Doors will be reopened in new PBS American Masters film

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PASADENA, Calif. -- Closing in on 40 years since Jim Morrison's death, the one and only drummer of The Doors still looks and dresses the part.

John Densmore, now 65, wore his shoulder length silver hair in a ponytail and had a black and white cape draped over his shoulders.

"You guys have asked some pretty good questions. So groovy," he said at the close of a Wednesday afternoon interview session tied to When You're Strange: A Film About the Doors. Narrated by Johnny Depp and presented under PBS' prestige American Masters banner, the Tom DiCillo film makes its television debut on May 26. An earlier version was shown at last year's Sundance Film Festival, with DiCillo instead of Depp narrating.

"He (Depp) made one astounding change in the script," said When You're Strange producer Dick Wolf, better known for his trio of Law & Order series on NBC.

Actually, it wasn't that astounding. Depp simply used the band members' first names throughout instead of their last names. But Wolf seemed to think this was a master artistic stroke. The film also contains a wealth of little-seen footage of the band, some of it from the short film HWY: An American Pastoral, made in 1969 with Morrison as "The Hitchhiker."

Morrison shockingly died in Paris at age 27 on July 3, 1971. Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger and keyboardist Ray Manzarek all continue to out-live him.

"Creativity sometimes comes in the same package with self-destruction. It doesn't have to," Densmore said, referring to Morrison's storied self-abuse in The Doors' later years.

Densmore wasn't overly talkative, but did provide several tasty observations and anecdotes to snack on.

"When we played the (Hollywood) Bowl, Harrison Ford was a grip on our crew," he interjected at one point.

Densmore also noted that Morrison "couldn't play one chord on any instrument . . . We eked it all out together."

He's a fan of Oliver Stone's 1991 film The Doors and an even bigger booster of Val Kilmer's performance as Morrison.

"Val Kilmer should have been nominated (for an Oscar)," Densmore said. "I mean, he gave me the creeps on the set, he was so Morris-like."

The band tried to carry on post-Morrison, but without its lead singer everything seemed empty if not out of tune.

"We made two albums after Jim died," Densmore said. "And we realized, 'What are we doin' here?' "

The surviving Doors have tried to keep the faith by not overly cashing in on opportunities to endorse products with their music. They've especially tried to hold the line on car ads.

At the height of the band's powers, "Jim blew up when we considered doing a commercial," Densmore said. All these years later, he still wants to "honor my ancestor."

Densmore said he's seen When You're Strange "a zillion times." What he likes best about it is something that Stone's film didn't touch much on.

"There's some humor in there and lightness, and that pleases me," he said. "He (Morrison) was a blast when he was younger."

Densmore now plays in a band called tribaljazz. And he doesn't hear many echoes of The Doors among current groups.

"You can certainly hear a bit of us in U2," he said. "Not many others, though."