Val Kilmer: The Role He Missed Out On

Val Kilmer's Career in the '90s

Val Kilmer was nearly cast in an award-winning space movie from 1995 that would have doubled as a special Tombstone reunion. The '90s were an outstanding decade for the actor. After beginning the decade portraying Jim Morrison in The Doors, Kilmer followed that up with standout performances in Tombstone, Batman Forever, Heat, and The Prince of Egypt, among others. Even before that, however, Kilmer rose to familiarity after playing Iceman, the arch nemesis of Tom Cruise's character, Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, in 1986's Top Gun.

Val Kilmer's Career in the '90s

Through 2023, Val Kilmer's most recent role came in 2022's Top Gun: Maverick, where it was revealed Iceman became a mentor to Pete in his later years. Despite battling throat cancer, which has drastically impacted his speech, Kilmer hasn't given up acting. Prior to Iceman's Top Gun: Maverick return, Kilmer consistently appeared in movies and TV shows. Following 2005's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, his roles leaned more toward direct-to-video, including Wyatt Earp's Revenge, featuring Kilmer playing an older version of Wyatt Earp. The figure was pivotal in Tombstone alongside his own portrayal as Doc Holliday, but he almost had another role with a huge Tombstone connection.

Val Kilmer Turned Down The Role Of Jack Swigert In Apollo 13

Following the release of Tombstone, Val Kilmer nearly acquired a role in Ron Howard's Apollo 13, according to All The Right Movies (via X). The movie follows the real-life Apollo 13 event centered on astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise and their aborted lunar mission in 1970. Kilmer was offered the role of Jack Swigert, which eventually went to Kevin Bacon. Like Tombstone, Apollo 13 featured a stellar cast, with Bacon joined by Tom Hanks (Lovell) and Bill Paxton (Haise) as fellow astronauts, in addition to core roles from Gary Sinise and Ed Harris.

Kilmer reportedly turned down the Apollo 13 role to star in The Ghost and the Darkness instead. Though The Ghost and the Darkness found some critical success, it wasn't as big as Apollo 13 despite also being a historical film. While both garnered award wins, The Ghost and the Darkness only made $75 million from a $55 million budget, whereas Apollo 13 ended up making more than $300 more than its budget at the box office. More importantly, the film depicting a critical event in history is often regarded as one of the best movies ever made.

Val Kilmer's Missed Reunion with Bill Paxton

Val Kilmer's Apollo 13 casting would have caused a special reunion with his former Tombstone co-star Bill Paxton had everything worked out. Before playing Fred Haise in Apollo 13, Paxton starred as Morgan Earp, the brother of Wyatt and Virgil in Tombstone. In fact, Paxton's fate in the Western set Wyatt and Doc off on a revenge tour, leading to Tombstone's eventful ending.

Before that, Kilmer's character served as an ally to the Earp family, and that brotherhood would have carried over to Apollo 13 if they had been playing astronauts doomed on a mission to the moon. Appearing in Apollo 13 would have also meant Kilmer would have starred with Ed Harris five years before they worked together in 2000's Pollock. Even though Val Kilmer missed out on Apollo 13, his career has plenty of highlights, with Tombstone forever being one of them.

Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp, Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, and Bill Paxton as Morgan Earp as they walk through town in Tombstone.