to star in further films in the franchise in favour of the lacklustre The Saint. Having said that, any regrets on his part were probably absolved the minute Batman and Robin was released. The same year he had a role in Heat - yet another revered film that didn't do the business at the box office (and in Hollywood it's all about the box office, baby!) - and so missed out on joining the likes of Schwarzenegger, Willis and Hanks at the top of the pile. And he didn't help matters by making bad judgements when going for box office glory, such as The Island of Dr Moreau, At First Sight and Red Planet. But perhaps his worst move was signing on to the woeful Knight Rider reboot, as the voice of K.I.T.T. A glimpse of what the man could achieve was seen via his hilarious performance as Gay Perry in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Sure, the magic dialogue comes from uber screenwriter Shane Black but they were brought alive by Kilmer's deadpan, withering delivery. Just three of my favourites: Harry: Is she dead? Perry: No, she's just resting her eyes for a minute. Of course she's fucking dead, her neck's broken. Harry: Do you think I'm stupid? Perry: I don't think you'd know where to put food at, if you didn't flap your mouth so much. Yes I think you're stupid. Perry: My $2000 ceramic Vektor my mother got me as a special gift. You threw in the lake next to the car. What happens when they drag the lake? You think they'll find my pistol. Jesus. Look up "idiot" in the dictionary. You know what you'll find? Harry: A picture of me? Perry: No! The definition of the word idiot, which you f**king are! If only Val had the commercial sensibilities of Tom Cruise, he'd have been - well - bigger than Tom Cruise.
 
Posted On: 
Contributor

Chiselled, charismatic, intellectual.....these are just a few words in my vocabulary. Loves watching films and believes the best thing about Christmas is watching old people slip on ice.