Kilmer refocuses energy into Mark Twain project

Val Kilmer 

Santa Fe New Mexican - Since selling his ranch near Santa Fe for millions of dollars last year, Val Kilmer has made something of a career shift, immersing himself in the character of Mark Twain while trying to develop his own film project. The 52-year-old actor is back in Los Angeles, where he is appearing in a one-man stage show as Twain, part of preparations to portray him in a film about the author and his historical adversary, Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy. Kilmer, who has been working on the project for years, posted a note on the movie's website last year that said, "I have made a crucial decision to sell my home so that I might continue the momentum that is required to create a film as unique as its subject." The website has a button where visitors can donate to the project and invites them to share ideas, including casting suggestions for the various historical figures in his original screenplay. "We have a long way to go before our film is financed," he said in a January 2011 note addressed to supporters of the project, "but there has been a weekly increase of donors and this is energizing and exciting news for us all." Kilmer, who was raised as a Christian Scientist in Los Angeles, has told interviewers that in recent years he "opted for a quiet life in New Mexico" after such career-making roles as Batman, Jim Morrison and Doc Holliday. Read More News New Mexico

Kilmer refocuses energy into Mark Twain project