The Ghost and the Darkness
The Ghost and the Darkness is a 1996 American historical adventure film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. The screenplay, written by William Goldman, is a fictionalized account of the Tsavo man-eaters, a pair of male lions that terrorized workers in and around Tsavo, Kenya during the building of the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in East Africa in 1898.
Theatrical release poster
The Tsavo Man-Eaters on display in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, he found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), as well as the military action film Top Gun (1986) and the fantasy film Willow (1988). Kilmer gained acclaim for his portrayal of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991). He was cast as a main character in films such as the western Tombstone (1993), and the crime dramas True Romance (1993) and Heat (1995). He portrayed Batman in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever (1995), and continued to star in films such as The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), The Saint (1997), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Alexander (2004), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), and The Snowman (2017). In 2022, Kilmer reprised his role as Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Val Kilmer at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
Kilmer in 2005
Kilmer with 50 Cent at the AMAs 2009
Kilmer reigning as Bacchus at a 2009 Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans