10 Insane War Movie Facts You Won't Believe Are Real
3. Val Kilmer Accidentally Got Matthew Modine Cast In Full Metal Jacket
A nihilistic masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick, 1987's Full Metal Jacket isn't just one of the finest genre offerings from the 1980s - it's contentiously one of the greatest war movies ever conceived. The film follows the central character, Private J.T. "Joker" Davis, from his traumatic experiences at boot camp to the jungles of Vietnam.
American actor Matthew Modine plays Joker in Kubrick's film, but this very nearly wasn't the case. The Stranger Things alum credits Val Kilmer with accidentally landing him the role through an unlikely series of events. Modine had never even met Kilmer until he ran into the actor at an LA diner, where the Top Gun star proceeded to mean mug and curse quietly at him from across the tables.
It turns out that Kilmer was actually up for the lead role in Full Metal Jacket and had been misinformed that Modine had pipped him to the gig - in reality, the Vision Quest star hadn't even heard of the project. After reassuring his peer that he wasn't doing the movie, Modine swiftly found a payphone to call his agent about auditioning for this mysterious new Kubrick film.
The rest, as they say, is history.