Val Kilmer Talks About The Production of TOMBSTONE and How Kurt Russell Essentially Directed the Movie

One of the legends that revolve around the production of the classic 1993 film Tombstone was that it was really directed by Kurt Russell, even though he was given no official credit. Well, in a recent interview with Val Kilmer, who awesomely played Doc Holliday in the film, he opened up about the film's production and says that "Kurt is solely responsible for Tombstone’s success, no question."

If you don't already know, the film was originally supposed to be directed by late screenwriter Kevin Jarre. He ended up being replaced a month into production because it was an overwhelming task that he just couldn't keep up with and the production fell behind schedule. Jarre was replaced by the late George P. Cosmatos, who was thrust into the middle of a difficult situation and film shoot, and that's where Russell stepped up to the plate and completely took over production.

I'll let Kilmer tell the story from here in a blog post that he wrote up detailing the experience. It's actually a fascinating story worth reading. It's a first-hand account of what went down and how the movie actually ended being so damn good.

I was there every minute and although Kurt’s version differs slightly from mine, the one thing he’s totally correct about is, how hard he worked the day before, for the next day’s shot list, and tremendous effort he and I both put into editing, as the studio wouldn’t give us any extra time to make up for the whole month we lost with the first director.

We lost our first director after a month of shooting and I watched Kurt sacrifice his own role and energy to devote himself as a storyteller, even going so far as to draw up shot lists to help our replacement director, George Cosmatos, who came in with only 2 days prep.

I was very clear and outspoken about what I wanted to do with my role, and actors like Powers Boothe, who we just lost, and Bill Paxton, were always 100% supportive, even in the blistering heat and sometimes as the day would fade, at the possible expense of their own screen time.

Kurt did this for the film virtually every hour.

I would even go up to him and whisper, “Go for another…” meaning another take when I thought he could go further, but in the interest of the schedule, he would pound on. Very Wyatt-like come to think of it.

[Sam] Elliot used to drive all the way out to hell and gone just to watch some of our scenes. So many lead actors took small roles just to rock a great western script.

It’s not often you get to dust the likes of Clint Eastwood at the box-office. He had a film out when we opened and it just couldn’t keep up! Then Kevin Costner had all the dough and distribution money and stars, and couldn’t make a dent in our popularity. (Although I liked Dennis Quaid, and my first girlfriend is also in it which was super weird – Mare Winningham.)

Back to Powers for a moment, such a gracious actor and if you love acting go back and check out his early Emmy winning roles, he’s the real deal.

And Bill Paxton, like a cheerleader for all film, for all Creativity. Always happy like it was his first job. He would have been happy if you had lit him on fire and hung him upside down, as long as there was a camera running. Just like a perfect thespian. ALL THE WAY. SUPPORTIVE. Sweet.

We all miss them both. They were good men. The kind that make you proud of the “craft.”

That’s probably how it’s become a story that Kurt directed it. I have such admiration for Kurt as he basically sacrificed lots of energy that would have gone into his role, to save the film.

Everyone cared, don’t get me wrong, but Kurt put his money where his mouth was, and not a lot of stars extend themselves for the cast and crew. Not like he did.

I’ll say it again, Kurt was responsible for the film’s success.

He and I worked so hard I eventually moved in with him and slept on the sofa when Goldie wasn’t in town, so we could use the extra 20 minutes writing or going over schedule etc. And I got all the best lines and he knew it and still laughed and joked every single day.

Early on he said casually, “Well this is your picture…” 

I didn’t know what he was talking about so like a bozo I made him explain himself. He is very, very articulate when he wants to be. Even I liked me when he was done complimenting my early days of filming…

I love this kind of stuff! Russell is the unsung hero of Tombstone, which is one of my favorite westerns. He's also so damn humble about it. Russell seems like such an incredible guy to work with. Being on the production team of Tombstone must have been a hell of a great experience.