Jeff Giles

It's natural: We see a movie, we love it, it ends, and we want more. An almost unspoken contract is launched as the box-office pours in — hey movie studios, you bring everyone back and spend a few years making another one of these, and we'll be there on opening weekend. But while movie studios love nothing more than a franchise, Hollywood has its limits when it comes to putting good money after bad.

Val Kilmer was such a gifted, sought-after actor that even the roles he turned down were good. The Outsiders, Blue Velvet. Dirty Dancing, Crimson Tide, Apollo 13: he reportedly waved them all away. And yet Kilmer had such a colorful life and career—both of which sometimes seemed like wild performances all their own—that it’s hard to imagine he regretted much. The actor has died of pneumonia at the age of 65. This story is updating….