section_path: Career/1980–1989: Early roles and comedy films
section_name: 1980–1989: Early roles and comedy films
paragraph_text: 1980–1989: Early roles and comedy films
  
  Kilmer declined a role in Francis Ford Coppola 's 1983 film The Outsiders, as he had prior theater commitments. In 1983, he appeared off Broadway in The Slab Boys with Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, and Jackie Earle Haley. That same year, his first off-stage acting role (excluding television commercials) came in the form of an episode of ABC Afterschool Special called One Too Many, although it did not air until 1985. It was an educational drama on drinking and driving, and co-starred a young Michelle Pfeiffer. Also in 1983, Kilmer self-published a collection of his own poetry entitled My Edens After Burns, that included poems inspired by his time with Pfeiffer. This book of poems is difficult to obtain and expensive; known second-hand copies cost $300 and up.
  
  His big break came when he received top billing in the comedy spoof of spy movies Top Secret!, in which he played an American rock and roll star. Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and released an album under the film character's name, "Nick Rivers".
  
  During a brief hiatus, Kilmer backpacked throughout Europe before going on to play the lead character in the 1985 comedy Real Genius. He turned down a role in David Lynch 's Blue Velvet before being cast as naval aviator Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the action film Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise. Top Gun grossed a total of over $344 million worldwide and made Kilmer a major star. Following roles in the television films The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, Kilmer portrayed Madmartigan in the fantasy Willow; he met his future wife, co-star Joanne Whalley, on the film's set. Kilmer starred in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival production of Hamlet in 1988. In 1989, Kilmer played the lead in both Kill Me Again, again opposite Whalley, and a supporting role in Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid.
  
  Kilmer declined a role in Francis Ford Coppola 's 1983 film The Outsiders, as he had prior theater commitments. In 1983, he appeared off Broadway in The Slab Boys with Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, and Jackie Earle Haley. That same year, his first off-stage acting role (excluding television commercials) came in the form of an episode of ABC Afterschool Special called One Too Many, although it did not air until 1985. It was an educational drama on drinking and driving, and co-starred a young Michelle Pfeiffer. Also in 1983, Kilmer self-published a collection of his own poetry entitled My Edens After Burns, that included poems inspired by his time with Pfeiffer. This book of poems is difficult to obtain and expensive; known second-hand copies cost $300 and up.
  
  His big break came when he received top billing in the comedy spoof of spy movies Top Secret!, in which he played an American rock and roll star. Kilmer sang all the songs in the film and released an album under the film character's name, "Nick Rivers".
  
  During a brief hiatus, Kilmer backpacked throughout Europe before going on to play the lead character in the 1985 comedy Real Genius. He turned down a role in David Lynch 's Blue Velvet before being cast as naval aviator Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the action film Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise. Top Gun grossed a total of over $344 million worldwide and made Kilmer a major star. Following roles in the television films The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, Kilmer portrayed Madmartigan in the fantasy Willow; he met his future wife, co-star Joanne Whalley, on the film's set. Kilmer starred in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival production of Hamlet in 1988. In 1989, Kilmer played the lead in both Kill Me Again, again opposite Whalley, and a supporting role in Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid.