Yet it became a classic.
But then a strange thing started to happen.
People started telling me they really liked Val Kilmers performance inTombstone.
I heard this everywhere I went.
When you hear that once or twice, its interesting.
When you hear it a couple dozen times, its a trend.
How could it when the studio essentially tried to bury it?
Costners talent agency CAA certainly tried to handicapTombstoneby refusing to let any of their clients read theTombstonescreenplay.
In a 2006 interview, Russell recalled, Jarre and Costner were going to do the movie.
Then Costner decided he liked the idea of doing notTombstonebutWyatt Earp, with Kasdan writin it.
And he gave the movie to Kevin with his best wishes.
I got the script from my old [agency] Jarre was with, William Morris.
To do this,Tombstoneneeded to start shooting barely seven months before release.
The one thing that everyone who worked onTombstonepraises is Jarres layered, witty, and morally complex screenplay.
What they are also uniformly circumspect about is his brief and bitter stint at attempting to direct it.
After which time, Disney and Cinergi unceremoniously fired him.
The specifics of why he was let go are trickier.
Andy Vajna and others finally felt that when Kevin was finished, the movie wouldnt work.
He wasnt getting the shots he needed.
More critically for Biehn, Jarres obsessive nature as a writer was not lending itself to collaboration.
Demoralization and dread set in.
Everything else was ordered reshot by a studio that still wanted a Christmas release.
It seemed like anarchy and chaos had returned to the Old West.
This might be news to the folks who watch the movie.
Onscreen George P. Cosmatos is credited as the director in big bold letters.
[Tombstone] was the one time I had gone out and got the money, Russell said.
I dont want to be the guy.
George, I dont want any arguments.
This is what it is.
This is what the job is.
Russell also credited Cosmatos with having an eye for selecting the locations for the films more remote sequences.
In 2017,Kilmer wrote on his own blog, Kurt is solely responsible forTombstones success, no question.
Indeed, the other key change Russell made is rewriting theTombstonescreenplay he originally so admired.
When you see him step off the train, thats it.
And then Doc Holliday fleshes him out…
But it wasnt fun to do that.
It wasnt fun to cut out eight of the reasons you wanted to do the movie.
But he is proud of the movie they rescued from the crisis.
Elliot said in 1993, Initially, the screenplay was one of the best Ive ever read.
If I was given the screenplay as it is now, Id have to pass on it.
And its pretty damn good.
We had a great cast [and] a phenomenal script.
It debuted in third place during the holiday weekend, earning $6.4 million.
Nonetheless, word of mouth slowly got out.
I read this great article in theL.A.
Timesabout the phenomenon ofTombstone, Russell recalled.
The studio was like shocked at what they hadthey didnt know what to do with the movie.
It was out there, and they were like, How are things going withTombstone?
On the same February 94 episode ofAt the Movies, Siskel said, It was well hidden from us.
We were prevented from seeing it, which is unfortunate.
Even in its compromised, fought over, and rushed form, the finished film is widely beloved.
A bit like Wyatt and Doc when you think about it.
