i want you to hit me as hard as you can. Since the earliest days of Hollywood,
notable figures and incidents of the Old West have been memorably captured in cinema. No list would
be complete without the story of renowned lawman Wyatt Earp and the events surrounding the fabled
gunfight at the O.K. corral and the vendetta ride that followed. The 1993 western Tombstone again
put that story on the screen, giving actor Kurt Russell one of his most iconic performances as
Wyatt Earp, along with Val Kilmer's unforgettable and quotable turn as Doc Holliday. I've not yet
begun to defile myself. While Tombstone is now considered a classic of the genre, the trail
through production was fraught with drama, from rewrites to rushed scheduling to revolving crew.
Strap on your six guns and saddle up as we find out what the [ __ ] happened to this movie!
Westerns were a reliable movie staple from the early days of cinema right through the 1970s,
a decade that featured successes like Clint Eastwood's The Outlaw Josey Wales
and Robert Redford's Jeremiah Johnson. But by the 1980s the western had fallen out of favor
in Hollywood, the repercussions of the infamously expensive dud Heaven's Gate.
There were a few exceptions that rode onto screens during the 1980s, but it was a pair
of high-profile hits in the early 90s that started to breathe some life and confidence back into the
Western genre - Kevin Costner's Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves and Clint Eastwood's Oscar
winner Unforgiven. Around this time screenwriter Kevin Jarre was working on an epic Western of his
own. Jarre had written the Oscar-winning civil war drama Glory and had previously dabbled in
the Old West with the 1988 Kris Kristofferson HBO movie Dead or Alive. He wanted to make a sprawling
authentic Western and spent nearly a year on his first draft. Historical consultant Jeff Morey,
who had assisted Jarre with research, said that his script redefined the western film.
The Tombstone screenplay also made an impression on A-list Hollywood talent,
namely Kevin Costner. But the actor wanted to shift the focus more onto Wyatt Earp rather
than all of the secondary characters that were prominent throughout Jarre's script. So Costner
decided to mosey on, instead choosing to make a competing movie with Lawrence Kasdan, who had
previously directed him in Silverado. The script for Tombstone made its way into the hands of Kurt
Russell, who thought it was phenomenal and wanted to take the lead role, but the project was already
in rocky territory. After a series of hits in the late 80s and the statues he collected for Dances
with Wolves, Kevin Costner was also riding high on the colossal success of the 1992 romantic thriller
The Bodyguard. He had earned a lot of power in Hollywood and he wasn't afraid to wield it, using
that A-list clout to stonewall Tombstone's casting and studio avenues. Tombstone wasn't the beginning
of Kurt Russell's rivalry with Kevin Costner - a few years earlier he had narrowly missed out
on the lead role in Bull Durham, which Costner landed despite Russell's actual experience as a
minor league baseball player. But Kurt Russell's faith in the Kevin Jarre script urged him forward.
He navigated the Hollywood politics as best he could and approached Andy Vajna for financing.
Vajna, who had produced the Rambo movies and Total Recall, agreed to a 25 million dollar budget
through his Synergy pictures with Kevin Jarre getting the opportunity to make his directing
debut off the brilliance of his screenplay. Thanks to Costner's heightened influence in Hollywood,
Tombstone had been left with a single option for release - Buena Vista, a subsidiary of Disney.
That wasn't a big concern for Russell, who had established his acting career at the Mouse House.
The casting process had gathered Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton for Wyatt's brothers Virgil
and Morgan, with Powers Boothe and Michael Biehn as Curly Bill Brocius and Johnny Ringo,
leaders of the cattle rustling outlaws known as the Cowboys.
Joining the Earps would be gambler and gunslinger Doc Holliday, played by Willem Dafoe. Wait,
what? Yes, Kevin Jarre had wanted Willem Dafoe to be your huckleberry, but Disney shot down
that casting and insisted on a different actor. Andy Vajna and Russell briefly considered having
Kurt play Doc Holliday and bringing in Richard Gere for Wyatt, but ultimately they decided on
the studio's suggestion of Val Kilmer. While Dafoe as Holliday is interesting to imagine, it's now
virtually impossible to separate Kilmer from the role. I'm your huckleberry, that's just my game.
One of Jarre's inspirations when writing the script was to create a significant role for actor
Lisa Zane, with whom he was romantically involved at the time and considered his muse. The pivotal
role of traveling performer Josephine Marcus was written with Zane in mind, but instead the part
went to Dana Delaney, who had a higher profile at the time after starring in the hit TV series
China Beach. Ironically the part of Josephine's stage colleague went to Lisa Zane's brother
Billy. The cast was filled out with other familiar faces - Stephen Lang, Michael Rooker, John Tenney,
Robert John Burke, look it's Jason Priestley, John Corbett, Thomas Hayden Church, Dana Wheeler
Nicholson, hey there's Billy Bob Thornton, Terry O'Quinn, Harry Carey Jr, Paul Ben Victor, and you
guessed it, Frank Stallone. Even screen veteran Charlton Heston makes an appearance. We would have
also seen Robert Mitchum as part of the Clanton family if he hadn't suffered a horse riding injury
as filming began, but the actor was still able to provide narration. Tombstone began filming in
may of 1993 in Arizona, not all that far from the original town, and it was under the gun right from
the start. Disney wanted Tombstone in theaters that Christmas, which put additional pressure
on the movie's first time director. Kevin Jarre was detail-oriented and dedicated to properly
depicting the authenticity of the period, even demanding the actors grow their own impressive
facial hair - only John Tenney wore fake fuzz as he was just coming off a previous acting job. And
the actors were clad in period-appropriate wool, despite the brutal desert temperatures. Jarre also
wanted to see the title location as a cosmopolitan boomtown. Production designer Catherine Hardwicke,
who would go on to direct movies like 13 and Twilight, was instructed to avoid the sepia tones
of traditional westerns in favor of more rich and lively colors that were still period accurate.
Have you seen how everyone dresses, awful toney for a mining camp. But still the specter of Kevin
Costner loomed over the production. During prep costume designer Joseph Porro had discovered that
Costner's Wyatt Earp film had already snapped up most of the appropriate western wardrobe in
Hollywood and Walter Hill's Geronimo an American Legend had basically claimed the rest. Scrambling
to meet Jarre's high expectations, Porro connected with Caravan West Productions, a group of old west
enthusiasts and consultants who had outfits so authentic that their wardrobe could serve as
models for Porro to fabricate costumes. Caravan West founder Peter Sherayko even appears in the
movie as Texas Jack Vermillion, and his buckaroos acted as extras using all their own gear.
While Kevin Jarre was a talented screenwriter with a script that was universally praised,
it was immediately apparent to the cast and crew that his skills did not translate to directing.
Jarre's unwavering commitment to his vision led to a rigid posture of my way or the highway, which
unfortunately meant that he wasn't particularly interested in collaborating with his cast his
department heads or his producers. The continued rejection of input from his actors and his
cinematographer was souring the atmosphere on the set. Although influenced by the work of John Ford,
Jarre's visual style left something to be desired. He was taking an old-fashioned approach with his
camera, shooting scenes with a leisurely pace and from a considerable distance. The lack of
close-ups and alternate footage for editing led to concerns with an already apprehensive money man.
The general feeling was that Jarre wasn't effectively capturing his script's energy
or providing the footage that would be necessary for a commercial modern film.
It became increasingly clear that the first time director wasn't adjusting his stance or listening
to advice. He even rejected assistance from filmmaker John Milius, his friend and mentor.
After four weeks of shooting, Kevin Jarre was unceremoniously dismissed from Tombstone.
But the studio wasn't budging from their planned Christmas release date. Die Hard
director John Mctiernan was also considered but wanted a two-week shutdown to prepare.
With only a couple of days notice, director George P Cosmatos was brought in to take over the
production. Cosmatos was considered a shooter who had previously worked on Rambo First Blood Part 2
and Cobra. His explicit instructions were to complete Tombstone on schedule. Working with
Kilmer and producer Jim Jacks, Russell slashed pages from the script to meet the deadline.
While he reduced his own presence, many additional nuance moments with the Cowboys also disappeared.
Gone was an entire early sequence where Billy Clanton steals Wyatt Earp's horse,
which unexpectedly leads to Wyatt entering a truce with Curly Bill and the Cowboys.
Also among the casualties was a scene that Jarre had filmed himself where Johnny Ringo
confronts Charlton Heston's rancher while he's protecting the ailing Doc Holliday.
Other scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor included additional moments between Wyatt
and Maddie and Doc Holliday and Kate along with the fate of Michael Rooker's character.
The cast who had gravitated to Jarre's original masterwork weren't entirely pleased with the
aggressive rewrites and the movie's newly centered focus on the relationship between Wyatt and Doc.
Sam Elliott felt that the edits removed vital connective tissue and character development
and said that if he had initially been presented with that final version of the script he would
have passed on it. On set the replacement director's behavior was allegedly crass, abusive
and volatile. Crew members left in droves or were fired outright by Cosmatos. Oscar-nominated
cinematographer William Fraker, who had worked on everything from Rosemary's Baby to Wargames,
clashed constantly with his new director, even quitting the production on three separate
occasions before eventually completing the film. One heated altercation between Fraker
and Cosmatos reportedly involved them plowing their golf carts into each other. The actors
didn't seem to be big fans either. Michael Biehn recently claimed that his only interactions with
Cosmatos were an initial hello and later told him to [ __ ] off. In his memoir, unsurprisingly
titled I'm Your Huckleberry, Val Kilmer bluntly describes the overall situation as an unholy mess.
But despite Cosmatos' uncivil personality and approach he did get the movie finished. Kurt
Russell, who had championed the project from the start, would act as a unifying force for
the actors through the remainder of the shoot, earning their trust at the expense of his own
screen time. After 88 days of shooting and a couple extra million dollars on the budget,
principal photography on Tombstone wrapped at the end of August 1993. It would be many years
after the movie's release that Russell revealed the extent of his efforts to complete Tombstone.
In a 2006 interview with True West magazine he admitted that he had unofficially taken control
of the movie, dictating each day's shot list to Cosmatos and secretly steering the director during
filming. As Russell puts it, George and I had sign language going on. Cosmados had been suggested to
the actor by his Tango and Cash co-star Sylvester Stallone, who apparently had a similar arrangement
with the director on First Blood Part 2 and Cobra. Thanks to their talent and experience,
the on-screen cast actually needed little direction from Cosmatos and were driven by
their belief in the project and the leadership of Russell. And the actor was stretching himself thin
wearing numerous hats besides the flat brimmed stetson of Wyatt, sleeping an average of four
hours each night. Russell says that getting the movie finished was the hardest work of his life.
Most of what Kevin Jarre filmed in his four weeks did not make the final cut. For Jarre,
Tombstone wouldn't be his first major Hollywood disappointment or his last. Before losing his
grip on Wyatt Earp, Jarre's Dracula project got a stake through its heart when Francis Ford Coppola
announced his own version of the mythical vampire in the early 90s. Then his script for the 1997
crime thriller The Devil's Own was essentially obliterated during a troubled production.
Jarre's final screen credit appears on the Stephen Sommers 1999 horror adventure The Mummy. He
passed away in 2011. Although altered in style and truncated in scope from his original vision, Kevin
Jarre's love letter to the old west did ultimately make it to screens, opening against popular movies
like Mrs. Doubtfire and The Pelican Brief. The R-rated Tombstone was met with decent reviews and
box office over the holidays, eventually riding into the sunset with 56 million dollars before
becoming a favorite on home video. As for Kevin Costner's ostensible competitor, Wyatt Earp opened
the following summer in June of 1994 with a PG-13 rating, a runtime an hour longer than Tombstone
and a cost of 63 million dollars. It was left in the dust with 25 million at the box office. Well
Bye. While Kurt Russell had clearly won the showdown of dueling Earps,
neither actors seemed to hold a grudge, appearing together a few years later in the 2001 crime movie
3000 Miles to Graceland. Even with all its problems and conflicts behind the scenes,
the popularity of Tombstone has only grown in the years since its release,
a testament to the enduring appeal of its fantastic cast and memorable scenes. Hell's
coming with me! Accounts of the chaotic production may vary but most agree that the movie's star
deserves plenty of credit. As Val Kilmer stated on a 2017 blog post, I'll be clear. Kurt is
solely responsible for Tombstone's success, no question. Kurt Russell, we tip our hat to you.