Willow... Lives UP!

 

In Memory of Madmartigan

This year, Treat requested 1988's Willow as her birthday flick, and we voted that it Lives Up. Unfortunately, the day after we recorded our episode, actor Val Kilmer passed away. We'd like to use this blog post to highlight his contributions to Willow.

For people our age, Willow introduced us to Val Kilmer. Top billed over Warwick Davis, he joined this cast after his slick performance in Top Gun (which people our age were too young to see in the theaters. Most of us saw him in Willow first). If it felt like a gamble to go from playing the coolest looking guy at the Top Gun academy to acting in a kids' flick where the script calls for getting turned into a pig... well, we're glad Val Kilmer took that risk. He made this movie so much fun. 

Val Kilmer's character, Madmartigan, starts the film as a feral creature in a cage. Treat wrote in her show notes: "Madmartigan's teeth have entered the chat." 

Flossing. Works wonders.

In about a 5 minute span, Val Kilmer transforms this character from a feral maniac into a bully, and then somehow 180s into charmer (and cleans those teeth up for his big, manipulative grins). His old war buddy happens to ride past the cage, and their quick exchange gives Madmartigan's entire backstory: he's a mercenary and a lone sword. He's freewheeling, and unreliable. We, the audience, don't quite trust Madmartigan at the end of this scene... but we're very intrigued. 

The quest continues, and Val Kilmer's performance becomes increasingly physical: he starts a bar brawl, he races horses and has high speed battles with medieval weapons. He and Joanne Whalley's character, Sorcha, punch, kick, wrestle, and keep threatening to kill each other. It's a pretty screwed up seduction. 

Just stab him already!

Just stab her already!

We love that Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley started dating while filming Willow, and that they re-shot the Dust of Broken Hearts scene to capitalize on the increasing chemistry between the two actors. 

The adventure continues: Madmartigan sets up Home Alone booby traps in a haunted castle; Madmartigan slays a stop-motion troll dragon; Madmartigan challenges the evil sorceress and gets excruciatingly turned into a pig. The silliness and the physical indignities would earn an eyeroll and phoned in performance from many other actors, but not Val Kilmer! He gave 100% here. It's so damn fun to watch.

The LiveUP Pod sends all of our kudos and cinematic love to Val Kilmer for his performance in Willow. We would say that we dwell in darkness without him, but even Madmartigan didn't really mean that when he said it. So, let's leave it at thank you.

Val Kilmer, 1959 - 2025

To listen to our episode on Willow, click below, find it on Youtube, or listen on your favorite streaming platforms.