How Val Kilmer's love for acting began with homemade version of JAWS

Prior to Val Kilmer, who died on April 1st aged 65, hitting Hollywood he was remaking Hollywood hits as a youngster with his two brothers. One of those mini-remakes was JAWS.

Called Teeth (cute) Val and his brothers Wesley and Mark took a leaf out of the Steven Spielberg playbook and did their JAWS recreation in their swimming pool, with Spielberg famously using the pool of JAWS editor Verna Fields to film the iconic Ben Gardner head scene.

There may have been no jump scare moment from the Kilmer pool but we do get to see a pretty neat recreation of the Orca and its crew., complete with a 'Show Me The Way To Go Home' singing intro.

We also get the recreation of the moment that Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) looks at the remains of Chrissie Watkins.

The footage features near the opening of the insightful documentary Val (2021) which is a moving mix of home videos as well as those from the set of his films, such as Top Gun, The Doors and Tombstone.

We also get candid footage of some of the many actors he has worked with on stage and film, such as Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Kurt Russell and Marlon Brando.

Back to Teeth, and perhaps the stand out moment is that of a scarily made-up Val Kilmer playing Quint, crunching crackers - just like his intro in the 1975 blockbuster - and proclaiming he'll catch the fish for 10...10 boxes of crackers that is.

Sadly Val's brother Wesley died of an epileptic fit in the family jacquizi, at the age of just 15. The family films and homages to Hollywood ended, but Val's Hollywood career awaited.

Talking of Teeth, Kilmer played the dentist and deputy Doc Holiday in the star-studded western Tombstone. It was a bravo performance in a sparkling career, many saying at the time - and since his passing - that Kilmer should have been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Funny thing is, that's what others said about Robert Shaw for his role as Quint, who himself - like Kilmer - was a writer and had a reputation for being 'difficult' on sets. Young Kilmer may have been channeling Quint in Teeth, but perhaps he was more a little Robert Shaw in his adult acting years?

Both have left a varied and memorable career, both left us too soon. Both are very much missed.

You can catch the JAWS WeMake - JAWS made under lockdown conditions during the Covid pandemic - created by over 100 JAWS fans from across the world,

It even features an intro from the son of Quint actor Robert Shaw, Ian Shaw, who is currently wowing audiences across the UK and Ireland with a tour of The Shark Is Broken.

Words by Dean Newman

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