Kurt Russell’s 1993 Western Tombstone is widely regarded as one of the actor’s greatest accomplishments, but most may not be aware that Russell was actually involved in the direction of the film – not just the acting. The story follows Russell’s character Wyatt, who moves to Arizona in order to escape the outlaws that are constantly terrorizing him; once he arrives there, he runs into a group of cowboys and gets roped into a scheme to bring order back to the town. The result is one of Kurt Russell’s best Westerns, and a fascinating insight into the Wild West.
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios, Tombstone was a huge success both for Russell’s career and the survival of the Western genre through the ‘90s. Before movies like Tombstone and Unforgiven, audiences would have been forgiven for believing that the Western was a dying art in Hollywood – but these projects managed to give it a final boost of life before the turn of the Century. And Russell was even more involved in this feat than the film’s credits would have known.
Kurt Russell Helped Direct Tombstone After The Original Filmmaker Was Fired
The Production Process Was Very Messy
While it wasn’t common knowledge at the time, the behind-the-scenes production of Tombstone was an incredibly turbulent one. Kurt Russell revealed in an interview with True West Magazine that not only was the original director (Kevin Jarre) fired before shooting began, but also that he stepped in to direct the film under another filmmaker’s name. “I backed the director; the director got fired, so we brought in a guy to be a ghost director,” he admitted. The “other guy” in question was George P. Cosmatos, the filmmaker best known for directing Rambo: First Blood Part II.
However, the Rambo sequel actually went through a very similar process, as Russell recounts: “I got [Cosmatos] from [Sylvester] Stallone—called up Sly, said I need a guy. Sly did the same thing with Rambo 2 with George. And I said to George, “While you’re alive George, I won’t say a goddamn thing.” Thus, Russell managed to save Tombstone from disaster by stepping in and commanding the directing process, alongside starring in the lead role and helping out behind the scenes with production.
Kurt Russell Didn’t Want To Be “The Guy” Who Directed Tombstone
He Didn’t Need Any Of The Credit
Despite his active involvement in Tombs tone, Russell didn’t want his name attached to the director’s credit. “I don’t want to be the guy,” he recounts saying to the producers of the film when asked to take over. The actor was happy to help in any way to make the film as good as it could be, but he didn’t want to be seen as the auteur behind the entire project. Ultimately, the idea was somebody else’s and he didn’t want to be seen as having stolen it from them.
Maintaining his superstar persona is something that the actor has always been exceptionally good at, with the number of quality Kurt Russell action movies in the 1980s and 1990s being evidence of that. He’s always been very careful with the projects that he chooses, and would have been entirely aware of the image that would have been created if he’d officially taken the role of director here. There may have been rumors about Cosmatos’ involvement or questions about Russell’s future directing career – it seems that not being “the guy” was the smart choice.
How Kurt Russell Helped Save Tombstone
Directing Wasn’t An Easy Task
Ultimately, stepping into the director’s shoes and adopting a much larger role in the film’s production was Russell’s way of saving Tombstone from certain failure. The film ended up being a massive success, boosting the actor’s career forward and giving him a whole new credibility within the industry. Tombstone has some of the coolest moments in Russell’s entire career, and that’s likely because it was a passion project that he was heavily involved with. His enjoyment and admiration of this film is tangible on-screen, so there was nobody better to save the day.
Russell claims that he provided Cosmatos with the next day’s shots every single night, giving him specific instructions on how the film should look and how they were going to achieve it.
But that doesn’t mean his job was easy. Russell recounts that, “Tombstone was so tough, you know what I mean? It was just so painful; it was hard physically to do—I got four hours sleep every night. And I’m so happy that we got it made.” While he admits that he wasn’t involved in the editing process, Russell claims that he provided Cosmatos with the next day’s shots every single night, giving him specific instructions on how the film should look and how they were going to achieve it. Without this, Tombstone wouldn’t have had anywhere near as much heart.