Batman Forever Keaton chose not to reprise his role, William Baldwin and Ethan Hawke were considered as a replacement before Kilmer joined the cast. The film was released on June 16, 1995, receiving mixed reviews, but was a financial success. "Batman Forever" grossed over $336 million worldwide and became the sixth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 1995. The film was followed by "Batman & Robin" in 1997, with Schumacher returning as the director and George Clooney replacing Kilmer as Batman. In Gotham City, the crime fighter Batman defuses a hostage situation caused by a criminal known as Two-Face, the alter ego of the former
Val Kilmer Simon Templar in "The Saint" (1997), and Moses in "Prince of Egypt" (1998). Kilmer was born December 31, 1959, in Los Angeles, the son of Gladys Swanette () and Eugene Dorris Kilmer, an aerospace equipment distributor and real estate developer. His mother was of Swedish descent. His father's ancestry included English, Scots-Irish, French and German. His parents divorced in 1968 when he was 8 years old. Kilmer's grandfather was a gold miner in New Mexico, near the border with Arizona. In 1977 Kilmer's younger brother Wesley drowned in a swimming pool at age 15; their father died in 1993. Kilmer