Will Forte reveals he missed out on experience of lifetime with Val Kilmer: 'Biggest regret of my career'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Will Forte and Val Kilmer formed a close bond while working together on 'MacGruber', the 2010 film based on Forte’s 'Saturday Night Live' character.
Following Kilmer’s death at the age of 65, Forte opened up about one of the most meaningful and missed opportunities of his career involving the late actor.
Will Forte shares his 'biggest regret'
Val Kilmer once poked fun at Will Forte for watching 'The Amazing Race', calling it “garbage.”
Forte recalled Kilmer saying, “What are you watching that garbage for? Come on, that stuff’s going to rot your mind.”
Rather than push back, Forte invited Kilmer to watch the show with him before judging it. “So he sat down and started watching it, and he got really into it,” Forte reminisced in a write-up in Vulture.
Kilmer enjoyed the show so much, he eventually came up with the idea that they should participate in the CBS competition series together.
“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,’” Forte remembered Kilmer telling him.
Forte was completely on board with Kilmer’s plan. “I’m like, ‘I am so fully in.’ We got really excited about it, and then we called our respective agents and managers,” he wrote according to Variety.
Unfortunately, their enthusiasm was met with firm rejection. Forte recalled, “They were like, ‘There’s no way you guys are doing that.’ That is, maybe to this day, the biggest regret of my whole career — that I never did The Amazing Race with Val.”
Despite the likelihood they wouldn’t have made it far in the competition, Forte still cherished the idea. “I think we would've gotten out very quickly, but it just would've been the experience of a lifetime,” he wrote.
Val Kilmer died of pneumonia at age 65
Val Kilmer’s daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed to the New York Times that her father died of pneumonia.
Though he was previously diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, she shared that he had since recovered.
Kilmer, known for his roles in 'The Doors' and 'Batman Forever', left behind not only a legacy in film but also in the personal connections he made along the way—including a friendship with Will Forte that led to one lasting regret.
Moreover, his roles in 'Top Gun' and its sequel, 'Top Gun Maverick' with Tom Cruise, have been cherished by movie fans.
