Warwick Davis has a soft spot for the late Val Kilmer, with whom he costarred in the 1988 fantasy movie Willow.
“He’s really the reason I got through the making of the film Willow,” Davis told Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday at the opening of Universal Epic Universe in Orlando. “Because if ever I was tired, exhausted, fed up, cold, he’d say, ‘Come on, keep going!’ And he’d be the kind of leader of the army, keeping us going. He was a beautiful man.”
Davis explained that he tells as many people as he can about what he saw in The Doors star.
“I always like to tell the world how great he was, because I often think the media gave the wrong impression of who he was as a person,” Davis said. “He was a very warm, generous, kind-hearted person.”
Willow was an action-fantasy movie, directed by Ron Howard and produced by George Lucas, that told the story of Davis’ titular character protecting a baby from an evil queen. Kilmer played the part of disgraced knight Madmartigan, who befriends the young farmer. Joanne Whalley, whom Kilmer later married and had two children with before divorcing in 1996, costarred in the film, as well as Kevin Pollak and the late Billy Barty.
It was a hit at the global box office, grossing nearly $140 million, four times its reported $35 million budget. The movie also earned Oscar nominations for both sound and visual effects.
The beloved story was resurrected for a 2022 Disney+ series, with Davis again in the lead role. Kilmer was struggling with his health, though, so he was unable to participate. Everyone involved was disappointed, as both the show and Kilmer had wanted it to happen.
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Warwick Davis attends the grand opening of Universal Epic Universe on May 21 in Orlando
“We started building out the first season with the intent of having him appear,” showrunner Jonathan Kasdan told EW in November 2022. “[It wasn’t clear we couldn’t get him] until pretty late in the process, frankly.”
The show was canceled after a single season.
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Kilmer died April 1 of pneumonia at age 65. The star of films including Top Gun, Heat, and Tombstone had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014.
The actor, who also took a turn as Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever, was remembered by colleagues, including his Willow director Howard, who praised his “awesome range”; his Top Gun costar Tom Cruise, who said Kilmer had a “beautiful” gift and was a “dear friend”; and his Batman Forever costar Jim Carrey, who called the actor a “generational talent.”
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