Val Kilmer’s ‘Conspiracy’ Director Deletes Posts Calling the Late Actor the ‘Worst Human Being’ He’s Ever Known

A director's explosive social media rant has reignited debate over Val Kilmer's notorious on-set reputation — and he's far from the first to speak out.

Val Kilmer may be gone, but apparently, not everyone is willing to let the past go with him.

The late actor continues to spark debate beyond the grave, most recently after director Adam Marcus — who worked alongside Kilmer in the 2008 action thriller "Conspiracy" — unleashed a scathing attack on the star in now-deleted social media posts earlier this week.

On Monday evening, May 31, Marcus took to X with a fiery rant, calling Kilmer the "worst human being" he had ever encountered. It was a pointed jab at a man who, over the course of his career, had earned a well-documented reputation for being one of Hollywood's more difficult personalities. Kilmer died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025, at the age of 66.

The post, which included a photo of the two men on set, opened with "#MicroIntellectMonday to that time when I directed that guy," Marcus wrote. "The guy who played Iceman and Doc Holiday [sic]. You know the one. Here's me and the Putz working it out on the set of Conspiracy."

He was equally swift in swatting down any criticism of his timing. "And to any of you rolling your eyes because of the whole 'don't speak ill of the dead [expletive]', [expletive] that," Marcus continued, adding that if Kilmer "did one-tenth of what he did on my set today, he would have been cancelled in a blink."

He signed off with a blunt verdict: "Worst human being I've ever known… and that is really saying something."

In "Conspiracy," Kilmer portrays lead character William "Spooky" MacPherson, a disabled Iraq War veteran who travels to an Arizona border town to visit an old friend — only to find the friend and his entire family missing, with locals refusing to acknowledge they ever existed.

What unravels is a dark tale of corporate corruption targeting undocumented immigrants.

But Marcus' outburst is far from an isolated incident. The remarks are merely the latest in a long line of grievances aired against the "Top Gun" star by those who worked with him.

Joel Schumacher, who directed Kilmer in 1995's "Batman Forever," described him as "childish and impossible" and a "psychologically disturbed human being" in a 1996 interview with Entertainment Weekly — shortly after replacing him with George Clooney for "Batman & Robin."

"[Kilmer] was being irrational and ballistic with the first AD, the cameraman, the costume people," Schumacher revealed. "He was badly behaved, he was rude and inappropriate. I was forced to tell him that this would not be tolerated for one more second."

When Kilmer responded by refusing to speak to the director for two weeks, Schumacher had a ready response: "It was bliss."

John Frankenheimer, who helmed the 1996 sci-fi horror "The Island of Dr. Moreau," was equally unsparing. Expecting full creative compliance, Frankenheimer instead found himself in constant conflict with Kilmer over control on set — an experience that left a lasting impression.

"Even if I was directing a film called The Life of Val Kilmer, I wouldn't have that [expletive] in it," he later remarked.

Kilmer, for his part, was never entirely silent on the matter. In a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone, he pushed back with characteristic defiance.

"I've been careless about how I viewed my business. But I trust that the truth is the truth and a lie is a lie," he said. "Frankenheimer, bless him, he passed on, but he had a history of being mean about people."

He returned to the subject in his 2021 documentary "Val" — a candid, often moving reflection on his life and career. There, the "Tombstone" actor offered something closer to acceptance than apology.

"I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some," Kilmer said. "I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed. And I am blessed."