Adam Goldberg called it. I bumped into the character actor recently, and in the context of chatting a bit about his experience on Deja Vu, asked about the ball of contradictions that is Val Kilmer. Goldberg insisted Kilmer was a pleasure on set, and related that the notoriously short-tempered star — whose antics have over the years cost him both some jobs and some friends — had said, “I’ve been on good behavior for my last five movies.” (I don’t know where, exactly, that places the last freakout, but somewhere before Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.)
Goldberg said Kilmer was in good spirits and quite funny, and now comes bubbling rumor that Kilmer may in fact be looking to reprise his role from 1985’s Real Genius as wonked-out science prodigy Chris Knight. That’d be something, huh? The overriding personal memory of that movie for me is of a buddy who rented it from Blockbuster and ran up like an $80 late fee tab, leading to much clucking disapproval from said store’s manager. Nothing official has yet been announced, but Kilmer allegedly wants, a la Robert De Niro, to trade in (and off of) his hardassed persona for a few overtly commercial, wide release comedies. If true, can a Top Secret! sequel be far behind? After all, The Good German gives the Zuckers plenty of new (old) material with which to work.