There was a time when his name was synonymous with greatness. In the land of Galladoorn, warriors looked up to him and marveled at his fighting skills. Even if they reached only a fraction of his greatness, they, too, would be honored and respected. But that was a long time ago: time tends to reduce even legends to distant memories.

Escaping danger.

When hard times befell the exalted warrior known as Madmartigan, he grew bitter. Shattered by a broken love affair with a beautiful princess, he became reckless and eventually turned his back on his homeland and its people to wander alone and aimless in other lands. He had become a renegade and an outcast.

Although he is described as cynical, fast-talking and self-serving, there is still good in Madmartigan and it is the little Nelwyn, Willow Ufgood and his quest, which touches his heart, thus rekindling his sense of duty and loyalty.

His fighting skills soon prove to be invaluable as he aids Willow in his search for the kingdom of Tir Asleen, restoring his name to a legendary status once again.

Portraying the handsome but undisciplined Madmartigan in the film Willow is an impressive performer with a formidable background - Val Kilmer.

At the age of 17, Kilmer was accepted into the Julliard Academy in New York - the youngest student ever admitted at that time. He played several leading roles while studying drama there as well as co-writing a play entitled How It All Began, which was seen by Joseph Papp and later presented at the Public Theatre with Kilmer in the leading role.

He subsequently appeared in Papp's production of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part One, followed by several other roles including his Broadway debut in the play Slab Boys which co-starred Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon.

In 1984, Kilmer made his motion picture debut in the Paramount comedy Top Secret where he played Nick Rivers, a rock singer caught up in a series of misadventures involving the German military and a top secret weapon. His next film was also a comedy entitled Real Genius in which he portrayed a collegiate prodigy with a unique sense of humor.

One of his best known performances, however, was in the box-office smash Top Gun in which he portrayed Tom "Iceman" Kazansky - the talented F-14 pilot whose technical skills in the cockpit are unmatched by any of his Top Gun peers.

Even though he has a relatively short list of film credits, Kilmer is already becoming a recognized and sought after talent. Now with the opening of the epic adventure film Willow, created by George Lucas and directed by Ron Howard, Kilmer could very well become one of the busiest and hottest young actors in Hollywood.

"I really like Madmartigan," Kilmer states. "I like the fact that he's unpredictable. He's a hustler so he has a lot of different characteristics that come out of living through hard times. He's definitely one of the most interesting characters I've played. It's fun to play a schmuck! But he's a likable schmuck and I hope audiences find him enjoyable to watch."

One might think that preparing for such a role such as Madmartigan - a man living in an entirely different world than ours - would be a difficult challenge. However, Val Kilmer explains that he approached the role very simply, realizing that Madmartigan is an individual with very fundamental necessities.

"I didn't do anything special because he's really a very basic guy. Also, Ron Howard and George Lucas are so good at what they do that everything is sort of already there for you. You don't have to worry or think about it or have any concerns about it. I had a couple of talks with Ron about the style and tempo of the character. Basically, what I had to do was make up aspects of the character that didn't exist in the writing. But this film is really well-written so it gave me a good idea of what Madmartigan is like. It's just experimenting with different ways to do something that you already know you're going to do."

One of the requirements of Kilmer's role was being able to handle a sword. Not only did he have to learn to use the ancient weapon, he also had to develop a style of fighting unique to the character of Madmartigan. And he accomplished that task, strangely enough, with the use of juggling.

"I really like Madmartigan," Kilmer States. "He's fun to play. I like the fact that he's unpredictable. He's a hustler so he has a lot of different characteristics that come out of living through hard times."

"We wanted to find a style of swordfighting that was different and we came up with something that has elements of juggling in it," Kilmer explains. "I didn't even know I could juggle. We were just fooling around looking for something unusual that Madmartigan could do. Bill Hobbs, the fight arranger, was looking for some kind of style that was original while combining things that George Lucas likes in the Japanese culture. So we wanted to have something that matched the character, some bravado that had meaning. We first rejected the idea of juggling because it's pretty meaningless for fighting and then we started fooling around with different things that made it look like some of the disciplines in the martial arts that are based upon the original Samurai practice for battle. Yet, now, it's been developed into an art, a physical discipline. So we developed a similar style for Madmartigan using elements of juggling and the Samurai and came up with what you see on the screen."

In addition to using an unusual technique of swordplay in Willow, the character of Madmartigan also looks somewhat different than most warriors. When Kilmer first saw himself in full costume, it was clear he resembled an American Indian more than a European knight.

"I relived my ancestry," he recalls. "I'm part Cherokee and Madmartigan looks like an Indian. His hair looks very much like the way the Cherokee using to wear their hair. They had it flat on the sides with the braids coming down. But this isn't my real hair, it's a wig."

There is high optimism around the movie Willow. Everyone hopes that the big-screen epic could open up the fantasy genre just as Star Wars opened up science fiction. Even Kilmer recognized this possibility after reading the script for the first time.

"It really has a lot of potential," he contends. "Everyone I know that's read the script likes it a lot. And that happens very rarely in any genre, where you read a script and you want to read it again instantly. When I finished reading the script for Willow, and this was before I even knew whether I had the role, it was so much fun to read that I read it again immediately. It's just a very good story."

Indeed, Willow's tale seems to capture the imagination and sense of adventure in all of us. But was it the story that attracted Kilmer to this project in the first place?

"No, Ron gave me the job," he says with a laugh. "But, seriously, the story was really good and the characters were very interesting. I can't say that I've always had a desire to this kind of movie but I've always loved animated Disney films and I don't think anyone has ever come close to Disney other than George Lucas. So I love his films and that was part of the thrill of being cast in Willow. You know, usually actors tend to be selfish when they read a script because they're reading it for the character they're trying out for but I had a different feeling reading this one. It was fun to read a scene with the Brownies, for instance. They have great lines! And usually you get a little tingle for them because you know they've got great parts.

"Actually, the story is sort of like The Hobbit. That's the way I describe it when people ask me what it is. I say, 'Well, it's like The Hobbit and my character is a warrior on warrior skid row. And imagine people of regular height moving through that world.' That's about as close as I can get to describing it. There are also a lot of positive things being said in this picture. For instance, the story of the princess, Sorsha. She goes through a lot and overcomes all obstacles. Every one of us is faced with the challenge of that every day of our lives. And that makes this film rewarding to work on."

While Willow has been a positive experience for Kilmer, it has also been physically demanding in many ways. The sword fighting, rain and mud have made the job more grueling than any of his previous films.

"I used to ride in the junior rodeo and this feels like I've been in the rodeo for 48 hours solid," he reveals. "I'm usually muddy and wet and tired at the end of each day of shooting. It's been a real physically demanding picture to work on.

"Every day has something drastically different and most of the time nobody else has done any of it before you do. It's been very demanding physically. I think they set out to make the hardest movie that they could. I mean, it looks like it was designed that way. There's a lot happening and there is a kind of energy to the whole picture. Sometimes you have real hard weeks of solid physical work.

"I think one of the hardest things has been becoming a stuntman," he adds with a laugh. "My stunt double is so good that you can't tell us apart so people can't really tell whether it's me or him. I've done some of my own stunts, though, and that's been the hardest part because it's really been a grueling schedule."

For many days and nights, the Willow cast and crew toiled in rain and mist in the mountains of North Wales to film several dramatic scenes. Although the weather at times was downright terrible, there were days when the crew shot in some of the most breathtaking scenery anywhere in the world. North Wales is a land of beautiful mountains and lakes, hill farms and tumbling rivers. There are castles, woollen mills, stately homes and wild mountain passes where armies clashed in the middle ages.

Three different faces of the adventurous rogue, Madmartigan

"I like location work because usually the atmosphere is better for the actor," states Kilmer. "It's better because it's a real atmosphere. Even if they have to stop traffic or whatever, it's easier to act with real trees or real grass, for example. But it's also more attractive. Some of the places we've been shooting on-location for Willow have really been beautiful and it's been nice to be outside. Although, I think we picked the most brutal hundred square yards in Wales, too. We shot some scenes of the Nockmaar Castle at the shale rock quarry and the weather was sometimes pretty rough. But, fortunately, we had to go through some beautiful valleys to arrive there."

Val Kilmer has nothing but respect and praise when it comes to talking about the two most important men behind the camera on Willow - George Lucas and Ron Howard. As an admirer of their films, he was pleased to get the opportunity to work with them on one of their most ambitious projects to date.

"George Lucas is like Zorro," Kilmer says jokingly. "He sort of comes and goes on the set. And he leaves his mark when he's gone! But when he's around, he really takes an interest in what's happening. He really loves to play with things which is fun because usually producers are the kind of people you don't think you can really talk to. I haven't specifically talked to George about my character but we have discussed the ways he expresses himself which is through the objects he uses and how he uses them. For instance, one night after rushes, I went up to talk to him about some things and showed him a couple of pictures of the armature that I had a few problems with. We looked at the photos and he said, 'Well, it's kind of hard to tell.' So I said, 'Why don't I go and put it on, it will take me five minutes and I'll show you.' It was 9:00 and Ron had been working all day long and George had just flown in so he said, 'Okay.' That made me happy because usually you get the attitude that 'it's okay and don't worry about it.' So we were down there for an hour and a half working with different parts of the armor to make it look right. And that's when he's really at his best when he's got something to look at and can get his hands on it and really make it work. I'm sure he's that way with the storyboards, too. So that makes the job enjoyable when you know the people making the film really care. As an actor, your main concern is getting communicated what is hard to communicate. It's hard to talk about acting. So unless you do it, which half the time you can't do until you're on the set and in the costume, you are never really sure that you're doing it correctly. One of the things that makes George brilliant with making movies is that he has the ability to choose something that's existed before and turn it into something completely new. For instance, Darth Vader's helmet which is modeled after a Samurai helmet. That is something that took a culture that's aesthetically-minded, but very practical, a long time to develop. It's an image that means something. It not only looks right but it comes from a real background. He takes things which are very precise and changes them a little bit in the style here and there so it's familiar and yet you've never seen it before. That's also the style of Willow. Hopefully, this film will achieve what George's other films have. The kind of things that happen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for instance, you've seen before but you look at it in a different way because George has changed it here and there to add new life to it. That also helps to make working on a film like Willow fun because although the things you are doing are new, you are paying homage to things of the past. It's great to know that you're part of that and after you get to be too tired to remember your middle name, that's one of the comforting elements of going to work every day.

"Another thing about George's films is that they're believable. He sets up things and you believe it even though it's outrageous. Willow is very much like that but it also has a specific style all its own. There is a specific style of acting for this film. It's like heightened realism at times. Every now and then, something very realistic will happen and it will be acceptable, it won't jar you. And the same with the fantasy: bizarre things happen but in this world they're normal. An Eborsisk monster comes out of a moat and that's normal, or we get turned into pigs by magic and so on. Those are things that happen in this magical world. You know, we even have nine inch people!"

Although Willow is a big and complex production, Kilmer found that its director, Ron Howard, seemed to juggle the numerous elements of battles, hundreds of extras and complicated special effects with relative ease.

"I don't like to compare Ron with other directors I've worked with," Kilmer says, "because then I'll have to insult the other directors! He is very, very good. I've always had the experience of having a concern about what the director wants except on this film. Besides having a great director, the story is so strong it sort of speaks for itself. It tells you what should happen in a scene. So it's really fun because all we do is just go over the options and never one time of how the character expresses himself or how he should move. And never once have I come up with something that I think is maybe better for what's supposed to happen in a scene, or another way of approaching it, that Ron hasn't already thought about. And that almost never happens. That doesn't mean that a director is good or bad, it just means you have different tastes. But Ron never answered me with 'Gee, I haven't thought about that.' He would say, 'Yeah, I was thinking about that.' It's very crucial that we know, especially with this picture, where each scene is going and Ron was always clear about that. You know, there was one scene where Madmartigan admits that he cares about Willow. And in the scene, it only happens in one look that he gives him which Willow doesn't even see, but the audience has to see it to show that Madmartigan does have a heart because he's pretty brutal to Willow for as long as possible! So that little moment has to carry a long way. You not only have to see him give that look but you have to believe it as well. It's like taking pictures. And Ron has really good taste about that so you never have to be concerned as to whether those things that are so crucial to a scene are working the way they should. It's as intricate with the acting as it is with the special effects. There is also the danger of being too grand with it as well. I thought, in the beginning from reading the story, that this film would be real high style, very fantasy-oriented, but when I met Ron for the second time, after he had hired me, he was talking about Willow being very realistic with fights in the mud and so on which I didn't really expect but I like very much."

"I relived my ancestry," Kilmer says when he first saw how he would look in Willow. "I'm part Cherokee and Madmartigan looks like an Indian."

In Willow, the central character is an ordinary farmer, Willow Ufgood, caught up in extraordinary circumstances, who just happens to be about three feet tall. For some reason, the entertainment industry has never seemed comfortable in casting little people as normal, everyday people with problems that affect everyone regardless of size. What we have seen instead are individuals of shorter physical stature portrayed in a false and unrealistic manner. Still, times do eventually change. If Willow is a successful film will little people be cast in more realistic roles? Val Kilmer feels this is a possibility but not a certainty.