Robby Krieger Opens Doors to the Past : Film: The former Doors guitarist is helping oversee an Oliver Stone film about the turbulent times of the ‘60s band. He will also perform tonight with Eric Burdon in San Juan Capistrano.

When people speak of the Doors’ “Light My Fire,”it’s not uncommon for phrases such as “Jim Morrison’s poetic genius” to come up. That leaves former Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, who actually wrote the ‘60s classic, feeling just a bit underappreciated.

“I don’t mind it so much, just so long as people don’t think Jose Feliciano wrote ‘Light My Fire,’ ” Krieger said, laughing, by phone from a Beverly Hills recording studio recently. “You get a guy like Morrison and everybody’s going to think he was the whole band. And he was great; he was amazing. But he would never have made it without us.”

Krieger had just spent the morning performing a set of Doors songs before a video camera that was trained on his hands. The tape will provide a guide for actor Frank Whalley, who will be playing Krieger in Oliver Stone’s film of the Doors’ turbulent times. Set to begin production this month, the as-yet-untitled film is being made with the cooperation of Krieger and former band mates Ray Manzarek and John Densmore.

When not helping to oversee the ‘60s authenticity of Stone’s film, Krieger has been teaming up with another heady holdover from that decade, singer Eric Burdon. The pair will perform with Burdon’s band tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and at Bogart’s in Long Beach on Sunday.

Krieger says making music with the British invasion-era Animals’ shouter is a logical step for him.

“When we were first forming the Doors, the Animals were sort of a model for us,” he said. “They had a similar instrumentation, with the organ, guitar and a great voice. I always thought that if our songs were like anybody’s, they were like the Animals’.”

Though Krieger had not met with Burdon much in the ‘60s, “Eric hung out with Jim quite a bit. They did some heavy partying, which Eric has some funny stories about.” Krieger and Burdon hooked up last fall to perform at a bikers’ charity event for muscular dystrophy.

“I think playing together works out great for both of us,” Krieger said, “For me, it’s great to be playing with a singer again. When I do my own shows, it’s mostly instrumental. I love playing with a singer, especially a great singer. It’s fun to just be a guitar player and not worry about being a front man. And he doesn’t mind doing a couple of Doors songs, which I think is great (among the Animal-trained song selection, recent shows have featured ‘Roadhouse Blues’ and ‘Back Door Man’). I’m real knocked out that he’s willing to do that.”

There was a time when Krieger felt differently about his legacy.

“It used to bother me. It seemed to me like ‘People don’t care what I’m doing now, they just want to hear the old Doors songs.’ But after realizing how really big the Doors are and were, and the importance of it all, I see it more as an honor to have been involved with it all. If I have to play Doors songs for the rest of my life, there could be worse fates. And when I do them now, I jazz them up and have fun with them.”

Signed to I.R.S. Records, he has issued two all-instrumental albums and appeared on the similarly mum “Night of the Guitar--Live!” and “Guitar Speak” compilations. On all, he has continued to build on the jazz, blues and flamenco influences that gave his Doors work such a distinctive touch.

Most recently, though, he’s been “totally involved” in seeing the Doors movie to the screen, working both from enthusiasm and from an apprehension of how the picture might turn out if he and the other ex-Doors don’t keep a hand in it.

“I have always been concerned about it,” he said, “In fact, I’ve been against this movie since a long time ago. But we were thinking if we don’t do it, somebody will. That we got Oliver Stone is a great relief to me. I can’t see him making a bad movie.”

To help ensure the outcome, Krieger, Manzarek and Densmore have been going over the script with Stone, to maintain a degree of authenticity amid a medium which, Krieger said, “does blow things out of proportion, in order to make up for the two-dimensional screen.” They have been working with their acting counterparts to help their musical finger-work look more authentic. The three also have been contributing to the soundtrack.

“We’ve been recording some stuff for various scenes where they aren’t using the recorded versions of our songs, for instance, scenes when a song is being rehearsed,” Krieger said. “It can’t sound like the finished product, so we’re figuring, ‘Well, what would “Break On Through” sound like if it was halfway into rehearsal?’ ”

Val Kilmer, who will play Morrison, has been doing some of his own vocals, and Krieger maintains, “You’re not going to believe it. He’s incredible, the way he sings.”

Krieger thinks the Doors continue to be a cultural force nearly two decades after Morrison’s death because, “For some reasons, whether it’s the songs themselves or the way we did them, I think that the honesty of the band comes through in the sound. With so many groups you can see that they’re doing an act. It’s a show. For some reason you can tell when you hear the Doors that it’s not a show: We were really feeling what we were playing.”

The still-substantial royalties generated by the Doors catalogue allows Krieger to follow his muse without the compromises forced by the financial woes that dog most musicians. Among the projects that interest him are doing film scores and continuing his collaboration with Burdon. The pair are discussing recording a blues album later this year.

There is also a less splendid side to being an ex-Door, namely the fanatical or genuinely addled types who hound their culture heroes.

“There are a couple around. I try not to let it bother me. But one time I was driving down the street and came to a stop sign, and this guy comes running up to the car, ‘Hey, Robby Krieger?’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘Hey man, you and I have to take acid together and die . Right now.’ He started coming around to the other side of the car, and I took off .”

Eric Burdon and Robby Krieger play tonight at 8 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $17.50. Information: (714) 496-8930.