How Val Kilmer almost lost himself in Jim Morrison: “It kind of screws up your equilibrium”
It’s hard to state a compelling case that places The Doors among the top tier of Oliver Stone’s filmography, but what can’t be argued is that Val Kilmer has never been better than he was embracing – and embodying – the spirit of Jim Morrison.
If anything, the 1991 musical biopic could be viewed as a disappointment after it barely recouped its budget at the box office and failed to continue Stone’s era-defining hot streak that had seen him helm Platoon, Wall Street, and Born on the Fourth of July in quick succession.
It’s a surprisingly superficial and by-the-numbers biographical drama considering a button-pushing firebrand like Stone was at the helm, but Kilmer’s performance remains impeccable. Already fond of embracing the method, the star took things several steps beyond when he turned over every possible stone in the hopes of doing justice to such an iconic frontman.
Before principal photography began, over a hundred people gathered together to form a circle around a campfire on a California beach, in what existed as something between a tribute and a ritual in the name of Morrison. They threw herbs into the flames, danced, and retraced Morrison’s steps, and of course, Kilmer was there in the spirit of things.
It had nothing to do with his performance, but it was indicative of his commitment. He didn’t just want to look the part; he wanted to become the part. In order to do that, he studiously replicated Morrison’s cadence, singing voice, stage mannerisms, and even eye colour, wearing specialised contact lenses to mimic his counterpart right down to an ocular level.
Describing his permanently dilated lenses as “like wearing sunglasses with a hole in them,” Kilmer admitted to Entertainment Weekly that “it kind of screws up your equilibrium, making it easy to act stoned.” That inadvertently summed up his performance to a tee, with the star seeking to blur the lines between performer and subject as much as possible.
Before he’d even been cast, Kilmer spent thousands of dollars of his own money on a self-taped audition where he behaved on camera as Morrison during various stages of his life. Stone admitted his renditions of some famous tracks by The Doors “were not great,” but practice often makes perfect. Or at least an approximation, anyway.
Kilmer lost the exact amount of weight required to gain Morrison’s frame, learned 50 songs for the sake of a feature that only ever planned to use 15 of them, and attached himself to the hip of producer Paul A Rothchild to absorb as many anecdotes, stories, and recollections as possible to let them feed into his approach to the character, as well as pressing The Doors collaborator for the deeper meanings behind certain lyrics, and any inflexions or pronunciations Morrison would have used conversationally or onstage.
What really took the cake was when an internal memo leaked, which let the world know that Kilmer wasn’t to be approached by anybody on set unless they had a very good reason, he wasn’t allowed to be stared at (although how long constitutes a stare was never quantified), and he had to be referred to as Jim Morrison at all times.
Was it worth it? Honestly, it’s a difficult thing to gauge. Was The Doors a resounding smash hit? No. Did it end up in the running for any major awards? No. Did Kilmer win any notable individual accolades? No. Was he even nominated? No. Is it one of the greatest-ever biopics of a legendary musician? No. On a tangible level, he almost lost himself for no reward.
Still, it’s the actor at his very best, so it was worth it because it allowed him to display a new side of himself as a three-dimensional talent comfortably capable of disappearing into a role.
