**Always Robin to His Batman: Chris O’Donnell Remembers Late Co-Star Val Kilmer**
Chris O’Donnell, best known for playing Robin in the two “Batman” movies starring George Clooney and Val Kilmer, recently opened up about his late co-star. “He was just an intense, amazing actor,” O’Donnell, 55, exclusively told The Post about Kilmer.
The Golden Globe-nominated actor spoke about Kilmer while promoting his new ABC series, *9-1-1: Nashville*, a spinoff of Ryan Murphy’s *9-1-1* franchise (airing weekly on Thursdays at 9 p.m., and the next day on Hulu).
O’Donnell played Robin in the 1995 movie *Batman Forever*, while Kilmer portrayed Bruce Wayne / Batman. Directed by Joel Schumacher, the film also starred Nicole Kidman, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jim Carrey.
Val Kilmer, known for his role in *The Doors*, passed away in April at age 65. He succumbed to pneumonia, his daughter Mercedes told the New York Times. In his final years, the *Top Gun* actor was also diagnosed with throat cancer, which required two tracheotomies in 2015.
O’Donnell remembered Kilmer as a “serious guy” who was “sometimes maybe tough to understand.” “Because I think he kept up a little bit of a facade,” he explained. “But he was an intense guy, and really focused on his work. He was so passionate about making films, and his art, and performances.”
The *Scent of a Woman* actor added that Kilmer “made people around him better” and was “a really special actor.”
In his 2020 memoir, Kilmer wrote, “I was buzzed about being Batman but hardly for artistic reasons. With two franchises going — Batman and The Saint — I could start an artists’ community, write poetry and plays, and become the wild auteur I saw as my destiny.”
Kilmer reportedly became unhappy wearing the heavy Batman suit but could later joke about the 1995 movie, saying, “I mean, it’s so bad, it’s almost good.”
Chris O’Donnell remains the last actor to have played a live-action Robin on the big screen. Even as more Batman movies have been made after the ‘90s films, such as Christopher Nolan’s 2008 *The Dark Knight* starring Christian Bale and 2022’s *The Batman* starring Robert Pattinson, those films have not included Robin.
However, in 2011’s *The Dark Knight Rises*, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character, John Blake, sparked audience debate when he cheekily mentioned that his real name was Robin shortly before the end credits.
“[The Robin character] will come back at some point,” O’Donnell told The Post. “It’s such a part of [the story]. It would have been interesting to see what Christopher Nolan would have done with something like that, because it’s still the Batman character, but his films are like a different genre. I think the fans would love to see it.”
https://nypost.com/2025/10/20/entertainment/chris-odonnell-remembers-intense-batman-co-star-val-kilmer/
