He was an action star behind the scenes of one of the best Westerns of the 90s

Kurt Russell’s involvement in Tombstone, beyond his role as Wyatt Earp, is one of Hollywood’s greatest myths. It all started with the producer struggling from the start because of a competing project with the same main character and armed with a much bigger budget: Lawrence Kasdan’s Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner. The situation worsened when director Kevin Jarry was suspended from filming for a month. George Pan Cosmatos was then hired to replace him shortly after, but rumor has it that Kurt Russell who ended up making the film without this credit.

George Pan Cosmatos Then coming off a string of flops in theaters, he couldn’t match the triumph of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo II. The feature film now in his hands included a 5-star cast: the duo Kurt Russell (Wyatt Earp) and Val Kilmer (Doc Holliday), Michael Biehn, Billy Zane, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Michael Rooker, Billy Bob Thornton, Charlton Heston and Stephen Lang.

Kurt Russell at the helm?

Many have asked over the years Kurt Russell On the subject, however, the actor has always beaten around the bush, sometimes admitting that he played a special role in the film’s production, and sometimes vaguely denying the question. In 2023, Rolling Stone asked the main stakeholder how involved he really was in the film’s production, and the legendary star’s response was ambiguous and transparent, as he reiterated his previous comments and refused to expand on the speculation publicly. But he added that the film would not exist without his intervention.

“The tombstone will always remain a mystery. I promised someone that I would not talk about these things in public. In the end, I’m very happy that the film did so well. It had a fantastic cast and a writer who, in my opinion, wrote some of the best Western dialogue of all time. And I can still see it moving up in the “best western” conversation. I will say this: If it wasn’t for me, Tombstone wouldn’t exist..”

In an earlier 2006 interview with the True West website, Kurt Russell He admitted that he was asked to direct the film after his dismissal Kevin Jarry. “J– I told Giorgi, – every evening I will give you a list of plans and this is how we will implement it. I went up to Giorgi’s room, gave him a list of plans for the next day, that was it.” He also noted that he called Sylvester Stallone to help without giving more details.

And that’s all the actor has said publicly about the potential role of the film’s director, who promised Pan Cosmatos that “For the life of him, he would never say anything about this behind-the-scenes arrangement.”

What does Val Kilmer think?

in turn Val Kilmer also discussed the topic on his personal blog in 2017 (via The Wrap ), where he praised Russell’s commitment to the project, but said it was a good George Pan CosmatosAfter the death of the person who directed the film, although the work of his colleague behind the scenes made the film possible, the one who is “Only responsible“His success.

“I will be clear– began Kilmer, –Kurt is solely responsible for Tombstone’s success, no doubt. I was there every minute and although Kurt’s version is slightly different than mine. The only thing he’s absolutely right about is that he worked hard on the second day’s shot list and put a lot of effort into editing, because the studio didn’t give us extra time to fix everything, we lost a month with the first director.“

He continued: “I watched as Curt sacrificed his own role and energy to devote himself to his role as narrator, even drawing up shot lists to help our substitute director.”

Kilmer noted how many of his stars have died Powers Booth and Bill Paxton It was also great support during such a difficult shoot, before adding that “Kurt did this almost every hour for the movie.“

“Maybe that’s why it became such a big deal that Kurt made it. I’m so impressed with Kurt because he sacrificed so much energy that should have gone into his role to save the film. Everyone was wondering, don’t get me wrong, but Kurt finished his speech and some stars came out for the cast and crew. Not like him… Kurt was responsible for the success of the film.“

He concluded: “That’s it, you know everything. Russell did not direct the film, but he did practically everything to make the film, including directing the film himself. The question is answered…unless Russell intervenes, of course.“

To this day, the 1993 western is considered not only one of the best of the genre, but also one of the best films of the late 20th century. Earning just over $56 million at the box office against a budget of $25 million, the film outperformed even its competition. Wyatt Earp carried out by Kevin CostnerLess difficult and less successful than its competitor, which only collected 25 million with 2.5 times the budget.

You can watch Tombstone again on Disney+.