Actress Caitlin O’Heaney Says She Was Punched by Val Kilmer During Her Audition for The Doors

Caitlin O’Heaney in Tales of the Gold Monkey. Photo: 2015 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Tales of the Gold Monkey actress Caitlin O’Heaney has broken an NDA to tell Buzzfeed about the time Val Kilmer allegedly punched her during a movie audition. O’Heaney was auditioning for the female lead in Oliver Stone’s The Doors when a scene that was supposed to include a verbal argument suddenly got physical. “When I got to the room and Val Kilmer picked me up and [shook] me, throwing me down to the floor, Stone just stood there the whole time laughing,” O’Heaney says. She filed a police report a month after the incident, and eventually settled with the film’s production company for $24,500, or roughly $49,000 in 2017 — though she says that after legal fees she only took home $8,000.

O’Heaney’s settlement included a confidentiality agreement; she tells Buzzfeed she’s choosing to break it in order to shine a light on how the entertainment industry uses NDAs to prevent women from sharing stories about powerful men. “Women have come together, saying, ‘We’re not going to be fucked by you,’” she says. “I finally have the confidence to speak about this. It’s too long that I’ve sat on this story.”

Norman Oberstein, the lawyer who represented Kilmer and Stone at the time, tells Buzzfeed he disagrees with any attempt to link O’Heaney’s story with those of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, many of whom also signed NDAs. He characterizes the incident as a “workplace [mishap] during the acting-out of a scene,” an interpretation that the film’s casting director, Risa Bramon Garcia, also agrees with. “It was way blown out of proportion,” she says. “I am not somebody who takes this stuff lightly. I can tell the difference between something that’s abusive and a moment that got carried away.”