Val Kilmer: Never Quiet the Love Message INTERVIEW: LAWRENCE INGLEE PHOTOS: ROBERT STURMAN + NEIL JACOBS
Hi, Val. Hi, Lawrence.
It’s good to see you. It’s good to see you, too. Thanks for coming out to Malibu.
It’s beautiful here. I’m glad you talked me into it. Sometimes, I wonder what I’m doing back in Los Angeles, but when you look out there… How can you complain when you see a whale cresting, matter-of-factly, as you make your breakfast?
That happens? Yes!
comfortable… elsewhere. After 10 years in New York, I moved to New Mexico, which is where I’ve lived for the past 25 years.
You said something to me once that has stuck in my head, I’m paraphrasing: “Live where you pray best.” Yes, I believe that. I learned a long time ago that place matters to me, on many levels, and maybe more than it should, but it is generally counter-productive for me to resist it. And it’s really that simple: where do you pray best? Which is another way of saying: where can you trust your own thoughts and your own intentions? Everywhere, hopefully, but it isn’t always that easy. Sometimes, you have to help yourself along.
And this is what led you to New Mexico…
So, what are you doing back in Los Angeles, and what do you mean by back? Where have you been?
I fell in love with the land and with the very old fashioned idea of leaving a physical legacy for my children: a stunning place, with a magnificent forest of trees, and a magnificent river.
Well, I was born here, in the Valley, and grew up here. But when I was supposed to be here full time as a working actor, I felt more
“Trees and swift moving water, the best things on earth.” (Czeslaw Milosz)
photos: top: robert sturman opposite: neil jacobs 126 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM
It is hard to argue with that, isn’t it? My sense of love for that place made it my most important project; it really was that, a “project.” You might have noticed that my acting career, by comparison, has been a bit… erratic.
Let’s say… eclectic. Eclectic! I love acting, and doing it well matters to me. But I have never taken my career seriously. My only ambition was to grow as an actor. My only “business plan” was to get lucky. I thought I would try that strategy a second time, which as you can see was not irrational; it worked once. But once is more than generous for any lifetime. So, now I’m going about things a little differently.
Which is why you are back in LA… I’m starting to understand. So, let’s talk about your play. You recently completed a sold-out workshop of your one-man show about Mark Twain, called Citizen Twain. It was a big success. There were standing ovations every night, without exception. Were you there every night?