On the set of RED PLANET

All right, I'll admit it. I honestly don't know WHAT went on during the making of RED PLANET. If you believe what the studios say, then Val and Tom had a great time on the set (below). If you believe what others have said then Val and Tom were at each other's throats. 8/22/00

Kilmer/Sizemore Talk 'Red'
(From Cinescape.com) If you believe the tabloids, Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore had a pretty bumpy flight to Mars. According to gossip-mongering columnists, the stars feuded on the set of the upcoming Warner Bros. sci-fi epic Red Planet. Reports surfaced claiming that the two actors refused to shoot scenes together, and one rumor even had it that Kilmer had taken out a restraining order against Sizemore.

Now Kilmer and Sizemore are hoping to set the record straight. Both recently spoke with Cinescape magazine editor Steve Hockensmith and stressed that, though the Red Planet shoot was long and tough, there were no "co-star wars."

"There were things going on with Tom that were personal that I got attached to. Like this [rumor], which is crazy, [about] a restraining order. As you know, it's just impossible for an actor to do that to another actor on a movie set," Kilmer told Hockensmith. "He and I did a lot of stuff together to make this movie not just good but great, and it's a real shame that things got interpreted in a negative light. Because the movie doesn't deserve it. It doesn't have anything to do with what the experience was or what people are going to see."

Sizemore went even further, calling reports of a dispute "total bull***t."

"If you're a public figure, which I have become and which Val has been for the better part of 15 years, all you need is 'a source said' and you can print it in the tabloid press," Sizemore said. "Now we could sue, but that distracts from our movie. It makes it about something that never happened."

Sizemore emphasized the fact that he and Kilmer are "very good friends" who previously had worked together on Michael Mann's heist thriller Heat.

"One of the reasons I took [Red Planet] was to work with Val because I think he is one of the best actors we have and I know that first-hand from working with him. If Val's guilty of anything he's guilty of being a perfectionist...but insofar as there being problems between Val and me, there were never any problems. It was made up," insisted Sizemore, who felt that his much-publicized battle with substance abuse made him an easy target for the tabloid press. "My drug addiction, which is now five years in the past -- some people just won't let that go. I got clean June 1, 1995. I have been clean since, but you know the press doesn't give a [darn] if it can sell their stupid [publications]. You know, 'Drug Addict Tom Sizemore and Batboy Actor Val Kilmer Won't Act Together!' What a bunch of bull***t."

Red Planet opens November 3. For more on the making of the film, look for the Val Kilmer interview in the September/October issue of Cinescape magazine.