“Val,” the new Amazon doc about the life of actor Val Kilmer, premiered on Wednesday night at the DGA in West Hollywood.
Co-directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo assembled the film from footage that Kilmer shot over several decades. “This is over 50 years in the making,” Val’s son Jack told Variety. Daughter Mercedes said she loved seeing footage of her parents’ wedding: “I’ve seen photos but never video.”
Jack added, “I love seeing him the age that I am rolling up to the premiere of ‘Top Gun’ with Cher on his arm and he has a mullet!”
Val, who was diagnosed with throat cancer a few years ago, skipped the premiere. “His health is good,” Mercedes said. “He’s doing really well.”
Michael Mann was on hand to toast Kilmer, who starred in the filmmaker’s “Heat” (1995) opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. “He’s one of those rare actors who is not only gifted and skilled but he’s got that spectacular and very unusual quality — he is all in all the time,” Mann told Variety. “He never thinks he’s done.”
“Val” is available now on Amazon. “All of us have such a special magical place in our hearts and psyches about Val Kilmer,” Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said. “All those movies we love, all those iconic roles and just the sparkle behind the eye. But he also was sort of a mystery. Like where is he? For us, the minute we saw he was the subject of this and a personal vision of his we were way leaning in.”
Co-Head of Movies at Amazon Studios Julie Rapaport, Mercedes Kilmer, Jack Kilmer and Co-Head of Movies at Amazon Studios Matt Newman attend the premiere of Val at the Directors Guild of America on August 3, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
Michael Buckner for PMC
Amazon Studio’s movie co-heads Jill Rapaport and Mann Newman first saw some footage from the film last summer. “We all just started calling each other immediately going, ‘This is so special,’” Rapaport said. “We actually made the deal off of that first footage.”
Despite Kilmer’s health setback, Newman said, “With all that he’s gone through there’s still just this positive energy that comes out of everything he seems to touch.”