Tombstone remains remembered as one of the best modern-day Western movies, although it remains more of a crowd-pleaser than a serious genre effort. Released in 1993, the movie is one of two films about Wyatt Earp that came out within a year of each other, with Kevin Costner’s more serious Western hitting theaters the following year. In Tombstone, Kurt Russell stars as Wyatt Earp, and the story follows him arriving in Tombstone, Arizona, with his brothers, planning to retire but getting sucked into a dangerous situation with a group of outlaws known as the Cowboys.

The behind-the-scenes stories surrounding the making of Tombstone make it surprising that the film remains as beloved as it is today. When talking about the movie, star Val Kilmer, who played the quotable Doc Holiday, commented that Kurt Russell was the reason the movie was so successful amidst turmoil surrounding the film’s director changes. Some fans believed Kilmer hinted that Russell was directing and starring in the film. However, Michael Biehn, who played the villain Johnny Ringo, said that was untrue.

Tombstone Had A Huge Director Turnover That Almost Ruined The Movie

The Movie Fired Its First Director & The Second Struggled To Make It

Michael Biehn appeared on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside Of You podcast, and the two actors discussed Tombstone. The two began discussing something the late Val Kilmer talked about regarding the Western movie. Kilmer spoke about the changes in directors after the studio fired the original director. The studio hired George P. Cosmatos to come in with only two days of prep and take over as director after they fired screenwriter Kevin Jarre, who had sH๏τ five weeks’ worth of footage that ended up trashed.

With Kevin Jarre gone and George P. Cosmatos having no time to get his footing, Val Kilmer said Kurt Russell did work behind the scenes. “I watched Kurt sacrifice his own role and energy to devote himself as a storyteller, even going so far as to draw up sH๏τ lists to help our replacement director, George Cosmatos,” Kilmer said (via THR). “I have such admiration for Kurt as he basically sacrificed lots of energy that would have gone into his role to save the film.“

However, according to Michael Biehn, Kurt Russell did nothing in the role as a director, although he did a lot to ensure the movie was finished and ended up as great as it did.

“[Tombstone] was directed by kind of a committee. We talked about George Cosmatos, who came in to replace Kevin Jarre, who shoots five weeks, and they throw all that stuff away. George Cosmatos takes over, and he’s kind of a visual guy.. We shoot for another six weeks and then they go into post… It was edited by a good editor.”

Michael Biehn Explains How Kurt Russell Held The Movie Together

Michael Biehn Says Kurt Russell Kept Everyone On The Same Page

Michael Beihn sH๏τ down the idea that Kurt Russell helped direct the film. He also said that Russell had nothing to do with editing the film, which Kilmer also claimed. According to Biehn, Russell was already shooting his next movie, Stargate, during Tombstone’s editing process. However, Biehn said that Russell did push hard to keep everyone on the same page and had a big role in what was kept from the original script. He also claimed Cosmotos had almost nothing to do with directing the movie besides the visual touches.

“Kurt Russell was responsible for getting the movie off the ground. I never would have played Johnny Ringo if it wasn’t for Kurt Russell… It was a great script. Everybody had a hand in it… According to Val Kilmer, it was Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell who edited what scenes were going to be in the movie and what scenes weren’t going to be in the movie.”

Biehn wasn’t finished there. He went on to say that “George Cosmatos was an idiot. [He] was brought in, and nobody really liked him. This is the truth.” According to Biehn, the director never spoke to him during filming. Biehn was also unforgiving, saying Cosmatos treated people he worked with horribly. According to Biehn, after he saw how Cosmatos acted, the director called him over, and the actor said, “‘Go f**k yourself.’ Those were the only five words I ever said to him on set.”

While the original script, which would have ended up as a two-and-a-half-hour movie, was praised as a great Western, what resulted was still a triumph, although as a more mainstream Hollywood presentation. The film ended up a mᴀssive success despite the uncertainty of the director’s position. It grossed $73.2 million on a $25 million budget and has an extremely high 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with Tombstone now considered a cult classic.

Sources: Inside of You, THR