r/OldSchoolCool
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u/NathanWelsh
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8d ago
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"The Doors" by Oliver Stone (1991), starring Val Kilmer, and the actual Jim Morrison during the "The Young Lion" photoshoot in 1967.
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u/peripheral77 8d ago
Doc Holiday and Jim Morrison, two of Val's finest portrayals.
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u/AnnaFlaxxis 8d ago
Couldn't agree more!! His documentary "Val" is really touching and shows what an amazing trained actor he is.
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u/LardLad00 7d ago
He tried to pick up a friend of mine who was working as a waitress in some resort in like 2003. I'll always have that connection with him.
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u/starstarstar42 7d ago edited 7d ago •
I'm shocked he only tried. He was still healthy and in great shape in '03, I'm sure he could have easily lifted her.
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u/LardLad00 7d ago
Yeah I don't remember the full story but she made it sound like the circumstances were not impressive. Like he propositioned a whole group of waitstaff at once or something and it didn't come across well at all. She didn't speak highly of the encounter.
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u/Govt-Issue-SexRobot 7d ago
“Gather round, gather round everyone. I have an announcement.“
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u/blacklab 7d ago
Like “let’s all go have an orgy?” WTF
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u/LardLad00 7d ago
Yeah like "hey any of you ladies want to come back to my room?" sort of thing.
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u/StrokeGameHusky 7d ago
In his defense it probably worked a few times, and maybe with a few in that line up, just not the person you know lol
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u/dickwagstaff 7d ago
Yeah and what was really weird was that he sang it do the tune of "Let's All Go to the Lobby"
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u/snooggums 7d ago
Not all waitresses are an easy lift.
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u/TheAppleTheif 7d ago
I don’t think they were saying anything about waitresses being easy. More saying wow who (regardless of their profession) could say no to Val in his prime?!
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u/grahamkrenz 8d ago edited 7d ago
Gay Perry in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is my favorite
"Look up idiot in dictionary, you know what you'll find?"
"A picture of me?"
"No, the definition of idiot, which you fucking are!"
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u/celesticaxxz 7d ago
“Oh good there’s a gun in there. I thought it was something gay guys can do”
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u/lowercase_underscore 7d ago
I absolutely loved Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, he's definitely one of the key reasons why.
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u/johnnyutah30 8d ago
Don’t forget him in Heat
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u/DethNaRoK 7d ago
MacGruber is his shining role and you can't tell me otherwise. "I'm not a retard who kills his own dudes!"
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u/jperezny 7d ago
He was good in The Saint too... liked all of his disguises!
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u/W__O__P__R 7d ago
The Saint is so tongue in cheek. There's a lot of silliness to that movie that's under appreciated. It's a great film!
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u/mrtambourineman315 7d ago
Madmartigan will always be my favorite. Such a fun character.
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u/AngriestBeaver 7d ago
Batman Forever : "Am I a joke to you?"
🎶Baby! I compare you to kiss from a rose on the grey🎶
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u/layonafrito 7d ago
Val killed this role but the movie was really inaccurate. Ray manzareck had a lot to say about the movie...and oliver stone
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u/dirt_mcgirt4 7d ago
Yeah the music industry learned a lesson on biopics after this. The movies after this go much, much easier on the bands and make them the hero of the story. Jim is such a baffoon in this movie.
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u/SophiaofPrussia 7d ago
I can’t believe I had to scroll so far down to see a comment like this. Oliver Stone is a hack who makes fictional movies that he very convincingly tries to present as fact.
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u/layonafrito 7d ago
Was a huge doors fan in highschool. I saw this movie first before I really knew anything about jim Morrison. After reading pretty much everything about them I came to that same conclusion. Stone is a hack. Ray manzarek has a whole chapter bashing him in his book. I saw ray live and he did a q and a after. Had some strong words for oliver stone.
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u/2boredtocare 8d ago
Heh. Saw this in the theater with my ex. There were two long-haired fellows sitting a couple rows in front of us. Halfway through the movie, one gets up, leaves for a few minutes, comes back, looks around and sits in the row behind his buddy. We though it was a little weird. An hour or so passes, and the friend looks back, and in a loud whisper says "dude! dude! I'm right here." Guy gets up, joins his friend, and stays there for the remainder of the film.
This was a matinee on a weekday, and literally it was just us and them in the theater.
Been over 25 years and I still remember those fools. lol
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u/nolan_void 7d ago
We saw it opening night and about a quarter into the movie, some dude got up and threw his drink at the movie screen and stomped outta the theater.
Our guess was that Val’s acting bewitched him and that the throwing of the soda was dudes attempt to cancel the bewitchment.
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u/2boredtocare 7d ago
Ha! People are so weird. Wonder what they'd think if we knew we remembered them all these years later?
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u/tgw1986 7d ago
People are so weird.
Real missed opportunity to say "People are strange" here
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u/moeburn 7d ago
Once when I went to see Hitman (the second shitty one without Timothy Olyphant) I went out to use the bathroom, and I saw these two kids arguing with the usher about some 18A movie or something.
I go back into the theater, take my seat, and a couple minutes later those kids and the usher come in. They're like 12 or 14 or something. And the older of the two is just standing there, craning his neck, looking around, while the usher stands there with his arms crossed.
Took me a minute but I figured out what was going on. "Hey buddy, it's me, over here!" I waved at him. And the kid pointed at me and he's like "oh THERE'S my uncle!", Usher gave this "I don't get paid enough for this shit" look on his face and left, and the kid came up and thanked me, then sat somewhere else with his bud.
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u/burtoncummings 7d ago
Contributing to the delinquency of youth without risking yourself (as you would by purchasing cigarettes or alcohol for them).
Hero move!
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u/TwoSpaceJunkies 7d ago
That happened to me when I was a kid, I went with my dad but I had to take a leak, when I came back I couldn't find him, it was dark so I sat close from where I thought we were before. There was a guy like 2 seats away from me eating popcorn, I was afraid to get closer to see if it was him so I watched the entire movie from there. The guy was my dad. I watched the movie but missed the popcorn.
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u/2boredtocare 7d ago
...did your dad ever ask why you refused to sit with him? I can imagine my kids doing this and just thinking "well, I obviously pissed them off somehow."
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u/TwoSpaceJunkies 7d ago
I don't remember what happened next, but knowing him I'm pretty sure he knew what was happening and he decided to prank my dumb ass by not even looking at me the entire movie.
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u/Brambletail 8d ago
The 90s are not old school and I refuse to accept I'm old
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u/wanson 7d ago
This movie was made 24 years after this Jim Morrison photoshoot.
A movie made today with a similar time gap could be about the Back Street Boys or The Spice Girls.
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u/detgorren1989 8d ago
Val Kilmer is pure presence. Doc Holliday, Iceman, Heat he takes a scene
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u/poppyseed134 8d ago
Morrison would actually go on to resent this photo shoot and everything he represented in his earlier years of fame. His character arch is fascinating and worth reading about or listening to. There’s an old interview on YouTube by Rolling Stone with him or the book “friends gathered together” by frank lisciandro.
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u/Lil_Mafk 8d ago
I’d be willing to bet all the acid dissolving his ego had something to do with it.
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u/dimestoredavinci 8d ago
I read a Janis Joplin bio that talked about how she thought he was kind of a tool and spoke pretty publicly about it. I wonder if that had any impact on this
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u/muckduck69420 7d ago
Him screaming and pulling her hair at a bar probably didn’t help her opinion of him.
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u/Chili_Paste 7d ago
She cracked him in the head with a bottle of southern comfort. Don't fuck with Janis.
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u/daschle04 8d ago
There's a book I read in high school about Morrison called Noone Here Gets Out Alive that really made me like him despite his narcissism.
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u/W__O__P__R 7d ago
Not knocking your education or Morrison, but I believe I read somewhere that the band members hate that book for being completely bullshit. Not sure where I read that.
I'd say Robbie and Ray's biographies are probably closer to the bone in terms of accurately representing Jim's life.
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u/LeptonField 7d ago
As someone who knows nothing much about Morrison could you say why he went on to resent this?
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u/davewtameloncamp 7d ago
Similar to Cobain, they became what they hated. All the introspection of psychedelics and heavy drugs that once made you invincible, now whispers that you are worthless.
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u/FragileTwo 7d ago
As someone who has changed for the better over the years, I suspect that "regret" might be the better word choice there. Apparently he was a drunken buffoon during this shoot and those photos became ubiquitous, defining how the world saw him. However good he may have looked in them, they always reminded him of a side of himself he didn't like.
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u/AF2005 8d ago
Val tapped into something, he became Morrison. Why he didn’t get any kind of award just for the fact that he SANG all of the songs is baffling.
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u/kurobayashi 7d ago
He got asked to tour with the band and while that might not have the world recognition of an award, I think recognition from the people closest to him isn't too bad a substitute.
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u/UpYourFidelity 7d ago
Theres videos on youtube of Ian Astbury performing with the doors and he is incredible
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u/texrygo 7d ago
In todays Hollywood, he would have won the oscar. Feels like a more recent trend that every other year the winner is someone doing the best impersonation of a famous figure.
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u/turdferguson3891 7d ago
The problem the movie itself wasn't that good. Val was the best part of it. And Oliver Stone had JFK out the same year so all his Academy Award nominations went that way. They rarely like to have multiple movies by the same director competing with each other.
Also that was the same year Silence of the Lambs came out and it took most of the major awards including Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins. Val was good but he wasn't Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter good.
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u/Awesomekip 7d ago
Val Kilmer 'auditioned' for the role by giving Oliver Stone a cassette. Kilmer told him that some songs were Jim singing, and some were Kilmer (who had been in a Doors coverband). Stone, who knew Morrison, listened to the tape and and said which ones he thought were Morrisons, and which ones were Kilmer - they were all Val Kilmer. In the move, the far shots are Morrison dubbed, but the close ups of Kilmer singing, are really him singing.
When Ray Manzarek first saw Val Kilmer in full costume, he recalled thinking "My God, I don't remember him being that tall"
Deserved an Oscar nomination for that film.
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u/zggystardust71 8d ago
Kilmer was great as Morrison but overall I was disappointed with the movie. I think it could have been so much better.
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7d ago
no band bio-pic ever really does justice
you cant distill all of that energy into 2 hours
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u/scarletantonia27 8d ago
My sister was working on a salon in Studio City when Val came in to get his hair done for this role. She told me Val Kilmer wasn't there but Jim Morrison was. He was already in character.
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u/BillionExplodingSuns 8d ago
Chuck Klostermann has an incredible interview with Val Kilmer regarding how he gets in character for roles. He’s the real Kirk Lazarus.
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u/PitViper17 8d ago
Michael Biehn famously once said he never met Val Kilmer, only Doc Holliday
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u/UltravioIence 8d ago
Val doesnt get enough credit when method actors are brought up. It's always daniel day Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Christian bale and Jared Leto.
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u/MichaelScottWeiland 7d ago
Believe me, no one’s giving Jared Leto any sort of positive credit
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u/UltravioIence 7d ago
I liked him in Requiem for a Dream...
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u/NBAccount 7d ago
It isn't about his acting, which is...fine; it is about his atrocious behavior while "in character".
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u/redditshy 7d ago
Why would he not be getting his hair done at the studio, by the studio hair people?
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u/scarletantonia27 7d ago
IDK. All I know is that she came home elated because she met Val Kilmer/Jim Morrison. A lot of famous actors went to the Studio City salon where she worked. JoBeth Williams actually started coloring her hair red after meeting my sister who's a natural red head. Like, she couldn't stop talking about how much she loved my sister's hair. Next time we saw her, she was also a red head.
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u/moonbeanie 7d ago
I have a friend who's wife was on the Leno show. I asked if there was something about the experience that was surprising to him and he said "She loved the hair dresser. She said she had stories about pretty much everybody famous".
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u/singlewall 8d ago
To this day, when I think of Jim Morrison I'm pretty sure its Val Kilmer's picture in my head. I watched The Doors so often that the real Jim looks "wrong" to me.
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u/LongjumpingCheck2638 8d ago
Fantastic movie and Val was 100% spot on JM. Might re-watch it this weekend with some Jack Daniels and a doobie
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u/FunkyChromeMedina 7d ago
Watch the self-documentary he did last year, and he talks about doing this role. Apparently, he went so deep into it for months on end that it destroyed his marriage.
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u/RealMudflapper 7d ago
Val Kilmer killed that role so hard that when I picture Jim Morrison in my head I picture Val Kilmer’s Jim Morrison.
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u/TakeoGaming 7d ago
Only person to rival his performance as a rock star is Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious imo
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u/Wpbdan 7d ago
I swear Gary Oldman has the ability to rearrange his DNA for any role. His acting skills are on another level.
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u/PointFingerWink 7d ago
You can tell it’s Gary Oldman because you can’t tell it’s Gary Oldman
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u/Akumetsu33 7d ago
What if you could tell it's Gary Oldman from the start, does that mean he isn't Gary Oldman?
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u/FragileTwo 7d ago
Yes.
Sid Vicious, Det. Stansfield, Drexl, Dracula, Det. Gordon... all roles he played for movie cameras. Gary Oldman is the role he plays for talk show and security cameras.
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u/W__O__P__R 7d ago
Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash is right fucking up there too mate. Not gonna lie, Phoenix and Witherspoon were amazing!
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u/slayer991 8d ago
I've said this is my 2nd favorite Val Kilmer role (Doc Holliday in Tombstone is my favorite). The Doors movie wasn't great but Val Kilmer became Jim Morrison. He totally killed it.
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u/Chk1975 7d ago
Do we really need a 3,5 hour movie about the doors? I don’t fucking think so! I can sum it up for you in 5 seconds: I am drunk I am nobody i am drunk I am famous I am drunk I am dead
(Old geezers like me will know who this is from)
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u/Rooostyfitalll 7d ago edited 7d ago
Anyone else bothered by the fact “The Doors” came out 31 years ago which was only 20 years after Morrisons death? I am 😳
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u/BarefootUnicorn 7d ago
I wonder if Jim Morrison didn't die young, would he look like Val Kilmer does now?
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u/TheFox30 7d ago
"Val" very interesting movie, very sad and eye opening,
no matter how successful , how much money you have, your health is fucking everything you have.
Don't ruin it by smoking and drinking
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u/thisisnotdetroit 7d ago
I watched this movie high as shit in college and it was like an out of body experience
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u/dwntwn_drty_brwn 7d ago
Val is worth a watch on Amazon Prime. He truly is one of the greatest actors that gave too much of himself to the roles, I don’t think he gets enough credit! Really sad that he lost his voice right as he was making a comeback with Citizen Twain.
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u/nysflyboy 7d ago
Saw this movie back in college, back when they had movie night at the gym (for real) and projected it onto a big scree while we all (drunk college kids) sat in the bleachers. (See what we had to do back before internet kids? We did not even have cable TV there!).
Anyway, the projectionist was from a nearby town, and brought the movie and lens. But he grabbed the wrong (non-anomorphic) lens, when the movie was widescreen. So we saw the first two reels in "skinnyvision" while he ran back to get the correct lens. Then he showed the whole thing again in "regular-vision". It was a weird experience (esp. being tipsy) when he switched back...
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u/bokodasu 7d ago
When I went to see this, the film got caught in something and eventually did that burn up/breaking thing that gets used as an effect so often that everyone in the theater 100% believed that that was part of the movie. (We figured it out when the house lights came up.)
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u/T1S9A2R6 7d ago
I was pretty young when the Doors movie came out and I wasn’t all that familiar with the band or Jim Morrison himself, not well enough to pick him out of a lineup anyway.
That movie and the marketing (posters etc.) was everywhere at the time. To this day, when I see photos/footage of Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, my mind needs a couple seconds to confirm that’s not historic photos/footage of the actual Jim Morrison. Very weird.
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u/SD_Guy 8d ago
Val absolutely killed this role. No one will ever top it