Why Val Kilmer Quit Batman
2. An Encounter With A Billionaire...
In the feature, Kilmer tells of a story involving himself, a bat suit and a billionaire... no, not that one.
Real life business tycoon Warren Buffett arrived on set one day just when Kilmer was about to free himself from the restricting black leather costume. Apparently, Buffett had brought his kids along and they were all desperate to see Batman. I mean, who wouldn't be?
So, Kilmer obliged and stuck around in his full menacing get-up. However, it soon became apparent that the kids had no interest in speaking to the Top Gun sensation. Probably on account of them being children and weird flyboy volleyball fetich movies not really being in their wheelhouse. They cared about one thing and one thing alone, the character of Batman and they couldn't care less who was playing him.
These kids wanted to wear the famous mask, sit in the front seat of the bat-mobile and probably throw some bat-a-rangs at unsuspecting crew members if they were given the chance to.
It was in this moment that Kilmer realised that people wanted to see themselves in Batman, and Kilmer's job was therefore to be a blank canvas.
In his own words, Kilmer said, 'That’s why it’s so easy to have five or six Batmans. It’s not about Batman. There is no Batman.'...
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