TORONTO — Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer were in top spirits Friday, despite the early-morning junket to promote their movie Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"I've seen the way Val works," Downey joked of his co-star. "It's immoral and disgusting and self-indulgent and fantastic in the aftermath. And what would you like to say that's wildly intuitive about me, Val?" "Umm, you're a very good kisser," Kilmer lobbed back.

The veteran actors are at the festival -- along with writer/director Shane Black, producer Joel Silver and newcomer co-star Michelle Monaghan -- to present the low-budget thriller comedy, which screened late Thursday.

Shot in only 35 days for a mere $15 million, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang tells the story of Harry Lockhart (Downey), a petty thief running from the cops. He hides out in a movie audition where he gives a reading that propels him to Hollywood.

To research his breakthrough role, Harry teams up with Perry van Shrike (Kilmer) a gay, high-end private eye.

One thing leads to another and soon there are bodies to dispose of, thugs to contend with and a deadly, devious plot to uncover.

And during this whole thing, Harry manages to fall in love with his childhood sweetheart, aspiring actress Harmony Faith Lane (Monaghan).

For the cast and crew, the film seems to have been more a labour of love than the promise of big bucks.

"It's a very smart and heartfelt movie and that's why, I think, we're all drawn to it," Downey said. "We really showed up for this with this collective idea that it was really ambitious, but we felt we all really had something to gain from it."

"This was a hard movie to make," admitted Silver, whose producing credits include the Lethal Weapon and Matrix franchises. "We didn't have a lot of money ... and Shane had his work cut out for him. He had to have actors that would just go in there and do it. He didn't really have time to work through the process. ... We got a lot of movie up there. It feels like a bigger movie than what it cost."