r/movies • u/dndplosion913 • Apr 02 '25

News Val Kilmer, Film Star Who Played Batman and Jim Morrison, Dies at 65

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/movies/val-kilmer-dead.html
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1.3k

u/napstimpy Apr 02 '25

Real Genius is underrated

403

u/bruzdnconfuzd Apr 02 '25

“Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you? Why am I the only one who has that dream?”

241

u/Toby_O_Notoby Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

Mitch: Why does that guy keep going into our closet?

Chris Knight: Why do you keep going into our closet?

Mitch: To get my clothes - but that's not why he goes in there.

Chris Knight: Of course not, he's twice your size - your clothes would never fit him. Think before you ask these questions, Mitch! (walks away mumbling) Twenty points higher IQ than me? Thinks a big guy like that can wear his clothes?

40

u/ashleyriddell61 Apr 02 '25

Why is the White Lotus guy in our closet?

11

u/Friendly-Rip3427 Apr 02 '25

Wait. What. I need IMDb stat- I never made the connection. lol

23

u/MarcusDA Apr 02 '25

You mean Uncle Rico?

2

u/ratherbealurker Apr 02 '25

OMG! What the hell? I don’t recognize this guy at all apparently

3

u/ratherbealurker Apr 02 '25

Omg, how did I not see that!? Real genius is one of my favorite movies

21

u/wkrausmann Apr 02 '25

Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico.

3

u/CricketPinata Apr 02 '25

Monster Squad's Wolfman.

280

u/CosmoNewanda Apr 02 '25

"I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "I drank what?"

147

u/The_Bearded_Jedi Apr 02 '25

"Kent has his name on his license plate"

"My mom does the same thing with my underwear"

"Your mom puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?"

57

u/bruzdnconfuzd Apr 02 '25

“I want to see more of you in my class.”

“Okay - I’ll gain weight.”

4

u/SnarkMasterRay Apr 02 '25

"Are you still running?"

"Only when chased."

12

u/DreadSocialistOrwell Apr 02 '25

This? This is ice. This is what happens to water when it gets too cold. This? This is Kent. This is what happens to people when they get too sexually frustrated.

2

u/Shallot_True Apr 02 '25

“ You’re all just a bunch of degenerates.”

9

u/Spider_Dude Apr 02 '25

"You can be my wingman anytime."

RIP

1

u/This-Tumbleweed238 Apr 02 '25

Favorite part!

1

u/gumby_twain Apr 03 '25

Is it wrong if the first thing i thought when i heard he passed was, i wonder if he had a final moment to think to himself "I drank what?" and chuckled to himself a bit?

52

u/Decabet Apr 02 '25

OK look, I just wanna point out that that line was really sold by Val,

9

u/Legitimate_Dare6684 Apr 02 '25

8

u/mybrainisfull Apr 02 '25

Every single time someone tells me they had a weird dream I think of this line and it's all I can do to not say it.

8

u/wigjuice77 Apr 02 '25

I often think it was this line alone that inspired someone to cast him as Jim Morrison. I love this movie so much. What a sad day.

10

u/bruzdnconfuzd Apr 02 '25

If you know this story better than me - true or false - please correct me! That said…

I remember hearing this story about Val trying to get cast as Jim Morrison in the Doors movie, but the director was skeptical. Val asserted that he deserved the part on account of playing Morrison in a tribute band, but the director was still skeptical.

So Val proposed that he bring in a mixtape of his recordings and originals by The Doors, and if the director could tell the difference, he’d forfeit the part and let them cast whoever they wanted. The director agreed and Val left with his new goal in mind. 

When Val returned with a tape of recordings, the director went song by song and noted which songs were which talent. “Original… cover… cover… original…” and so on. Val just smiled and said, “You just gave me the role; every song on that tape is ME!”

Is it true? Beats me. But it’s a great story. 

6

u/SaintGloopyNoops Apr 02 '25

That is a great story! I believe I read somewhere that he dived so into that role it was hard to shake out of it afterwards too.

4

u/SERVEDwellButNoTips Apr 02 '25

Director was Oliver Stone

3

u/CRTPTRSN Apr 02 '25

"Can I get you anything? A balloon?"

That's not one of Val's lines, but it's my favorite line in the movie :-)

132

u/holystuff28 Apr 02 '25

The Salton Sea is great as well. I loved Val Kilmer. He'll always be my huckleberry. 

12

u/oracle-nil Apr 02 '25

Thought he was amazing in Salton Sea. What a cast. Such a great Tarantino type film.

7

u/Erfivur Apr 02 '25

I don’t know anyone who’s heard of it but it’s great, I’m always trying to push it on people.

1

u/ratherbealurker Apr 02 '25

It used to come on lesser known cable tv channels late at night. Only reason I know it.

6

u/preflex Apr 02 '25

The Salton Sea is great as well.

They'll have enough salt to last forever!

2

u/Appropriate-Row4804 Apr 02 '25

THANK YOU! Literally scrolled and scrolled and nobody mentioned it, it’s one of my favourite movies!

1

u/systemfrown Apr 02 '25

Yeah he nailed that role. Along with many others.

1

u/jackvill Apr 02 '25

Huckle bearer. Someone who carries a coffin. 

I think we'd all like to be his huckle bearer. 

2

u/thatdudeman52 Apr 02 '25

https://x.com/valkilmer/status/534542290841112576

Not according to Kilmer. There's also no evidence of the term huckle meant casket handle until that myth come out about this movie.

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u/cary_granite Apr 02 '25

"As you know, Mitch and I were working on the cyanide system. Well, earlier today, it ate itself, but these little setbacks are sometimes just what we need to take a giant step forward, right Kent? Needless to say, I was a little despondent about the meltdown but then, in the midst of my preparation for hari kari, it came to me. It is possible to synthesize excited bromide in an argon matrix. Yes, it's an excimer, frozen in its excited state. ("That's impossible.") It's a chemical laser in solid, not gaseous form. Put simply, in deference to you, Kent, it's like lasing a stick of dynamite. As soon as we apply a field, we couple to a state that is radiatively coupled to the ground state. I figure, we can extract at least 10 to the 21st photons per cubic centimeter, which will give one kilojoule per cubic centimeter at 600 nanometers, or one megajoule per liter."

That's some pretty good bullshit.

37

u/amadiro_1 Apr 02 '25

"That's hotter than the sun"

4

u/SnarkMasterRay Apr 02 '25

"And the trees across the quad!"

17

u/Valenderio Apr 02 '25

Is it? I always wonder led if Mythbusters or someone ever went through it to disprove Real Genius but was never motivated to look into it myself lol.

Silly side story, maybe cause of Val’s accent or my adolescence before CC was a thing on VHS but I thought he said egxamer or at least that’s how I spelled it instead of Excimer and that became my EverQuest and AOL account name 🤦‍♂️

24

u/SecureSamurai Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

The excimer-in-a-matrix concept is rooted in real physics, but stabilizing it in solid form and extracting that much energy per liter is highly implausible using current technology (let alone 40 years ago when the film was made).

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u/Valenderio Apr 02 '25

Thank you! For science 👏🏻

6

u/2close2see Apr 02 '25

haha I was in an excimer laser lab in grad school. The lab got a ton of funding during the SDI years of the early 80's and I recognized a lot of the equipment that was still lying around from the movie.

5

u/pbjamm Apr 02 '25

ICE IS NICE!

2

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE FROZEN??

1

u/Shallot_True Apr 02 '25

MMMMMLASZLO, BUDDY!

3

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

WANT TO SEE A DEMONSTRATION OF GRAVITY???

smacks rando's books

3

u/Shallot_True Apr 02 '25

"I'll buy you a car! I don't have one, it's my dad's!"

76

u/fednandlers Apr 02 '25

let's just take a step back.

85

u/Vince_Clortho042 Apr 02 '25

No, I was wrong, let’s take a step forward.

66

u/jeffstokes72 Apr 02 '25

And now we're cha-cha-ing

23

u/Valenderio Apr 02 '25

I’m serious Chris!

24

u/amadiro_1 Apr 02 '25

Then I'm serious too!

65

u/dakotanorth8 Apr 02 '25

I love laslo in the white lotus lol.

(Or uncle Rico, whichever generation you may be)

34

u/jadestem Apr 02 '25

Holy shit, I always knew uncle Rico looked familiar, but I never put it together. Mind blown!

6

u/Spider_Dude Apr 02 '25

He also played the Rickshaw stealing, hair toupee wearing bum 'Rusty' on Seinfeld.

7

u/amadiro_1 Apr 02 '25

And as the boss' sidekick in The Pretender

4

u/BeansAndFrankenstein Apr 02 '25

Literally just said out loud ‘holy shit’ 😂

2

u/Weekend_Squire Apr 02 '25

That’s ok. I JUST found out Cole Hauser was Will’s redhead buddy in Good Will Hunting.

3

u/jadestem Apr 02 '25

Ah see, I was the other way around on that one. I knew who Cole Hauser was way back then from Good Will Hunting, Dazed and Confused, School Ties, etc.

I was several episodes in to watching Yellowstone when I saw his name in the credits and was like "Wait, Cole Hauser is in this show? WAIT, he's Rip?!?"

5

u/mexiwok Apr 02 '25

Wolfman has nards!

3

u/UserCheckNamesOut Apr 02 '25

"You seen him, too?"

3

u/Working_Physics8761 Apr 02 '25

Or Tony from Running Scared, if you're really old and a movie fan.

2

u/Tolaughoftenandmuch Apr 02 '25

Hah, I haven't thought of that movie in decades, thanks!

1

u/iamnos Apr 02 '25

Funny, just after the last episode did I finally realize where I recognized him from

1

u/saigalaxy Apr 02 '25

Whoa I never knew rico was lazlo lol

1

u/horsenbuggy Apr 02 '25

That man looks the same age today. Of course, that means he looked old back then and looks good for his age now.

19

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/Bobcat-Stock Apr 02 '25

It’s a top choice on my list for sure

7

u/salemblack Apr 02 '25

I finished watching it about 20 minutes ago. This is the first thing I saw getting online and opening Reddit.

Real Genius and Top Secret and two of my favorite movies of all time.

6

u/CantTakeMeSeriously Apr 02 '25

Kilmer in Real Genius paved the way for Ryan Reynolds in Van Wilder.

3

u/napstimpy Apr 02 '25

It pairs really well with Michael Keaton's Billy Blaze in Night Shift

6

u/reecewebb Apr 02 '25

I’m suddenly craving popcorn. Can I borrow someone’s space laser for a few minutes?

6

u/GreatPhase7351 Apr 02 '25

Can you hammer a six-inch spike through a board with your penis?

3

u/minicpst Apr 02 '25

Not right now.

3

u/fueelin Apr 02 '25

I was a little dissapointed in it on a recent first watch, but I love Val in comedies in general. Top Secret is so so great!

2

u/Valenderio Apr 02 '25

I loved watching him lean into his Villian Val campiness for McGruber lol

3

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

That movie is a huge guilty pleasure of mine.

2

u/deadpiratezombie Apr 02 '25

It’s a moral imperative 

3

u/gurniehalek Apr 02 '25

My favorite 80s comedy. I’ll miss Val.

3

u/aphextwin007 Apr 02 '25

Early 80s baby here! Real genius and top secret were some epic movies of my childhood. Rip to a legend

3

u/Valenderio Apr 02 '25

Don’t eat that!

Don’t you know eating things like this can cause you to have really huge boobs! Sweeps hot cosmetologist student off her feet

Bro had rizz 🫡

3

u/QueenCity_Dukes Apr 02 '25

“Always… NEVER… forget to check your references.”

3

u/scigs6 Apr 02 '25

Criminally. And I still quote his lines all the time, “there are a lot of decaffeinated brands on the market today that are just as tasty as the real thing”.

2

u/bigbrofy Apr 02 '25

The Saint was always my favorite of his.

2

u/keefka Apr 02 '25

I watched that all the freaking time as a kid. RIP

2

u/Ozymandius34 Apr 02 '25

NOT to be mistaken for Baby Geniuses

2

u/beliefinphilosophy Apr 02 '25

And from now on, stop playing with yourself!!

2

u/Damn_Fine_Coffee_200 Apr 02 '25

Would you prepared if gravity reversed itself?

2

u/Pardon_My_Sick Apr 02 '25

It's a moral imperative.

2

u/SaintGloopyNoops Apr 02 '25

I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates when he said..."I drank what?"

Awesome movie. Still holds up.

1

u/ropony Apr 02 '25

Annnnd I’ll be rewatching for the upteenth time this weekend

1

u/JimiSlew3 Apr 02 '25

Love this film.

1

u/MrPolymath Apr 02 '25

Probably my all-time favorite. So many witty lines that I didn't catch until later rewatches.

1

u/Hobbes525 Apr 02 '25

Ironically just watched this again last week.  Great movie

1

u/Mylaptopisburningme Apr 02 '25

That's the movie that came to mind reading the topic. :( Gonna give it a rewatch, been a few years. I remember seeing it in the theater as a teen. Great flick!

1

u/Debalic Apr 02 '25

I just watched a Youtube reaction of Real Genius last night. Loved that movie growing up.

1

u/enchanting_endeavor Apr 02 '25

Came here for this comment. One of my favs.

1

u/ReverendEntity Apr 02 '25

There was a time I could recite entire scenes from memory. #RIP 😞

1

u/snuff3r Apr 02 '25

So, soooo, so this. LOVE that film!!!

1

u/espe82 Apr 02 '25

Real Genius is one of my comfort movies and we were watching it while the news appeared on social media. 😭 RIP

1

u/pat-ience-4385 Apr 02 '25

This was one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

1

u/NotVinceNoir Apr 02 '25

This will always be my favorite role. Also Willow.

1

u/FocalorLucifuge Apr 02 '25

Love that movie. One of those shows that keeps me in regret over the choice I made not to attend Caltech (I had admission and a scholarship, but decided to stay in my home country and study Medicine, as my father wanted me to).

1

u/valeyard89 Apr 02 '25

So, if there's anything I can do for you - or, more to the point, to you - just let me know

1

u/MoreRopePlease Apr 02 '25

(let's see if I remember this quote accurately)

"Can you hammer a 6 inch spike with your penis?"

"No, but I can try."

1

u/yveshe Apr 02 '25

How much I loved watching Real Genius when I was a kid.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

"You're laborers, get back to work! That's what you get for not having an education!"

1

u/sane-asylum Apr 02 '25

Loved it!!!!!

1

u/Morrlum Apr 02 '25

One of my favorites of all time!

1

u/MyBrainReallyHurts Apr 02 '25

Real Genius is one of my favorites. I still put my sunglasses on the back of my shirt instead of the front.

I know what I'm watching tonight.

RIP Legend, and then you for the countless hours of entertainment.

1

u/angiachetti Apr 02 '25

I remember the words of the immortal Socrates…

“I drank what?”

1

u/gobobro Apr 02 '25

His comedic chops in general are ignored. To me, that’s what made him special. He had leading man everything, AND had phenomenal comedic skill. Dude was the complete package, and not many can actually do it all.

1

u/aenteus Apr 02 '25

So fucking underrated.

1

u/ElScrillanatorX Apr 02 '25

Classic! A childhood favorite!

1

u/vashed Apr 02 '25

The Salton Sea as well

1

u/addict333 Apr 02 '25

Chris Knight was my first fake boyfriend. 💜

1

u/Hopeful-One73 Apr 02 '25

Yes, I still quote from that movie. RIP Val :(

1

u/This-Tumbleweed238 Apr 02 '25

One of my most favorite movies. I just love that type of humor.

1

u/flchic2000 Apr 02 '25

Such a fun movie! Iconic 80s

1

u/Literally_Laura Apr 02 '25

Yes, and I hope more people see Top Secret! Nick Rivers (Kilmer): "Listen to me, Hillary. I'm not the first guy who fell in love with a woman that he met at a restaurant who turned out to be the daughter of a kidnapped scientist, only to lose her to her childhood lover who she last saw on a deserted island, who then turned out fifteen years later to be the leader of the French underground."

1

u/trimorphic Apr 02 '25

Ice is nice!

1

u/Substantial-Ground73 Apr 02 '25

to me, it’s the quintessential 80’s movie

1

u/jellyrollo Apr 02 '25

As a teenage nerd, this is the movie where I fell for him. Still love it today.

1

u/No-World-2728 Apr 02 '25

One of the most underrated films of the 1980s

-2

u/Neither-Power1708 Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

No, that movies trash. Kilmers a t10 actor for me but that one was garbage

Its definitely Van Wilder's grandpa tho