RUSSELL SAVED TOMBSTONE
Posted: 101417

1993 marked the release of two films about Wyatt Earp and the events surrounding the gunfight at the OK Corral. One was Wyatt Earp which starred Kevin Costner as the legendary lawman and the other was Tombstone which starred Kurt Russell. Tombstone has always been considered the better film and co-star Val Kilmer recently made it clear that it was so because of Russell. The film was going to have been directed by screenwriter Kevin Jarre but a month into production it was clear he couldn’t do the job. He was replaced by George P. Cosmatos who ended up finishing the film but Kilmer says Russell salvaged what Jarre had done because Cosmatos had only to days to prep and the studio wasn’t going to stand for any delays to the film. Russell came up with the next day’s shot list. He and Kilmer also edited the film once it was done. Kilmer says that Russell, Powers Boothe and Bill Paxton would ask for another take on a long say to get it right even at the expense of their own screen time.