According to Bebe Buell, the first choice to portray Jim Morrison in director Oliver Stone's 1991 movie, The Doors was not Val Kilmer.
Appearing on the Totally 80s podcast, the mother of actress Liv Tyler from her relationship with Steven Tyler, says her former manager, the late Danny Sugerman, who also managed The Doors, wanted John Travolta.
“I actually saw him come over to Danny’s house, kind of Jim Morrison-y, and he stood up on Danny’s table. And when he sang, it was mind-blowing. He channeled him. I guess that’s what a great actor can do. He channeled him like nothing I’d ever seen. It wasn’t as wacky as it sounds.”
But, in the end, it was Val Kilmer who portrayed the "Lizard King," which was at least one thing Doors guitarist Robby Krieger found positive about the film.