God bless Val Kilmer. The guy seems to exist in every Hollywood world at once. He’s got more than a few clunkers acting as dust covers for video store shelves, and usually that’s a clear sign that your days as a theatrically-viable actor are over. But Kilmer continues not only to pop in theatrical films, but to do so with a diverse, fascinating range from the wise-cracking, gay detective of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang to the stoic badass of Spartan to the mad brute king Phillip in Alexander. I don’t think any amount of Mindhunters or Hard Cash-type atrocities are going to damage this guy because he has done so much good to offset it. He seems to genuinely enjoy working at his craft and rarely phones it in, even in low-grade fare.

Interestingly enough, he’s just signed to star in a film produced by a guy who I perceive to be the exact opposite: Kevin Spacey. Unlike Kilmer, there’s almost nothing inspired in Spacey’s work as of late. Even his turn as Lex Luthor was just another bland ingredient in an already disappointingly dull stew of a film. But Spacey’s made moves on the creative side of the film biz, and his production banner, Trigger Street, has already shepherded a few films to the box office in smaller releases (e.g. Beyond the Sea, The United States of Leland). Their latest film, Columbus Day, is a heist thriller of sorts starring Kilmer as a thief with a single morning to fix what went wrong with his biggest heist. Kilmer is due to be joined by Marg Helgenberger as his ex-wife that he’ll try to reconcile with that very same morning and Wilmer Valderrama as a criminal associate. I’m not particularly jazzed about his multi-syllabic co-stars, but any chances we get to see Kilmer starring in a film involving heists work for me. A lot will depend on who’s directing this crazy thing which is unknown for now.