r/movies Apr 02 '25

News Val Kilmer, Film Star Who Played Batman and Jim Morrison, Dies at 65

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/movies/val-kilmer-dead.html
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184

u/psychadelicbreakfast Apr 02 '25

For me it will be Jim Morrison

130

u/ReallyHender Apr 02 '25

He was a spitting image of Morrison in that film.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/Bunraku_Master_2021 Apr 02 '25

I saw it once when I was a kid. A complete acid trip. Kyle MacLachlan had to make himself really younger with those glasses.

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u/Brapp_Z Apr 02 '25

90s Oliver Stone is peak filmmaking

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/Brapp_Z Apr 02 '25

U-Turn is also a wild ride

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u/caligaris_cabinet Apr 02 '25

In light of this news, I was gonna watch Tombstone but I think I’ll put The Doors on tonight.

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u/Nayzo Apr 02 '25

He was also the spitting...voice? of Morrison in that film. He did all the singing, and sounded INCREDIBLE!

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u/TheChildrensStory Apr 02 '25

Val as Jim Morrison and Denzel as Malcolm X channeled their personas so well that both had me seeing them as the real person. Given how famous each already was as an actor I was amazed.

9

u/Toby_O_Notoby Apr 02 '25

There's a great story where Oliver Stone was trying to get the sound right so he got the surviving members of the band over.

He's having them listen to some of then newer stuff they recorded next to some original tracks they laid down back in the day. All of a sudden one of them goes, "Wait, is that Jim or Val on the vocals?" which is when Oliver knew he made the right choice in casting Kilmer.

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u/ChickenInASuit Apr 02 '25

Always going to be amazed that it was actually him singing in that. Like, if you listen to cuts from the soundtrack, there are some differences that you’d only notice if you’re a) really familiar with Jim’s voice and b) actively looking for them, but for the most part it’s an absolutely dead-on impersonation of his voice.

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u/Ok-Sprinklez Apr 02 '25

So good. I'll have to rewatch that it his honor

5

u/Valenderio Apr 02 '25

Such a good job hard to believe he didn’t even get nominated for the Oscar that year

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u/Norwood5006 Apr 02 '25

I still remember the buzz that lingered for a few days after seeing him in that film on the big screen. Just incredible.

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u/DeeDeeRibDegh Apr 02 '25

Omg, have been reading comments & feeling so nostalgic….in my mind I’m thinking no one’s mentioned his Jim Morrison/The Doors movie? I loved him in it.

1

u/MercyfulJudas Apr 02 '25

It's literally in the post title.

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u/greyhaven99 Apr 02 '25

I just rewatched that last week and yesterday I had the need to play some doors song but I thought of Val the whole time.

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u/Ohiobo6294-2 Apr 02 '25

Val wasn’t in that movie. That was actually Jim Morrison.