Val Kilmer’s Biggest Controversy: Find Out Why He Was Blamed For THIS Movie's Filming Mishaps Amid His Death

Trigger warning: The article contains mentions of death. 

Val Kilmer had a remarkable career until his tragic death at 65 on April 1. However, he also had a fair share of controversies, most notably on the set of the 1996 movie The Island of Dr. Moreau. The movie gloriously tanked at the box office, and the reason was speculated to be in multitudes. 

The project endured several actors being replaced, and heated feuds between Kilmer, co-star Marlon Brando, and directors Richard Stanley and John Frankenheimer. These factors and sheer bad luck sealed the movie’s misfortune. 

He was deemed difficult to work with due to his tantrums on the set of the sci-fi movie adapted from H. G. Wells’s famous eponymous novel. Kilmer reportedly refused to read lines as written and often challenged the directors. 

The Batman Forever actor was accused of being aggressive and dismissive of the crew and had a feud with both Stanley and his replacement, Frankenheimer. The latter reportedly swore off ever working with Kilmer. 

“Even if I was directing a film called The Life of Val Kilmer, I wouldn't have that prick in it,” Frankenheimer reportedly remarked back then. The Top Gun actor’s troubles didn’t end there! He also had an alleged competition with co-star Brando about who’d leave their trailers first. 

In the aftermath, both men stayed in their respective trailers for hours while they were scheduled to shoot. “Your problem is you confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your talent,” Brando reportedly told him. 

The infamous ego clash ruined Kilmer’s reputation, created a negative image in the media, and gave him defamatory titles like “Psycho Kilmer.” It was believed that the actor’s destructive behavior stemmed from his divorce from his Willow co-star Joanne Whaley. 

He reportedly learned about the divorce from TV news just as he began filming The Island of Dr. Moreau. In his memoir I’m Your Huckleberry, he acknowledged being deemed “difficult” to work with.