He didn’t want to be remembered as a rock star. He wanted to be remembered as a storyteller.
In 1969, while The Doors were still touring, Jim Morrison began spending more time behind the camera than in front of a mic. Disenchanted with fame and media, he began working on a personal, unconventional film called HWY: An American Pastoral.
Shot on 35mm with his friend Paul Ferrara, the film features Morrison walking alone through the desert, embodying a drifter—a man disconnected from society, hunted by his own thoughts. There’s no plot. No dialogue. Just long, poetic visuals of landscapes and Jim’s vacant stare.
It wasn’t just art. It was confession. Through the lens, Morrison stripped away the myth of the “Lizard King” and showed the truth: a man tired of being worshiped and misunderstood.
After his death in 1971, the film vanished into storage. For decades, only a few fragments were seen—until the early 2000s, when it was partially restored and revealed to fans.
The world knew Jim Morrison as a wild frontman. But in this unfinished film, we see something else—a man slowly fading out, leaving behind only sand, silence, and questions.