Kurt Russell’s Tombstone Decision Made Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday A Western Icon

Val Kilmer’s performance as Doc Holliday in the iconic Western classic Tombstone is one of the most celebrated in the entire Western genre, but it was only possible thanks to a pivotal change that Kurt Russell made to the movie’s narrative. Tombstone is a rousing, dramatized version of the events surrounding the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous events in the history of the Old West. Most of the characters in Tombstone, including Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, have real-world inspirations, even if the on-screen personalities don’t necessarily line up with what little history is known.

The ensemble cast includes Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, and a host of other famous faces in a dramatic retelling of the real-world events that preceded and followed the infamous gunfight. Tombstone is loaded with iconic scenes and memorable lines, but the ones that resurface most often are Doc Holliday’s one-liners. Val Kilmer has received well-earned acclaim for his swaggering, arrogant portrayal of the Old West gambler and gunslinger, but his iconic portrayal would never have been possible if not for a key character change from his costar, Kurt Russell.

After Tombstone’s Original Director Quit, Kurt Russell Cut A Lot Of His Character’s Backstory

The Movie Was Originally Screenwriter Kevin Jarre’s Directorial Debut

In the years since its release, the countless issues with the behind-the-scenes production of Tombstone have become well-known. Many stemmed from the original director, Kevin Jarre, who was making his directorial debut and found himself woefully outmatched by the demands of the job. Jarre was fired, and action director George P. Cosmatos was brought in to replace him. However, it’s now widely accepted that Cosmatos was hired to essentially “ghost-direct”, and it was Kurt Russell who truly directed Tombstone.

As Russell himself put it in an interview with True West magazine:

Kevin would never lose the 20 pages. He would never lose it. So once he was gone, there’s only one way I’m going to get the trust of these actors and that is to cut myself out of this goddamn movie and make some changes…

Once he was given free rein to do so, Russell significantly cut down the focus on his own character, Wyatt Earp. While Kevin Costner’s biopic Wyatt Earp (which released just a few months later) focused solely on the famous lawman’s life, Tombstone spent more time focused on the many players involved with the Cowboys gang, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the Earp Vendetta Ride that followed it. As a result of Russell’s more limited role, the rest of the characters were allowed to breathe more, and the movie resulted in many now-famous character portrayals.

Wyatt Earp’s Smaller Role Allowed Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday Performance To Shine Through

The Focus Shifted To Holliday And Earp’s Friendship

While the rest of the cast certainly benefited from Russell’s diminished role, no character did so more than Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday. While the real Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp were indeed friends, there isn’t enough concrete evidence to know for sure what their relationship was like. Russell and Kilmer filled in the blanks by painting the men as two very different sides of the same coin; while Russell portrayed Earp as a long-time lawman seeking to escape the pressures of meting out justice, Kilmer played Holliday as a drunk and a rogue who longed to be something better.

For every stone-cold Doc Holliday line like “I’m your huckleberry,” there is an equally tender moment between the two men, like when Wyatt gives Doc his badge as the men ride off to what they believe to be their respective dooms. Russell choosing to focus on both men as opposed to just Earp gave Kilmer so much more room to work with the character, and the result was the suave, magnetic performance that audiences know and love. It’s a huge part of what makes Tombstone an all-time great Western, and it’s entirely thanks to Russell minimizing his own role.

Source: True West

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Tombstone

8/10

Release Date

December 25, 1993

Runtime

130 minutes

Director

George P. Cosmatos, Kevin Jarre

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