Latest news with #Kilmer
Otago Daily Times
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Obituary: Val Kilmer, actor
Val Kilmer films Kill Me Again in a casino in Las Vegas February 12, 1989 Las Vegas, Nevada . For some he was difficult to work with, for others he was a dedicated craftsman, but actor Val Kilmer was a performer everyone in Hollywood had an opinion on. A dedicated method actor, Kilmer's more extreme efforts at preparation included taking an ice bath before playing Doc Holliday's death from tuberculosis in Tombstone, wearing leather pants all the time and asking castmates and crew to only refer to him as "Jim" when playing Doors frontman Jim Morrison in The Doors. The Los Angeles native trained at Juilliard and quickly picked up theatre roles before making his film debut in 1984 spy spoof Top Secret! One of his more iconic roles — hotshot pilot Tom "Iceman" Kazansky opposite Tom Cruise in 1986's Top Gun — almost did not happen. Kilmer had turned the part down, but relented after the director promised his character would improve from the initial script. By the early 1990s, Kilmer had made a name for himself as a dashing leading man, but his career almost foundered on the rocks of 1995's Batman Forever — his sole turn as the Caped Crusader was much derided, something which the actor blamed on a suffocating Batsuit. Kilmer subsequently mixed arthouse and big box office films, as well as pursuing passion projects: Citizen Twain, a one-man stage show where he played author Samuel Clemens, was one notable example. A talented musician and published poet, Kilmer was also a visual artist. Val Kilmer died on April 1 aged 65. — APL/agencies
Daily Mirror
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mirror
Drivers of popular cars could risk losing 'fortune' due to common feature
Drivers of certain vehicles have been warned that they could be at risk of losing a huge amount of money and being targeted by criminals for one simple reason Top mechanic Scotty Kilmer has issued a stark warning to motorists about the risks of certain modern vehicles with keyless ignition systems, potentially leading to financial losses and heightened chances of theft. He highlighted that owners of petrol, diesel and electric cars equipped with keyless ignitions could be particularly vulnerable. Kilmer noted that fobs which rely on buttons rather than a traditional key turn could invite trouble, from simplicity issues to significant replacement costs. The statement came with the caution that such keyless fobs are not only "cost a fortune to replace" but also may make the associated vehicle "easier to steal", striking a concerning note for car owners. READ MORE: Nutritionist says special coffee 'elevates energy' and 'manages stress' without crash Addressing his audience on YouTube, Scotty explained: "Today I'm going to talk about something I hate. Keyless ignition systems." His preference is clear as he added: "I like plain old keys. They very rarely break. These computer ones have a lot of ID signals in them." Discussing the potential drawbacks, he continued: "They cost a fortune to replace if you lose them, reports the Express. Unlike the plain old key, they are not waterproof. If these fall in the water or go through the wash. Goodbye." Kilmer also warns about the security implications of digital keys: "Lastly, they make your vehicle easier to steal. People can copy these signals, have one and steal your car." He contrasted this with the relative security of physical keys, stating: "With a regular key, they've got to make a copy of the key. There's no key to copy here, just a computer signal." As per CheckaTrade, getting a manual car key replaced could set drivers back an estimated £160. The financial burden increases for remote car keys, with the average cost hitting around £320. To compound matters, car manufacturers might demand even higher prices for replacement keys, with some premium brands' fees soaring into the thousands. Owners of keyless vehicles are also under threat from 'relay attacks', where criminals employ a cunning method to unlawfully gain access to cars. These crooks intercept signals from a legitimate device, such as a key fob, and relay them to the vehicle. This essentially dupes the car into granting access without the actual key present. Tracker specialists have flagged 'relay attacks' as a significant worry, given they remain the go-to strategy for thieves. Plan Insurance Brokers advised: "A Thatcham-approved vehicle tracker is worth serious consideration and on high-value vehicles, they can be mandatory for many insurers." They added: "The device won't necessarily prevent the vehicle being taken but it could enable the police to recover it."
The South African
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The South African
Tom Cruise shines a spotlight on Val Kilmer's legacy
Tom Cruise has opened up about the 'special and beautiful' reunion with Val Kilmer in Top Gun: Maverick . It was a moment that is now tinged with sadness for fans across the globe. Val Kilmer passed away in April after complications from pneumonia. The actor made a brief but unforgettable appearance in the 2022 sequel. His return struck a chord with audiences everywhere. Tom Cruise, now 62, recalled the magic of reuniting with his old friend. 'To come back all those years later, it was amazing being on set for Top Gun: Maverick . It was like time had not passed. We were laughing and it was joyous,' Cruise told Sight and Sound magazine. 'And then we started acting and… he became Iceman. The power that this guy has, even not saying anything, to become that character. You see how even the sniff that he gave. He was Iceman.' The two first soared together in the 1986 original, with Cruise as Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and Kilmer as Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky, according to Daily Mail. Their rivalry and eventual friendship became legendary, even here in Mzansi, where Top Gun remains a cult classic. Despite appearing for only about ten minutes in the original film, Kilmer's performance left a lasting impression. 'That's the impact of an artist like that,' Cruise said. 'He didn't even have to speak. That's what he's able to do. Beautiful, really beautiful. A gift that he had and that he shared with all of us.' Producer Jerry Bruckheimer once revealed that Cruise was the driving force behind Kilmer's return for the sequel. It almost didn't happen-Kilmer initially turned down the role in 1986, wanting to be a lead, not a supporting actor. But Cruise and director Tony Scott persisted. Kilmer's journey was far from easy. Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, he underwent surgeries that left him with a tracheostomy and permanently altered his voice. Yet, with the help of AI technology from a London-based company, his voice was recreated for Top Gun: Maverick. 'I'm grateful to the entire team at Sonantic who masterfully restored my voice,' Kilmer said. Reflecting on his life, Kilmer once admitted, 'I wish that I loved more. I want to be a better person. I try to figure that out every day, how to be more grateful.' Here in South Africa, where Top Gun has inspired generations, Kilmer's passing feels personal. Top Gun: Maverick grossed over R6.5 billion worldwide-a testament to its global and local impact. But for many, it's the memory of Iceman and Maverick together again that will truly endure. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
CNN
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Will Forte was once roommates with Val Kilmer, who he calls ‘the most interesting person in the world'
Will Forte is remembering when his good friend and 'MacGruber' costar Val Kilmer – who he called 'the most interesting person in the world' – ended up living with him for nearly three months. In an essay published by Vulture on Friday, Forte remembered Kilmer, who died from pneumonia this week at the age of 65, as 'incredibly funny and incredibly smart. He could be super-silly and then turn around and be a little frickin' devil – but a sweet little devil. Life is more vivid when you're hanging out with Val.' Forte explained that the pair had become 'pretty tight' after shooting 'MacGruber,' which was based on a recurring 'Saturday Night Live' spoof of 'MacGyver' featuring Forte and co-starring Kilmer as zany villain Dieter Von Cunth. Due to some real estate issues, Forte said Kilmer was looking for a new place to live, and approached him about staying at his place 'for a couple days.' 'I don't remember if he said 'a couple days,' but I got the impression that it was going to be a couple days,' Forte wrote. 'So he showed up on a Monday, and later that day, his assistant came over with two huge duffel bags filled with books, and I'm like, Oh, this seems like it's maybe going to be more than a couple days. It ended up being two and a half months.' Forte went on to give snapshots of what it was like living with the 'Doors' star, from coming home to a darkened house only to find Kilmer reading with a miner's headlamp on, to wearing boxers on his head, or spontaneously going jogging with him in a linen suit. 'One of the great joys of my life is, as I turned around to look back at him, I saw him jogging back in my direction in this linen suit,' Forte wrote. 'That was him – just full of surprises. Just the most unique person I've ever met.' They also connected on various television shows, including 'The Amazing Race.' At one point, Kilmer came home to find Forte watching it and dismissed the reality competition show as useless fodder that's 'going to rot your mind.' Forte succeeded in convincing Kilmer to try watching it, and soon he was hooked. 'Then, at a certain point, he said, 'Will, you and I have to go do 'The Amazing Race.' We have to. Let's do 'The Amazing Race.'' I'm like, 'I am so fully in.'' He continued to write that they even called their respective agents about getting on the show, but they put the kibosh on it. 'That is, maybe to this day, the biggest regret of my whole career – that I never did 'The Amazing Race' with Val. I think we would've gotten out very quickly, but it just would've been the experience of a lifetime.'
CBS News
15-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Judge in Abrego Garcia case tells DOJ she has "no tolerance for gamesmanship"
Greenbelt, Maryland — A federal judge on Tuesday admonished the Department of Justice for not complying with her order to facilitate the release of a Maryland man who the Trump administration admitted had been mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador, and ordered expedited discovery in the case. "We have to give process to both sides, but we're going to move… there will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding," U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis said at the start of a hearing in the case involving Kilmer Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador last month. Xinis ordered for the depositions to be completed by April 23. When the Justice Department suggested they might invoke privilege, Xinis told them "cancel vacation, cancel other appointments" and added that she expects "all hands on deck." Lawyers for Abrego Garcia and the Justice Department faced off in Xinis' courtroom Tuesday, one day after El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said he would not be returning Abrego Garcia . Drew Ensign, a Justice Department attorney, said Tuesday that the Trump administration would facilitate Abrego Garcia's return if he arrived at a port of entry, and continued to dodge straightforward questions on what the Trump administration is doing, if anything, to return the man. Joseph Mazzarra, acting general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a filing shortly before the hearing that if Abrego Garcia does show up at a port of entry, he would be detained by the Department of Homeland Security and either removed to a third country or be stripped of a legal protection that he was granted in 2019, which forbid immigration authorities from removing him to his home country of El Salvador. To revoke that legal status, known as withholding of removal, the Department of Homeland would have to re-open his immigration case and ask an immigration judge to terminate it. Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said before the hearing that she is asking the Trump administration to "stop playing games with the life of Kilmar." At Tuesday's hearing, Xinis said the Justice Department "has not yet fulfilled the mandate, the order, that I issued," while lawyers for the Justice Department asked for any orders to be stayed after the Supreme Court ruling. Xinis said Tuesday that "every day Mr. Abrego Garcia is detained in CECOT is another date of irreparable harm," and gave both sides two weeks to complete expedited discovery, or fact finding, in the case, including sworn depositions from Trump administration officials with first-hand knowledge of the efforts to return him. "I've gotten nothing, I've gotten no real response [from the government]," Xinis said, calling the Justice Department's arguments thus far "two misguided ships passing in the night." Xinis responded to the Justice Department's suggestions that the back and forth is simply a legal dispute, and that there is "so much daylight between what you keep saying and what the posture of the case is. "I will have the record before me to call it like I see it," Xinis said, before she rules on holding the government in contempt of her order. Despite the Justice Department's filings this week citing the exchange between President Trump and Bukele in which Bukele said he would not be returning Abrego Garcia to the United States, Xinis said that "if that were in a court of law — it would have real infirmities in a trial, in a court of law." "No press release is going to move the court the same way that sworn, under oath testimony from persons with knowledge," Xinis said. Xinis had ordered the Justice Department to provide her with answers to those questions after the Supreme Court last week unanimously affirmed a portion of an earlier order that required the U.S. to "facilitate " Abrego Garcia's release from Salvadoran custody. Lawyers for Abrego Garcia argued in a filing that the Trump administration defied the district court and Supreme Court orders by refusing to provide "even basic information" about their client's location and what it is doing to follow the directive to return him to the U.S. They asked Xinis to provide three types of relief, including ordering the government to explain why it shouldn't be held in contempt for failure to comply with her prior rulings. During a hearing Friday, after the high court released its decision, Drew Ensign, a Justice Department lawyer, repeatedly said he could not provide information about Abrego Garcia's whereabouts. Xinis said in a written order after the proceedings that the Trump administration "failed to comply " with her directive and "made no meaningful effort to" obey it. She ordered the government to provide daily updates to the court about Abrego Garcia's location and custodial status, as well as the efforts taken by the administration to bring him back to the U.S. In a declaration submitted to the court Saturday, Michael Kozak, a senior State Department official, said Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT , in El Salvador. "He is alive and secure in that facility," Kozak wrote. "He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador." In another declaration filed Sunday, Evan Katz, assistant director for the Removal Division at ICE, said the administration had no updates for the court beyond what had already been shared. The latest filing, submitted Monday from Mazzara said the agency "does not have the authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation." Trump administration officials have been defiant in their response to Xinis' order that they take steps to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. and have argued that their obligations are limited only to removing "any domestic obstacles" that would impede his ability to return to the U.S., where he has lived since arriving unlawfully in 2011. Federal courts, they said in a filing Sunday, are powerless "to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way, or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner." Abrego Garcia was arrested by immigration authorities in March and flown to El Salvador with more than 200 other migrants who are now confined at CECOT. His lawyers have argued that his removal to El Salvador was unlawful, as an immigration judge in 2019 granted him a withholding of removal, a legal status that forbids the Department of Homeland Security from returning him to his home country of El Salvador because he is likely to face persecution from local gangs. Numerous Trump administration officials at the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security — including Solicitor General John Sauer — have acknowledged that Abrego Garcia's deportation to El Savaldor was an "administrative error" because he was granted withholding of removal. But Katz, the ICE official, said in his declaration that Abergo Garcia is no longer eligible for that relief because of his alleged membership in the gang MS-13, which President Trump designated as a foreign terrorist organization. While the Department of Homeland Security has claimed that Abrego Garcia has ties to MS-13, citing allegations from a confidential informant, his lawyers argue that he is not a member of MS-13 or any other gang. They have also said he has never been charged or convicted of any crimes in the U.S., El Salvador or any other country. Abrego Garcia's case landed before the Supreme Court last week after Xinis issued an order on April 4 that directed the Trump administration to "facilitate and effectuate" Abrego Garcia's return by 11:59 p.m. on April 7. The Justice Department appealed, and Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary order pausing that deadline to allow the Supreme Court more time to consider whether to grant the Trump administration's request to block Xinis' order. The high court on Thursday upheld part of the decision that required the government to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's release from Salvadoran custody, but said the district court should clarify its directive that the Trump administration "effectuate" his return. Xinis moved swiftly in responding, and issued a new order requiring the Trump administration to take all available steps to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. "as soon as possible." Trump administration officials have claimed that it is up to the Salvadoran government to decide if they want to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. But during a meeting with President Trump on Monday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he does not "have the power" to do so. "How can I return him to the United States?"he said in response to questions from reporters. "I smuggle him into the United States or what do I do? Of course I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous." The U.S. is paying the Salvadoran government $6 million to house migrants at CECOT.
