He was Iceman. He was Batman. He was Doc Holliday.
Now, with throat cancer silencing his famous voice, Val Kilmer tells his story using 800 hours of his own home video footage.
This is one of the best intimate celebrity documentaries I’ve seen.
Trailer for “Val”
Watch “Val”
You can watch “Val” on Amazon Prime Video here (I think it’s exclusively there).
Just in case, you can find the latest streaming options at: JustWatch here.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 91/100
- IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 89/100 (Users); 93/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: “Val” is directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo. This is their first feature doc together, and it plays like a scrapbook and a love letter rolled into one.
Leo Scott previously edited Harmony Korine’s “Trash Humpers” and contributed to “Shut Up and Play the Hits”. Ting Poo edited the Oscar-winning short doc “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405”, as well as “Britney: For the Record” and “The Displaced”.
She’s also directing the upcoming “Faces of Music” and a Christina Aguilera doc produced by Roc Nation.
Release Date: July 23, 2021 (Amazon Prime Video)
My Review of “Val”
The Setup
This is not a typical celebrity profile.
“Val” is built almost entirely from Kilmer’s own home videos—thousands of hours he filmed over decades.
You see his Juilliard years, Hollywood hustle, bizarre audition tapes, blockbuster movie shoots, cancer diagnosis, and slow road to recovery—all in his own words, voiced by his son Jack.
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- Val Kilmer’s brother Wesley died at age 15 of an epileptic seizure…in a hot tub.
- Val mailed unsolicited audition tapes to Scorsese for “Goodfellas” and to Kubrick for “Full Metal Jacket”. They never called.
- After his divorce and cancer treatments drained his finances, Kilmer signed autographs at Comic-Con to stay afloat—even as “Batman.”
More Highlights from the Doc
- He was the youngest ever accepted to Juilliard’s Drama Division in New York.
- He filmed Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn mooning him backstage during their off-Broadway run of “The Slab Boys”.
- For his “Top Gun” audition, he showed up wearing oversized nausea-green shorts, acted totally aloof…and still got cast as Iceman.
- Kilmer hated the “Top Gun” script and thought the whole thing was military propaganda—but took the role anyway.
- He says wearing the Batsuit in “Batman Forever” was so claustrophobic, he could barely act or hear his co-stars.
- The film chronicles his spiritual beliefs as a Christian Scientist and how he refused all Western medical treatment for years after his throat cancer diagnosis—relying only on prayer until surgery became unavoidable.
- He kept filming through everything—cancer, surgeries, family visits, even when he could barely speak. He used a voice box and later typed answers on his phone to communicate.
Cameos
- Rare behind-the-scenes footage from “Top Gun”, “The Doors”, “Tombstone”, and “Batman Forever”.
- Kilmer’s son, Jack, serves as the film’s narrator—reading from Val’s writings in a near-perfect voice match.
- Behind-the-scenes moments with Marlon Brando (from “The Island of Dr. Moreau”) and other actors during chaotic shoots.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- The nipples on the Batman suit were based on Roman Centurion armor and comic book body anatomy—not added for fetish reasons, despite decades of ridicule.
- Val had a video camera in his hands as far back as the 1980s and insisted on filming everything—family holidays, film sets, parties, even auditions.
- He once tried to make a “Mark Twain” one-man show into a touring stage hit, pouring much of his post-Hollywood energy into it—until his voice gave out.
- He discusses how he felt “trapped” in his most famous roles—especially Iceman and Batman—which he felt didn’t reflect his deeper artistic goals.
Wrap Up
“Val” is about identity, voice, and what happens when you lose both.
Kilmer’s footage is a raw time capsule that becomes something deeper: a portrait of a man who never stopped filming.
Thanks for reading!
Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc