Val Kilmer Talks His Mario Puzo-Like Role In ‘Twixt Now And Sunrise’; Confirms 3D Sequences

Also Reveals He’s Writing Film About Mark Twain & Mary Baker Eddy In Which He May Sing; Says Nic Cage Freakout Vid Is The Funniest Thing On YouTube

Up until now, details on Francis Ford Coppola‘s brewing “Twixt Now And Sunrise” have been very thin. Said to be compared to “the imagery of Hawthorne or Poe,” the film boasts an intriguing ensemble including Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Bruce Dern, Ben Chaplin, Don Novello, David Paymer, Coppola favorite Alden Ehrenreich and Elle Fanning, who’ll play a ghost. In addition, electronic musician Dan Deacon is scoring the film adding another layer of intrigue to the mystery. But we now have a bit more info on the project thanks to Kilmer who recently spoke to Interview in a pretty fascinating read about a variety of topics including a film he’s writing about Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy and the funniest video on YouTube. But first, let’s get to ‘Twixt.’

“I play a writer who’s something like [author] Mario Puzo, or at least how Francis describes Puzo’s experience where he wrote ‘The Godfather‘ while he was waiting for inspiration for his masterpiece,” Kilmer reveals. “My character is a guy who tossed off this book about witches, and it became a big deal, and now he’s known as doing these silly witch books and he’s on hard times now looking for inspiration.”

Coppola has previously noted that the film would feature 3D technology in “a brief dramatic segment that serves the story, rather than the typical two-hour, multiplex gimmick.” Coppola had planned something similar for his aborted sci-fi epic “Megalopolis” which was originally envisioned with a whole act in 3D where “the idea was that the film told the audience when to put the glasses on” so it’s not the first time he’s toyed with the idea. It remains to be seen exactly what’s going to happen, but Kilmer confirms you will be needing those red and blue glasses.

“There’s a couple of dream sequences. What Francis has done is use the 3D sparingly. It only comes a couple of times, so it’s very memorable when there’s an event and you put your glasses on,” Kilmer said. Asked about when the film might see release, Kilmer stated, “It’s a Halloween extravaganza.”

And while Kilmer has had an eclectic mix of films of late starring in everything from “MacGruber” to 50 Cent‘s “Gun” to the recent B-movie gangster pic “Kill The Irishman,” he reveals it’s because he’s trying to raise financing for his own project he’s been developing saying, “The movie I’m writing right now is about Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy.”

“There is a rough-draft script, but to sell a film that’s anywhere around this subject is challenging. I’ve done little incidental jobs to finance the development of this film for about five years, which is why I have such a strange filmography these days, because it’s very, very hard, almost impossible to finance a small film these days, even though it’s a very good time if you call $50 million small. I think that was the budget for ‘The Social Network.’ [It was $40 million.] It’s really very difficult to present a winning proposition to financiers on paper because there’s nobody backing the movies right now.”

It’s actually a pretty intriguing little story. Mark Twain was highly critical of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. Calling her the “queen of frauds and hypocrites,” Twain wrote a highly critical screed against her that Harper’s refused to publish which he believed was due to influence from the organization. His objection to Eddy and Christian Science was borne out of his own upbringing and the experiences his family faced at the hands of supposed faith healers.

Little did we know, but there is actually a trailer for the project which has been sitting on YouTube for a few years now (watch it below) which is pretty astounding and he hopes to line up some big musical talent to help out on the gestating picture and hints that he already has his stars. “…I found some great leads. I haven’t reached out to [songwriter and producer] T. Bone Burnett yet, whom I know, and I was just talking to [electronic musician] Dan Deacon last night about the play and the music and the period, and he’s doing Francis’s music for the film we just did,” Kilmer said about this grand intentions for the project.

So, lots of interesting things on the horizon for Kilmer and we’ll leave you with these couple of tidbits. First, he loves that Nic Cage freakout vid saying, “YouTube is a new experience for me — someone threw a laptop in front of me and showed me Nic Cage going mad, which has got to be the funniest thing on YouTube. He’s so courageous.” Secondly he also reveals that his role in “Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans” was basically made up so he could work on the film with Cage and Werner Herzog. The whole interview is pretty interesting and is definitely worth a few minutes of your time.