Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Appearances
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
I had been trying to write a Val Kilmer story for years, and he would never say yes to it. And finally, he said yes. I don't know why I was so lucky to have him say yes at that moment, but I know what he would say. I know that he would say that it wasn't luck, that it was my faith. These people, you write about them. And you become associated with them forever.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
In 2014, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and he chose not to treat it medically, but through prayer and counseling on his faith. He was a Christian scientist. Eventually, his children begged him to seek medical intervention, and he finally did, And when I met him, he had had a tracheostomy. He was speaking by covering up the hole in his throat, and he was still performing.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
What does somebody do when the thing that they are known for, which is being a superhero, which is being an action hero, which is being handsome, which is being this sort of picture of good health and vigor, What do you do next? And a lot of people, they fade away. But that's not how it went for Val.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
All of the vocal exercises he'd learned at Juilliard had come in handy because he was able to figure out how to speak again in a way that he should not have been able to communicate. But he was. And the force of his will is the thing I remember about him.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
The force of his will, the fact that he was sure he was going to come back to his exact former self, and in some senses felt that he was, that he was all soul and all will. And very often throughout the pandemic, when I would feel despair, despair, I would think that somewhere Val Kilmer is sitting with a hole in his throat and he does not see despair. He sees the opportunity for faith.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
And one of my best friends called me up and said that she had throat cancer. And I was with Val Kilmer the next day and I said to him, my best friend has throat cancer. And he said, tell her she shouldn't worry. And I included this in the story. And sometimes people still ask me about it. And people will ask once again now that this story is going out into the world again.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
And I want to tell you all that Lydia is fine now. And this morning, the first call I made was to her to tell her that he had died. And we were so sad together. All I could think about is the fact that maybe I think about him more than anyone else I've ever written about. I'm so sorry he's gone.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
So here's my article, The Iceman in Winter, from the May 10th, 2020 issue of the New York Times Magazine. And it's read by Julia Whalen. Our audio producer today is Jack Bisodoro. Thank you for listening.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
And you don't even know what a privilege that's going to be years and years later. I'm Taffy Brodesser-Eckner, and I'm a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine. The actor Val Kilmer... Died on Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 65. And for the Sunday Read this week, we are once again airing the profile I wrote of Val in 2020 during a pandemic.
The Daily
The Sunday Read: ‘What Happened to Val Kilmer?’
Everyone has a favorite Val Kilmer that feels very personal and specific to them. In Top Gun, in Heat, in The Doors, in Batman Forever. He was the kind of actor who was always running from his good looks, even as he greatly benefited from them. I could not believe his jaw when I met him, same as I couldn't believe it in a movie theater when I was 12 years old.