The 2004 film “Spartan” has largely been forgotten, but the thriller will always have a place in history as the movie that made Val Kilmer hate David Mamet.
A viral Twitter thread has sparked renewed interest in the film’s DVD commentary track, in which Kilmer repeatedly insults his director Mamet for what Kilmer saw as pompous and occasionally abusive on-set behavior. The film, which centers around a search for the President’s kidnapped daughter, was the first collaboration between Mamet and Kilmer. Based on the actor’s comments, it’s not surprising that it ended up being their last.
“He’s cruel,” Kilmer said of Mamet. “He hates actors, having failed at the profession himself. There were a lot of tears on the set. It was tough, because you’d be playing a tough guy and he’d break you down. But in front of everyone too, he wouldn’t do it in the trailer. I hate him.”
In addition to his personal grievances, Kilmer also said that he disagrees with the playwright-turned-director’s artistic choices.
“He writes in a lot of particular and sometimes complicated rhythms,” he said. “That’s why it’s so frustrating when he cuts all the good stuff. He messes up his own rhythm. I don’t understand him, except that he needs help.”
Kilmer frequently criticized Mamet for surrounding himself on set with friends who would never disagree with him. The actor said that his frustration with Mamet’s nepotism reached a boiling point when he had to act alongside Mamet’s rabbi in a key scene.
“That’s David’s rabbi,” he said. “I’m not even kidding. It sounds like I’m kidding, but that guy I just shot is David’s rabbi. See that’s what I mean by ‘sick.’ I wouldn’t have him shoot my practitioner in my film. Why does he have me shoot his rabbi? And why is his rabbi Irish?”
Kilmer claims that Mamet was so concerned about his perception among the crew that his assistant produced and distributed a weekly newsletter documenting the director’s best moments on set.
“We had a thing called the Spartan Times, which was a newsletter produced every week by David’s assistant, basically to make David look good in front of the crew. So she would follow him around and write down any humorous thing he said, or make up stuff that she could attribute to David.”
While many of Kilmer’s critiques of Mamet point to deep character flaws, he also found time to take superficial jabs at Mamet’s appearance.
“What I find amazing is his courage,” he said. “To still wear a beret in 2004, you gotta have guts.”
Watch the entire thread of Kilmer’s complaints about Mamet below.
