Val Kilmer’s Jim Morrison still makes a school for young stars
Which will be The role for which Val Kilmer will be remembered by the public? Probably that of Iceman in “Top Gun” (considerable result, considering that it appears for no more than a quarter of an hour in the film) or perhaps for his Bruce Wayne algid incarnation in Joel Schumacher’s “Batman”. A good compromise in terms of quality and popularity is certainly Chris Shiherlis, the character played in “Heat – The challenge” of Michael Mann, considered one of the best Heist Movie of all time.
In Hollywood, however, Val Kilmer has left its mark in a thinner way, especially among the younger generations of stars Today. Beautiful, very beautiful, perhaps too much to be really taken seriously: divi and sex symbol like Austin Butler, Jacob Elordi, Timothée Chalamet. In recent years they have successfully tried to give A more credible turning point to their professional ambitions (and from Oscar) along the Val Kilmer road: that of interpreting a rock star and an American music icon.
Perhaps this is the role that has most left its mark in the film industry among the many played by Val Kilmer: that in Film dedicated to Oliver Stone’s Doors. Not the first director to caress the idea of bringing the King lizard to the big screen (Quentin Tarantino also thought about it) but the one who in the 90s managed to send the operation to port. Especially after seeing Val Kilmer in “Willow” and established it was the perfect interpreter for the role.
When he arrived in theaters in 1991, “The Doors” proved to be a divisive musical portrait: many criticized the biographical freedoms that Oliver Stone had taken, the excessive attention to the artist’s private individual with respect to his musical production. In this sense, the keyboardist of the band Ray Manzarek was also expressed. Consent was unanimous only on an aspect of the film: Val Kilmer touched absolute mimesis with Jim Morrisonso much so that over the years continuous testimonies of performance of the actor exchanged for those of the singer have accumulated, tattoos with his face instead of that of Morrison, a head of the header in articles concerning the band with images of the film.
If “Top Gun” had pulled Kilmer out of the borders of light comedies making it a sex symbol, The role of Jim Morrison transformed him into a credible, level actor, Bringing him in four years to shoot a cult like “Heat” with Michael Mann.
In many crocodiles that we read in these hours it is told The very long and extreme process with which he approached the role. He imparted about fifty Morrison’s songs, coming to replicate his voice to perfectly, became a obsessive connoisseur of his mannerisms and his movements, he entered for months alongside the producer of the band Paul A. Rothchild to acquire as many information as possible, even anecdotal, on Morrison. He left nothing integrated from the auditions To which he presented himself, descending from a vintage car, shooting the music of the doors from the radio at very high volume. Barefoot and wrapped in very narrow leather trousers, the carn hair, he left the rivals open -mouthed.
The 90s ran and Harvey Weinstein was about to invent A new method to hunt Oscar. A narrative made of excesses and total devotion to the role, which starts from the testimonies of the New Hollywood with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino (both of the Kilmer setmates in “Heat”) and came to the way they still tell these roles today. Val Kilmer This narrative contributed to creating it and canonize it, in a mostly involuntary way. As we would say today, “He had gone under”, so much that he had to go to therapy at the end of the second half Because Jim Morrison had been glued to him on him, obsessed him.
For the leading role in “The Doors” Kilmer did not win the Oscar or earned a nomination, but His leap in quality in terms of professional perception pushed many young interpreters to do the same. In the men’s field, the success of the operation is such that even today the stars are always at the spasmodic search for a musical biopic to try to enter the restricted circle of actors who are really taken seriously.
A rather recent example gives us Austin Butler and Jacob Elordi. They were already well known among the very young fans before interpreting Elvis Presley in “Elvis” by Baz Luhrmann and “Priscilla” by Sofia Coppola (Here the reviews). But thanks to this role they have become immensely more popular and their agenda has become much more dense, for quantity and quality.
The same can be done for Timothée Chalamet who is no coincidence that he hit his first candidate for Oscar this year with The role of Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown”, After an immaculate career and a couple of roles that brought him very close to this goal, without ever hitting him. Those who helped Butler and Chalamet to cure the long countryside to win the statuette pushed them to follow that story that Val Kilmer made, That mix of months spent to perfect the role and the difficulty in leaving it behind. Chalamet for example told how he consciously chose of
dedicate five years of his life to the project. Austin Butler confessed to Not being able to stop talking to the cadence of Elvisafter having long sought and built: a declaration of which he has been asked for an account for years, in a more or less ironic way.
Val Kilmer’s example is so powerful that It even works in a negative key. Another star who made the qualitative leap with the role of a rock star was Rami Malek with his portrait of Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody”Valsogli a victory at the Oscars for best leading actor. Also in this case, great tales of immersive processes in the role, great mimesis and general enthusiasm, but crackling shortly after. Many saw Malek’s performance almost a caricature. A forcing, also linked to the filing of the most controversial aspects of the character of the Queen frontman.
Not that in the women’s field you do not regularly try the same road and the same narrative, but with infinitely less incisive results. Even after his death, LIn short, an example of Val Kilmer will continue to make school. The next to try it will be Zendaya, just written by the director Barry Jenkins to play Ronnie Spector, singer of the Ronettes.
