Val Kilmer has reflected on the challenges he faced on Batman Forever, particularly when suiting up to play DC’s masked vigilante.
Kilmer offered additional insight into his Batman Forever experience in Val, Amazon Prime Video’s new autobiographical documentary chronicling the life and career of the actor. According to ComicBook.com, Kilmer reminisced about his time on set and suggested that playing Batman was quite different from fantasizing about being the hero.
“I was in shock and disbelief, mostly because I had just been exploring a remote bat cave,” Kilmer recalled about being offered the role. “By Hollywood standards, Batman is the ultimate leading role and a dream come true. I took the part without even reading the script… But whatever boyish excitement I had going in was crushed by the reality of the Batsuit.
“When you’re in it, you can barely move and people have to help you stand up and sit down,” he added. “You also can’t hear anything and after a while people stop talking to you, it’s very isolating. It was a struggle for me to get a performance past the suit, and it was frustrating until I realized that my role in the film was just to show up and stand where I was told to.”
Kilmer elaborated further on his performance and likened playing Batman to acting in a soap opera, though he indicated that his co-stars were not as restricted by their costumes. He said fellow Batman Forever actors Tommy Lee Jones, who played Two-Face, and Jim Carrey, who portrayed The Riddler, managed to deliver huge performances in their villainous roles.
“[Jones and Carrey] had designed this whole performance… It was just so huge I think it made no difference what I was doing,” Kilmer admitted. “I tried to be like an actor on a soap opera. The way I would turn to Nicole. Go count how many times I put my hands on my hips. I don’t how they come up with this style of acting but they seem to go ‘Go to soap opera school.'”
Batman is set to return to the big screen in March of next year, with Robert Pattinson sporting the cape and cowl in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. The Dark Knight’s new suit is full of sharp lines, heavy armor plates, and a functional-looking Bat emblem, making it stand out from the other cinematic Batman costumes we’ve seen before.
The character will be given additional screentime in Andy Muschietti’s The Flash, as both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck will be back. We’ve already had a glimpse of Keaton’s classic Batman suit, with a few drops of blood splashed across the iconic black and yellow chest symbol, teasing a darker take on the Caped Crusader for the film.
Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.