VAL ON ACTING:
"I think it's a very wonderful profession and, very rarely, sometimes you get a chance to be in something that's really meaningful."
VAL ON HOW HE PICKS JOBS:
"The main thing is the character because it's hard to imagine being somebody in different circumstances than you for about a year. So I try to pick the things I will stay entertained by and I can do a good job for."
POTENTIAL PROJECT FOR BLESSED PRODUCTIONS:
(his own production company, produced/directed NAPS documentary)
"I was in Bali, for a month, writing. It's about an American hero who has a very tough past because his parents were spies. It's a fantasy for an environmental hero - like Robin Hood, he helps out poor communities that live near nature or in nature."
ANOTHER POTENTIAL PROJECT - THE KILLER INSIDE ME:
"Without understanding, we cannot heal this disease of ultraviolence. Anyone who's killed more than four people, every single one of them wants to get caught. They know they'll die if they keep doing this. They want to die. They know half the time that they're quite brilliant, they know in some conscious way what they're doing, but it's a dreamlike state. I don't feel the need for another extremely violent film to be made. But I want to confront my own fears about violent impulses."
VAL'S "AFRICAN PROJECT":
"It's an epic biography in its scope, like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Indulge me - what are the five greatest African movies? You see! That's my point, there aren't any. It's a short list. You HAVE to say AFRICAN QUEEN and OUT OF AFRICA, even if you didn't like them. And most of the other films are romantic movies that only use Africa as a backdrop, like the macho Hemingway stories. And LAWRENCE OF ARABIA isn't strictly African - it's a desert story. For me, Africa's by far the most interesting, adventurous continent. In fact, Africa itself is the main character in the drama I've been writing, which takes place mostly in South Africa and Zimbabwe. I've been working on this project for over ten years and hope to get it made as soon as I stop working on THE SAINT. But after I've been working on it for so long, I'm in no hurry to compromise. I'll see if it happens next year, or I'll wait one more year. It's very, very hard to shoot animals, and everything about it is difficult, so it has to be done right."
MY EDEN AFTER BURNS:
(book of poetry published in 1988)
"It was selling really well, but I took it off the market almost immediately because I realized that little excerpts of it would always be used out of context. That was really all writers could do when they were writing about me as an actor."
Dislike of Television:
"Television is the greatest deadener of the human spirit that exists. It numbs us and brainwashes us and spews out quick fixes and short-term entertainment. We don't have time to read and think and talk about who we are anymore. That's sad."
The Elbow:
"Of course he (Morrison) only had to jump off a stage once and I had to do it fifteen times in an afternoon. That's where I got this. (lump that looks like golf ball implanted under the skin of his left elbow). I said, 'If this is boring, I'm going to jump.' And it was boring so I jumped. And then this guy who was supposed to catch me jumped out of the way. It's a tall stage there."
Buffalo:
"I just love them. They have such a sense of majesty. I was really surprised. I thought they'd be docile like most range animals, but they tend to be playful. I threw a tire in their area to see if the bull would push it around, and he learned to do tricks with it. He throws it from one horn to the other. He knows it's his toy, and if he throws it out of the pen, he gets real upset."
Twirling Objects:
"I learned how to do it on my first movie," he replies. "It's always good to have a trick or two up your sleeve." (Movies in which Val demonstrates this skill: TOP SECRET! REAL GENIUS, TOP GUN (pen), WILLOW, THE DOORS (drumstick), TOMBSTONE (coin), THE SAINT.
Actor/Actress Val Admires:
"I'm always looking at other people's stuff and going, 'Damn, I gotta get around to behaving properly. Like whatshername. She's so wonderful, so squared, God. Harvard graduate and Oscars coming out of her Oscars. She's so sweet. Jodie Foster. She starts her company and does the interview and she's all smiling in the pictures and everything's right and proper. I don't - I don't do it like that somehow."
"I've always been a big fan of his (Peter Sellers') work. Sellers had this real ability to totally embody his creations. He was a very accomplished actor."
Actress Val Would Most Like To Work With:
"I did an an afterschool special with Michelle Pfeiffer [ONE TOO MANY]and that was a long time ago. I'd love to work with her. I think she's...just because of her beauty often...I mean I don't read reviews but I suspect, you know, because she's so attractive, she suffers in relation to her talent in how she gets reviewed because she's very diverse and very gifted and, I think, every bit as talented as any of the great stars that have played a wide range of roles."