As star of Willow, Val Kilmer eternally became a member of the Lucasfilm family, so his passing yesterday aged 65 was a day to mourn not only the loss of a great actor and the spirit behind the iconic Madmartigan but also the numeorus other roles he essayed to such brilliant effect in a career spanning over four decades. Lucasfilm remember Kilmer and the part he played in Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy epic.
Everyone at Lucasfilm mourns the loss of Val Kilmer. The actor was 27-years-old when he was cast as the roguish but lovable Madmartigan in the fantasy-adventure Willow (1988), which was directed by Ron Howard and executive produced by George Lucas. Playing opposite a teenage Warwick Davis in the title role, Kilmer’s Madmartigan packed an equal measure of comic relief and heroic compassion.
“We seem to have a set idea of what people should look or act like,” Kilmer told Lucasfilm’s fan club magazine during Willow’s production. “Hopefully, that can be influenced by actors who don’t fit into the typical mold. I think…that the story of Willow can influence people…. Usually in movies in the last six or seven years, they’ve been so commercial-oriented that that kind of hopefulness somehow gets lost…. But what I like about Willow is that it shows you can tell a story about something that is not attached to a product and stands for positive, good things. It’s a story with heart.”
Filmed on location in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, Willow was a showcase for Kilmer’s stuntwork, swordplay, and general derring-do. His nuanced performance as a down-and-out warrior who redeems himself formed part of the film’s emotional center. Madmartigan would prove a forerunner of iconic fantasy-adventure hero characters in succeeding decades.
