‘The Saint’ With Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt

What It Covers

Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt commemorate Val Kilmer's passing by rewatching The Saint (1997), analyzing his career trajectory, the film's production challenges, Elizabeth Shue's casting, and why this Mission Impossible competitor deserved sequels.

Key Questions Answered

• •Kilmer's Career Arc: Kilmer peaked in 1995 with Batman Forever and Heat, not The Saint. By 1997, his reputation for being difficult on set overshadowed his talent, with directors like Joel Schumacher and John Frankenheimer publicly criticizing him. Despite being Juilliard's youngest student and delivering acclaimed performances, he never received Oscar or Golden Globe nominations throughout his entire career.
• •Mission Impossible Market Correction: The Saint suffered from releasing one year after Mission Impossible (1996), both Paramount productions featuring similar disguise gimmicks. The studio pressured filmmakers to reduce Kilmer's costume changes to avoid comparisons, while Tom Cruise's franchise became the template. The Saint earned $169 million on a $90 million budget but never got sequels despite profitability.
• •Production Reshoots Changed Everything: Test audiences rejected the original ending where Elizabeth Shue's character dies from poisoning thirty minutes before the film ends, triggering Kilmer's revenge rampage. Paramount spent $2 million on sixteen days of reshoots across December and January, transforming the finale into a romantic cottage scene that prioritized the love story over action sequences.
• •Casting What-Ifs Reveal Studio Uncertainty: Mel Gibson developed the project for months before passing to spend time with family post-Braveheart. Hugh Grant met with director Philip Noyce but rejected his approach. Ralph Fiennes turned down $1 million, dismissing the concept as boring retreads of Bond tropes. Director Noyce later stated he should have cast Russell Crowe instead of Kilmer.
• •Nineties Soundtrack Captured Electronic Music Peak: The Saint's soundtrack featured Orbital's theme song, Sneaker Pimps' "6 Underground," Moby, Underworld, Chemical Brothers, and Fluke, representing the apex of electronic music's mainstream crossover moment in 1997. This compilation introduced theatrical audiences to the genre before it evolved into different subgenres, making it a time capsule of mid-nineties club culture.