© Jonathan Scott Shensa Photography
Greetings everyone and welcome to another edition of “The Outsiders Guide to the Inside of Hollywood”. Unfortunately this is another tribute to an amazing actor we lost. Last night I was on social media looking at all the fake April Fools Day posts, when I saw an article that I wish was fake showed up in my news feed. The headline read: “Top Gun’s Val Kilmer Dead at 65 “. Val Kilmer, passed. away after a long battle against caner, the actor died do to a lung infection and of pneumonia on April 1.
The Early Days
If I had to put together a list of my favorite films from the 90’s Val would appear multiple times. Val made his lead acting debut in”Top Secret”! a 1984 action comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker and Martyn Burke. The first time I saw Val was a year later in the classic 90’s film“Real Genius,” the film centers on Nerdy college students who are asked to develop a laser by their professor, in their science lab at school. The kids do not realize at the time that they are building a war weapon. Kilmer who plays the one cool guy in the nerdy group who, along with fellow students try and stop the professor from giving the government the weapon.
It wasn’t till 1986 when Val played a cocky fighter pilot and Tom Crusies rival in Top Gun, where his acting career blasted off.
The Doors
As much as I’ve loved many of his films there are two that standout to me. I had already had been listening to The Doors since in High School. When I heard Val was going to play Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone‘s “The Doors”, I was skeptical. I thought he was a strange choice since he wasn’t a singer. He also was know for comedy Morrison’s life was filled with drama. I saw the film and right away I was taken back to the magical world of that time period and what it would have been like to see life from inside their world. He looked and sounded like Jim Morrison. I have no idea of he didn’t win an Oscar for that role.
Tombstone
My other favorite film of his was another bio pic. This time he was not the star of the film, but he steals the film with his portrayal of Doc Holliday in George P. Cosmatos’s “Tombstone”. Once again I feel that Val should have won an Oscar. Who can forget the line “I’m Your Huckleberry.” Kilmer became Doc Holiday. It wasn’t just his words but everything about that character Val nailed.
The Fourth Dimension World Premiere
I did get the chance to photography Val in 2012 at the San Francisco International Film Festival for “The Fourth Dimension” World Premiere. The film was about is a collection of three standalone short films about parallel universes. Kilmer starred in Harmony Korine’s short “The Lotus Community Workshop.” He plays a version of himself from an alternate reality, a former actor-turned-self-help guru. Val to no surprise showed up late with Director’s Harmony Korine, Jan Kwiecinski and Aleksei Fedorchenko. Val entered wearing a black winter coat and a Top Hat. They were all is a good moon. Val looked to be pretty high (intern was complaining about them smoking somewhere inside) when walking into the dark press line. Val gave us a smile while he was clowning around with his fellow filmmakers. After appearing for a few photos with the director he seemed to think that was the end of the carpet another wire service asked for singles, Val laughed and replied “Can’t you guys crop one?” We lost another iconic actor to Caner. One thing for sure is he will never be forgotten.
© Jonathan Scott Shensa Photography
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© Jonathan Scott Shensa Photography
The Outsiders Guide To The Inside Of Hollywood 