Val Kilmer On Surviving Throat Cancer: 'I Want to Share My Story More Than Ever' https://t.co/Sr946QIwiv pic.twitter.com/CqKYHwYSJ0
— People (@people) August 25, 2021
I swear I was going to watch Val last night and got tired so I put it off until Friday. Then I saw this story and wished I hadn’t. Val, for anyone who doesn’t know, is the documentary Val Kilmer produced that uses decades of footage he took from sets and other areas of his life. Val’s been out of the public eye for years as he underwent treatment for throat cancer. For a long time, there were rumors he was sick, but he wouldn’t confirm them, wishing to battle his illness in private. He is now allowing us in to more of his life than he ever has before. Following the release of Val, his story got the cover of People. The interview is mainly with the film’s co-directors, Leo Scott and Ting Poo, because it’s difficult for Val to speak since his tracheostomy. Although I’ve always loved Val as an actor, I’d heard rumors about him as a person. According to this interview, either those rumors were incorrect, or Val was misunderstood. Or, as is very possible, he has a whole new outlook since beating cancer because the filmmakers said he was not only ego-free, but he was also positive and deeply spiritual.
Six years after a throat cancer diagnosis and the radiation and chemotherapy treatments that followed, along with a tracheostomy that permanently damaged his speaking voice, Val Kilmer has a new lease on life.
Now cancer-free and on this week’s cover of PEOPLE, the actor, 61, is showing a side of himself that fans have never seen in the new Amazon Original Documentary Val.
The film is co-directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo and produced by Kilmer, his son Jack, 26, and his daughter Mercedes, 29. Scott, Poo, Jack and Mercedes all spoke to PEOPLE in this week’s issue.
Poo respects how open Kilmer was to collaborating with them and showing all facets of his personal and professional life.
“He doesn’t have the vanity that you would expect from someone of his fame and celebrity. There was never any of that kind of artifice or protection that people who are really famous have to put up around themselves,” she says. “It’s humbling to be around that.”
She continues: “He’s such a layered person, there’s the childlike playfulness, but then there’s also the deep wisdom of somebody who’s been on a spiritual path their whole life at the same time. He’s a lot of opposites that make him incredibly interesting, and it’s kind of why our film is so interesting.”
“He’s continued to express himself creatively,” says Scott. “He makes incredible pieces of art. He’s always positive and is not someone who has self-pity.”
Scott adds: “He has evolved like all of us, but in the material from the past [in the documentary], you see so many of the same kind of themes: he’s always been a spiritual person, he’s always been incredibly creative, super hilarious and he’s always been so besotted with his children, and all of that remains.”
In Val, Kilmer says he looks forward to his future, whatever it holds.
“I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” the actor says in the film. “I am blessed.”
This makes me want to see Val even more. I find Val quite enigmatic and like the idea of bearing witness to his life through real footage. I understand it will be edited to fit a certain narrative, but I want to know what he found important enough to record. And it looks like he’s had a camera his whole life, not just when he got famous. It’ll be interesting to see the progression from pre to post fame. After reading this article, I want to see if this positive and genuine person is always who he’s been or is it who emerged after battling the cancer beast. I don’t need him to be a certain way for any agenda I have, I’m genuinely curious.
It was reported last week that the British company Sonantic recreated Val’s voice for him and released a sample. I don’t know how it will be used but it’s amazing work. I’m glad Val decided to re-enter the spotlight. I’m glad he did it on his terms. Most of all, I’m glad he’s living cancer free and has a second chance at life. Sounds like he understands what a gift that is.
Here is the trailer for Val:
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I loved in in Top Secret. My guilty pleasure….
Totally loved Top Secret. I still say some of the lines from the movie from time to time for a good laugh with my sisters. Val was drop dead gorgeous
What silly dog poo?
It’s been in my Top 5 for 3 decades! LOVE!
Omg me too! Also excellent as Jim Morrison.
he’s hilarious in that. if you haven’t seen it, I fully recommend Real Genius. he was also BRILLIANT in Tombstone.
“I’m your huckleberry” is oft quoted in my house.
OMG! I still quote that movie all the time! Every time something I’m trying to do goes wrong I say, “would you classify that as a launch problem or a design problem?”
Also, do you run? Only when chased. HA!
Gosh. I didn’t know about the cancer. This will make me cry, always liked Val Kilmer even though he was reputed to be difficult. Loved him in each movie he was in. All the best to him.
Val contributed a great deal, both financially and creatively, to renovations on the Christian Science Center and Christian Science Monitor buildings (the Mapparium!) in Boston some years ago. He did videos explaining the history of the religion that are shown and his voice narrates the exhibits on the Monitor publications.
Val was a wonderful documentary but also a little sad. I found it fascinating how much footage Val Kilmer had from his childhood until now. His relationship with his children was beautiful to see and I loved how it was his son Jack who gave Val a voice for the film. If you are a Val Kilmer fan, I highly recommend watching this one.
@Beth – I agree. It was a great film and I thought it was sad too in some parts. But he also showed a lot of what he’s doing to stay positive. I recommend checking it out.
Agree. It also wasn’t a huge monument to one’s ego, as I initially feared.
Count me in agreement as well. When my husband & I first started watching it it seemed like it was going to be a downer but quickly became very interesting and even inspiring. He’s always been one of my favorites, dating back to Real Genius and Top Gun, and “Val” did not disappoint, especially if you’re a real fan (and even if you’re not).
Damn, he was a beautiful man! I’ve always loved him in his films, but I’ve been hesitant to learn more about him as a person because I don’t want to ruin that. But I am curious
Planning to watch the Val documentary. Looks really good. He is an iconic American actor!
Loved him in Real Genius as a kid.
And, even though he was the “villain” in Top Gun, Iceman was right! Mav’s attitude WAS dangerous and foolish!!
Exactly, he was arrogant (like all of them) but he had a point!
I hope he’s changed but he’s done some not nice things. Copied an artists work & sold it as his own. Pretty much bankrupted the original artist for years by dragging out a court case. That artist is still recovering from the law suit.
Loved him in Top Gun and had a major crush back in the day.
Excellent in The Doors and he stole Tombstone away from a cast filled with talent.
I absolutely love him and I loved the documentary so very much!!! <3 <3 <3
I had to fast forward through parts of the film because they bored me. (One example is a clip of his son playing guitar that went on too long to keep my interest.) It was interesting, however, to see how much of his life he did film. He does seem to have a great relationship with his kids and came across as humble in the film.
I recently re-watched Willow. He was so hot. I really want to see this as it sounds fascinating and thank you to the other comments from people who’ve watched it already.
I used to always get him mixed up with Kiefer Sutherland back in the day. I kind of like my down time entertainment to be lighthearted and this sounds heavy so I’m not sure I will watch this despite the good reviews.
I watched Val last night and I thought it was touching. I heard the rumors about him being difficult, but I also heard he was a perfectionist and just wanted the film to be great so I think he was just misunderstood. It made me sad watching him do autograph signings at Comic-Con because you could tell he was not feeling 100%. If you are a Val Vilmer fan, I suggest you watch it.
I LOVE him in Kiss kiss Bang Bang 😍
His memoir/autobiography is great!
I loved Val growning up and I was really hoping to like this movie. I ending up really not liking it . It totally turned me off when he threw his ex wife under the bus and had a recorded conversation regarding child custody. We couldn’t hear her voice or side and he portrayed her as keeping him from his kids. Why put that in there? The kids are already grown and seem to have a good relationship with him, it just seemed spiteful to me.
He was a joy to watch in his early films. I loved Willow, Top Gun, Real Genius, Tombstone. He was hot/gorgeous. Hopefully no more health problems in the future.
Ummm didn’t he leave his wife and young kids high and dry with little financial support? I’m all for the interest in him but it seems a bit unbalanced.
He also settled out of court a lawsuit brought by another artist for copyright infringement. So not all wine and roses. Glad he is in recovery from the cancer though.
Get the tissue handy- fully cried three times…
Loved him in Thunder Heart, even more than Tombstone (much more subtle performance).
I had a teacher at uni that had had throat cancer and had that device to produce the words. We could understand him perfectly. In time he’ll get used to it…