„I’ve Never Hit Anyone in My Whole Life”. Although Val Kilmer Wouldn't Hurt a Fly, He Proved Himself in a Brutal Role That Was Offered to Keanu Reeves
Val Kilmer has confessed that he avoids violence, but that didn't stop him from playing an extremely violent character in Heat. This role was originally supposed to go to Keanu Reeves.
Val Kilmer took on many diverse roles, refusing to be locked into a specific type of a character. He was able to find himself on both sides of the barricade, playing both the good guys and the bad guys. And, as it turns out, he didn't let his personal beliefs hold him back, although he admitted that one role was so much the opposite of him that playing it was quite a challenge for him.
It's about Chris Shiherlis, whom he played in Michael Mann's Heat. Kilmer starred in that film alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as a impetuous and violent character. During an interview with Deadline, he confessed that he had to look for solutions to help him play a character who goes as far as violence, unbeknownst to him, because he “never hit anyone in his whole life.”
I am not familiar with violence. I’ve never hit anyone in my whole life. Not once. I’ve prevented some fights, but never struck a soul. So Chris was a real Challenge. I had to find the actions which would trigger the impulse to be violent to the point of murder, instantly.
Kilmer, despite the fact that he himself doesn't resemble the Chris he played in the slightest, handled the role and drew out the brutality he needed to play the Heat character well.
Interestingly, this character was originally supposed to be played by Keanu Reeves. However, the plan didn't work out due to the fact that the actor had already committed to star in Hamlet, which meant he didn't have time for Michael Mann's Heat. The production did, however, gain Kilmer, who gave it his all and showed that he could also be brutal, even if he wouldn't hurt a fly in real life.
