Working on a film or TV show is difficult work, and a feud only serves to make things worse for all involved. It’s been rumored that there was a feud on Pretty in Pink, an alleged feud on set of The Good Wife, and an alleged feud on the set of High School Musical.
During the 1990s, Val Kilmer was a hot commodity, but he earned a reputation for being difficult to work with. For his 1996 box office bomb, things came to a head, and it’s rumored that the actor had problems with multiple people on set.
Let’s look at the film, and see what happened!
The Island Of Dr. Moreau Was A Flop At The Box Office
In the vast ocean of cinematic history, there are tales of triumph and tales of tragedy. And among the latter, the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau stands as a notorious example of a box office failure that left both audiences and critics gasping for breath. Directed by John Frankenheimer, this sci-fi horror flick, based on H.G. Wells’ classic novel, drifted into theaters with high expectations but quickly found itself lost at sea.
With a budget of approximately $40 million, and a star-studded cast, one would think that The Island of Dr. Moreau had all the makings of a cinematic gem. Alas, even the most lavish investments cannot guarantee smooth sailing, as the film struggled to recoup its costs, eventually grossing a mere $49 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo.
One significant reason behind the film’s sinking box office ship was its woeful lack of critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie holds a staggeringly dismal approval rating of just 23% am ong critics.
Val Kilmer was the face of the film, and despite his career trending upward at the time, the shoot was a difficult one, and his name, even paired with Marlon Brando, was not enough to navigate the film to profitable shores.
While filming, Kilmer had issues with multiple people on set.
Kilmer Had Issues With Multiple Actors On Set
Even before filming, there were multiple issues, and these issues spilled into production.A change in leading men (Bruce Willis was on board before Kilmer), and a change in directors, allegedly due to Kilmer’s behavior, got things off to a rocky start.
According to Far Out Magazine, “The only way that Kilmer was going to work on the project was by committing only 60% of the time that Bruce Willis had agreed upon, a decision which made things difficult for director John Frankenheimer who had only been brought on a few days before shooting began. Richard Stanley was supposed to direct the film at first, but he was fired for not being able to control Kilmer, which ended up sending him over the edge and leading him to destroy documents and taking a hiatus from filmmaking.”
Feuding with the filmmaker is not a good look, and this was not the only feud that was taking place on set.
“Brando famously lashed out at Kilmer on one occasion, advising him to not confuse the size of his paycheque with the amount of talent he had which also contributed to the negative press surrounding The Island of Dr. Moreau,” the site said.
Two feuds, an overall rough filming experience, and an underperformance at the box office all contributed to the film going down in infamy. Franenheimer went on to say “I don’t like Val Kilmer, I don’t like his work ethic, and I don’t want to be associated with him ever again.”
For Kilmer, this was hardly the only time that he had problems on set.
Val Kilmer Had Problems With Other Performers In The Past
While filming Batman Forever, Kilmer had difficulties the Joel Schumacher. The pair even got physical at one point.
“(We) had a physical pushing match. He was being irrational and ballistic with the first AD, the cameraman, the costume people. He was badly behaved, he was rude and inappropriate. I was forced to tell him that this would not be tolerated for one more second. Then we had two weeks where he did not speak to me, but it was bliss,” the filmmaker told EW.
Those are some damning words from the filmmaker, who has since passed. Following his passing, Kilmer shared kind words about Schumacher, showing that there were no hard feelings years after their time on set.
Looper also reported that Kilmer once walked off set on his first acting gig, something that could easily sink a lesser performers career. The site states that it all stemmed from Kilmer’s lack of enthusiasm while serving up a burger.