Movie star Val Kilmer insists two terrible lies have given him a terrible reputation as a raging eccentric.

The 45-year-old actor still resents the separate incidents that have dogged his career because they've given him a difficult reputation as an awkward actor.

The first came when a meddling assistant instructed the cast and crew of The Doors, in which Kilmer portrayed rock legend Jim Morrison, not to make eye contact with the star and to refer to him as 'Jim' at all times.

The assistant then told everyone on the set the instructions came direct from Kilmer.

The actor says, "One day the crew was very friendly and the next day they'd gone quiet. I asked OLIVER (STONE - director) what happened. He said, 'Well, that letter you wrote is crazy...'

"The production manager had Xeroxed it and put it up everywhere. I had to go around to the entire crew... and apologise to them."

But the worst lie came when movie mogul Joel Schumacher took a dislike to Kilmer on the set of Batman Forever, dubbing him 'Psycho Kilmer'.

The actor, who admits he was "hurt" by the director's comments, says, "He said one day I would go crazy and I'd be living in a trailer park and I would spray it with machine guns. He says really horrible things. He's a silly old man."