[QUOTE=EJsGirl]
About Val Kilmer- I have heard that his rudeness stems from a crippling shyness, but it could just be a front.
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A friend of mine, had a friend that got her an extra role on The West Wing. She was on screen for less than four seconds I’d say. Her friend was in the business, not on screen, but knew a lot of people involved in the process.
Anyways, my friend, the girl that got her the “part”, Val Kilmer, and a couple other people were all in an elevator together. She said that he was definitely on some sort of drug, so much so that everyone else in the elevator was visibly uncomfortable.
She’s seen plenty of stoned, coked-out, drunk, tripping, and otherwise crazy people, and was sure he was really high. On what, she did not know. Had he been overly shy, I doubt that he would have been making the rest of the occupants in that elevator uncomfortable.
I was kind of disheartened by this because he is one of my favorite actors. Not that I think that any and all drug usage equals naughty behavior, but it kind of made me realize that more people in the movie industry are users than I might think.
On a personal note, I once met Billy Corgan (singer for Smashing Pumpkins) at a bar. The only reason that my friends and I were even there, was because there was a potential that some performers from the next day’s Lollapalooza might be there. I believed the radio ad that said as much to some degree, but wasn’t expecting much. Sure, the spoken word performers were there as promised, but there was little else of interest going on.
After an hour or so of ho-hum spoken word stuff, a small group of people walked into the bar. What caught my eye was the really tall guy. They sat down at a table near the door, and none of them went to the bar to get a drink (no cocktail waitresses or servers in this dive bar).
I looked at the guy, and realized that it was Billy Corgan. I was either the only person to notice that, or the only person that felt like not ignoring his presence. So, I went to the bar, asked the bartender for a sharpie (which he actually had much to my surprise) and approached Billy’s table.
I made sure to not block his view of the show, or stand over him, and didn’t get too close. I kind of squatted about 2 feet away from him, towards the front of his view. When he looked at me, I said “Excuse me Mr. Corgan, could I please get your autograph?” He looked at me like a kid looks at his Mom when asked to take out the trash. “Must I?” he said.
I didn’t really have time to answer, not that I didn’t pause, before he grabbed the sharpie in my hand, and the bill of my ballcap that I had for him to sign. He signed it, with kind of a cool star shaped thing on it, and handed it back to me. I figured I had bothered the guy enough, thanked him, and ducked out.
I got back to my friends and they asked if it was really him. I showed them the signature, and we left soon thereafter. Not a single other person approahed that table, let alone Billy. He did a good job of being unassuming I guess.
The next day at Lollapalooza, I was hanging out near the side of one of the minor stages. There was a restricted area right next to me, part of which led to the massive “backstage” area behind everything. An asian guy came around the corner in the restricted area and kind of peered at the band playing. He was only a few feet from me, and I recognized him as James Iha, guitarist for Smashing Pumpkins. I asked him if he could also sign my hat, and he did so gladly. In my estimation, he was very stoned, but he was really nice, so I didn’t give a shit. He left soon after.
