my afternoon with val

kilmer, that is.

yup, got to hang out this afternoon with a select group of people and talk to val. (val is what everyone else called him there, so i will refer to him as val here as well...)

i never talk about work. this is mostly because it would be a large source of misanthropy, and these days i'm trying to be a more positive person. but here is where i will talk about work, because that's how val figures in.

val kilmer is a christian scientist, NOT a scientologist like some other hollywood folks. i work for a small museum and library that seeks to educate the world about the life and writings of mary baker eddy, the founder of christian science. val has been coming to my library to do research for a new film he is producing and starring in about mark twain and mary baker eddy. mark twain kind of disliked mary baker eddy, mostly because he was jealous of her. i mean, he respected her, but also felt that she couldn't have achieved what she did in her life.

anyway, i digress...

val kilmer is playing mark twain in this movie. he is doing an evening program for my work, but instead of really giving a lecture about his movie, he is actually doing a bit from it as mark twain--all in costume, etc. the whole deal. so today after work, my boss, who is also the programming manager, needed to get some people together to see his rehearsal for tomorrow night's program. i was one of those select 15 people. val came in dressed as mark twain and did his bit, but then he just hung out with us. we got to ask questions, we chatted, we laughed, he was really great. it was cool too, because even though i am required by work to "volunteer" at this program tomorrow night, i am doubtful i will actually be able to see it. i got an intimate sneak peak instead :)

this is my second run-in with val at work, and i'm sure there will be others. he is still researching and writing the movie, and he is friends with several people i work with. now to just work on getting that bit part...

part of this is a little out-of-sync, but i hope you'll enjoy! i did--he's a rather compelling twain. oh, and everything he says in this little vignette are the real mark twain's words. this is meant to be a major hollywood production, not about christian science, or the christian science church, but about these two people. it sounds interesting, so i hope it succeeds.