1993’s Tombstone might be loved by fans – but Kurt Russell admits he’s still got a problem or two with it. As popular as 1993’s Tombstone movie is, the ensemble western – headlined by Kurt Russell – has always had a bit of a film story behind it. Famously made fast to try and beat ... Tombstone | Kurt Russell on his regrets about the film
1993’s Tombstone might be loved by fans – but Kurt Russell admits he’s still got a problem or two with it.
As popular as 1993’s Tombstone movie is, the ensemble western – headlined by Kurt Russell – has always had a bit of a film story behind it. Famously made fast to try and beat Lawrence Kasdan’s similar-sounding Wyatt Earp movie to the big screen, Tombstone bore some of the scars of its breakneck production. Not least the firing of its screenwriter, Kevin Jarre, as the director of the movie.
Jarre started the shoot, but was replaced by George P Cosmatos during production. However, the rumour persisted that the actual director of the film was its star, Kurt Russell. And while Russell had always steadfastly sidestepped the question, in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he’s come the closest to breaking ranks on it all than I can ever remember.
He was asked about the film, and admitted that “the movie is not as good as the screenplay” and that “I’ll never make peace with that.”
Kevin Jarre passed in 2011, and there’s always been a sense, from the outside looking in, that Russell doesn’t want to be disloyal to him or his memory. Even in his new quotes, he’s tip-toeing a little, and understandably so.
“It could have been way better”, he says of Tombstone. “It’s considered one of the great westerns, right? It could have been considered one of the great movies. It had a great cast, but it had fabulous writing. And for a lot of different reasons, the money got burned through, and the director thing didn’t work out. So we had to go about it differently, and we got what we made.”
He concluded that “the impact of Tombstone is very strong, and that’s nice. That’s great. But could it have been a lot better? Yes.”
That great cast, alongside Kurt Russell, included Val Kilmer in one of his most loved roles. Plus people like Michael Biehn, Powers Boothe, Sam Elliott and his amazing facial hair, Stephen lang, Bill Paxton and Charlton Heston. I remember the UK trailer just listing some of the cast, and thinking blimey.
Tombstone was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for the first time over the last year or so, and you can find that release here. And we dug into the production story in a Film Stories podcast episode, here.
