By now, I’m sure everyone has heard that Val Kilmer passed away at the age of 65 yesterday. I’ve been a fan of his since I first saw Real Genius (1985) and was devoted to following his films for probably a lot longer than I have most other actors. It used to be that a new Val Kilmer film would drop and I’d be there in the theatre as soon as I could to see it, but over the years my tastes changed and I drifted away from following his career; and in truth, his career kind of took some turns that I wasn’t exactly interested in. Then he basically fell of the face of the planet in the mid-2000s, following a diagnosis of throat cancer that effectively ended his career far sooner than it should have. But every so often, he’d pop back up in the social media stream, and I’d dip in and see what he was up to, then dip out and go about my day.
Anyway, long story short, I enjoyed the man’s films. And one of the films that really broke him out into the A-list was his role as Jim Morrison of the Doors. Directed by Oliver Stone, The Doors (1991) starts with Morrison’s early days as a film student at UCLA in 1965, the formation of the band with Morrison as the iconic front man, their meteoric rise to stardom and then, Morrison’s spiral into drugs, and only 6 short years later, Morrison’s death in a Paris bathtub in 1971 from a drug overdose and/or heart attack at the age of 27. I grew up surrounded by The Doors’ music as my parents were massive fans, so when the film came out, there I was, all of 15-years-old, front and center, eager to devour what the critics were calling a masterpiece.
I, of course, absolutely did not understand the film at that age. And over the years, I’ve tried to go back and re-watch it, only to realize I still don’t have the stamina to watch Val Kilmer torture himself as Jim Morrison. That said, I can still talk about the costumes, so that’s what I’m going to do.
Marlene Stewart was costume designer for the film. She worked with Oliver Stone on his other 1991 offering, JFK, and she also went on to work with Kilmer on The Saint (1997). Her other film credits include Ali (2001) and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1998). But what she was perhaps best known for when she was brought onto The Doors was costuming for music videos, such as Madonna’s Vogue and Like a Prayer, Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time, to name a few. You could make a pretty dope playlist looking at the list of music videos she’s worked on over on IMDB. And it was probably her connection to clothing pop stars in music videos that made her the perfect choice for a project like The Doors. That said, looking back on the clothing, hair, and makeup in the film, there’s a lot there that screams “NINETIES TRYING TO DO THE SIXTIES.” Especially on Meg Ryan as Pam Courson, Morrison’s partner.
Ok, enough of Meg Ryan (I think I’ve now typed her name more times in my life than ever before). I want to single out two other actors who I thought really were great in the film: Kyle MacLachlan as Doors organist and main songwriter, Ray Manzarek; and Kathleen Quinlan as Morrison’s lover (maybe actually wife?), journalist and writer Patricia Kennealy.
Have you seen The Doors (1991)? Tell us what you thought in the comments!
I am a huge Doors fan so I went to see it in the theaters, probably on opening day, I don’t remember exactly, but I was so excited to see this film. My biggest complaint was Oliver Stone’s blatant display of misogyny, particularly to Pam Courson. According to Ray Manzarek, Pam was an artist in her own right and not the brainless groupie that was portraited in the film. The best part of the movie was the end credits where they played “LA Women” with really cool images of the city of angels in between. Shout out to two of my friends, one who was an extra in the SF scenes (she was told in casting that she had the best hippy outfit that they’d ever seen) and the other who’s 1960 car was also there (her car was so popular that it had it’s own agent.) Unfortunately, you can’t see either because the goovy “psychedelic” way Stone filmed it.
I saw The Doors on TV in 2011, and I sadly don’t remember much about it. I wanted to stream it, but it wasn’t streaming anywhere for free. I definitely plan to revisit it again.
I saw this back when it came out, so maybe I’d feel differently if I watched it today, but I remember thinking this was the one time where Meg Ryan WASN’T playing Meg Ryan!
I loved the movie and I LOVED him but I have read that the remaining members of The Doors did not like the way he portrayed Jim Morrison…. they say he made him out to be a raging alcoholic, which evidently he was not. I don’t know, they would know him better than anybody, but I still think he did an excellent job & let’s not even get started with Tombstone!! “I’m your Huckleberry” Excellent actor and my prayers of strength go out to his children. Rest in peace
I have read (which means Hollywood hearsay, yes I know) that Meg at the top of her game was allowed to be… selfish, shall we say, about her costuming and hair in a film, especially vis-a-vis the rest of the cast. So some of her “cosplay” feel here may be the demands she was allowed to make as opposed to just her inability to disappear into a role.
Yes, I have seen it, and I agree that Kyle was the best part
Ken
Kennealy is delusional and drove them all mad, even all these decades later while shooting. There’s a long interview with her on my DVD, which apparently Oliver agreed to in order to placate her.
Personally, I didn’t mind Meg Ryan as Pamela, but I do know what you mean. Oliver was annoyed with her because she wasn’t willing to display her body in the way he wanted to, in the way women supposedly did in the 60s. My favorite scene is the desert acid trip which directly flows into the infamous night at the Whiskey, when they performed The End for the first time and Morrison went off into his ad libbed storytelling, which shocked everyone, including the band who just tried to keep up and play.
Marianne Faithfull talks about the night Morrison died in her memoir, Faithfull, and about the scramble to arrange the scene. I’ve read other accounts by others whom Pamela called, and no two quite match.
As for costume designers getting the late 60s, early 70s right, I don’t know why it’s such a problem except possibly because we kind of made it up as we went along, sourcing from thrift shops and clothes boxes. But we also bought things, like lace shawls and that shearling coat Meg is wearing above. Lace up knee-high leather boots, a lot of corduroy (!), and jeans till they fell off our legs, patched and repatched, with decorative lace or ribbon up the outside seams of the leg. In the US it was more down home than in London, where there was a lot of velvet. I once made a dress out of really beautiful wallpaper, in 1971, I believe. I’d seen someone in a magazine wearing one. There’s also a belief that people were filthy, but not anyone I knew!
We watched the movie when it came out and just watched this movie the other night. Val Kilmer sang the songs in the movie. (We debated whether or not he sang the songs that were played in the background, the jury’s out.) Wow, he was so good. I’m going to miss him. As I remember ( having lived in those years) the costumes in the show were accurate, even Meg’s. The movie really brings back the times. Tracy has it right. People were going for natural fabrics, flowing tops and dresses, and like Tracy said, really patched jeans. As in buy patches to cover the jeans (I had butterflies and bees). I. have to admit, I never saw anyone in a wallpaper dress. But then, as they say, if you can remember, you weren’t there.
I usually used old dresses from thrift shops for the fabric patches, doubled, and embroidered them on. But never on the knees, which were allowed to wear away into threads. A few years ago I saw some new jeans being sold with the knees worn, and long ago, the reprehensible stone-washed jeans to make it look like ours were naturally. I also wore midi- and ankle-length dresses a lot, and sometimes wore oversized men’s jackets over my jeans. I also had an old midi-length fur coat with bits missing, that I wore over jeans. That coat lasted well into the late 80s! Our vibe was tragically disrupted by “vintage” becoming a thing, with prices skyrocketing. I used to be able to go into Greenwich Village with a big garbage bag and fill it for $20, with leather, silk, velvet, old lace, and more. I remember it all, because I didn’t do drugs, arguably the only person of my generation who didn’t!