Matthew Modine credits Val Kilmer with winning him a role in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick was already a legendary filmmaker when in 1987 he tackled the massive subject of the Vietnam War. Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket went on to score an Oscar nomination for its screenplay while grossing $120 million on a budget of $16.5-30 million.
Today of course Full Metal Jacket is remembered as an iconic war film filled with indelible moments. Most memorable of all is the movie’s extended boot camp sequence, featuring R. Lee Ermey’s unforgettable performance as foul-mouthed drill instructor Hartman. The film is also remembered for its harrowing battle scenes, including a brutal sequence in which a group of soldiers is pinned down by a sniper. The film also boosted the careers of several young actors, most notably Modine and in particular Vincent D’Onofrio.
Modine of course was already a known quantity when he appeared in Full Metal Jacket after starring in the movie Vision Quest. But despite his name being out there, Modine says he wasn’t really on Kubrick’s radar for Full Metal Jacket, until Modine put himself there after a strange encounter with another young actor at an L.A. eatery. Appearing recently on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Modine told the story of how Kilmer was partly responsible for him landing the role of Private Joker in Kubrick’s film:
I was at a diner in Los Angeles. ... I was sitting with...David Alan Grier. ... We were eating our pancakes, and there was a guy sitting over there. ... It was Val Kilmer. And he was looking at me, saying obscene things to me. I said, "David, unless that's an actor learning his lines or somebody with Tourette's, he's clearly telling me to go 'F' myself." And he looked over his shoulder. He says, "Oh, it's Val Kilmer. He's a really nice guy," and he invited me over. I said, "Hi. My name's Matthew." "I know who you are. I'm sick of you, man." ... And I had been on a run. You know, actors, every once in a while, we get on a really good run, and I'd done a bunch of movies. And he said, "Now you're doing Kubrick's movie, 'Full Metal Jacket.’” I said, "You don't have to worry about that. I'm not doing 'Full Metal Jacket.' ... And I ran out and I called my agent. I said, "This actor, Val Kilmer, just said I'm doing Kubrick's movie,"and he said, "I don't know anything about it." I said, "I don't, either." But I know [Kubrick] makes his movies with Warner Bros., and I'd just done "Vision Quest." ... I said, "Let's just send him some clips." And we did, and then a month later, I got the script in the mail. "Hi. My name is Stanley Kubrick. I'm a film director. And I wonder if you'd be interested in being in my film. ... So I have to say, "Thank you, Val Kilmer!”
Kilmer of course received his own ‘80s career boost from a military-themed movie when he starred opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun. And recently Kilmer got to revisit his Top Gun role, reprising Ice Man in the blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. Modine for his part is also doing well right now, as he can currently be seen in the role of Dr. Brenner in Netflix’s massive sci-fi series Stranger Things.
Modine obviously has had a great career filled with memorable roles. But nothing in his filmography is quite as iconic as his performance as Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket. Modine’s character is indeed that movie’s one big through-line, as it follows him from boot camp all the way to his time in Vietnam as a conflicted reporter for military magazine Stars & Stripes. Most memorable of all of course is the early sequence in which Joker befriends D’Onofrio’s ill-fated Private Pyle and is there for Pyle’s tragic and brutal downfall. Now it seems that Modine would have missed out on the entire experience of being in Full Metal Jacket had Kilmer not been resentful of his success, and quite willing to make a spectacle of his anger in a public place. Modine though seems quite grateful that Kilmer was in such a bad mood that particular day.
Source: Late Night With Seth Meyers