Lang is alluding to the fact that when Tombstone was rushed into production in order to beat Lawrence Kasdan and Kevin Costner’s Wyatt Earp to theaters, it originally had the screenwriter Kevin Jarre attached to direct. A bit of an unsung hero in late 20th century Hollywood, Jarre had previously seen incredible success by penning the WGA-nominated script for Glory (1989). He also had just seen his dream project—an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula—die an ignoble death after Francis Ford Coppola’s own iteration beat Jarre to production.
So getting the chance to helm his other passion project—a grand epic about the simmering animosities and rivalries that erupted between the Earp family and various criminal factions in the Arizona territory in the 1880s—was an opportunity Jarre leapt at. What remains ambiguous is exactly why Jarre’s would-be directorial debut fell apart, but what is clear is that after a month of production (and the film falling significantly behind schedule), producer Andrew Vanja fired Jarre. In the aftermath, Rambo: First Blood Part II director George P. Cosmatos stepped in, and the film went under significant rewrites in Russell’s trailer. In fact, there remains disputed accounts as to whether Russell ghost directed Tombstone (a theory Russell notoriously has remained silent about over the years).
“What we made was a very good film,” Lang says. “It’s a really cool movie. I would never deride the movie and I’m delighted when people call it a classic or their favorite Western, or something like that. But we set out to do other things as well. I don’t mean to be cryptic, it’s just the way it is.”
While Lang also does not comment on the directorial authorship of the film, he does recognize what the film’s leading actors brought into turning a troubled production into a cult favorite.
Says Lang, “We were a very tight group, and I give Kurt tremendous credit for wrapping his arms around that film and refusing to let it die. He did that. Val set a certain tone, and Val and I got along like gangbusters after we got our shit straight. And I loved Val. He’s a tremendous actor, and Kurt still remains to me somebody who I not only feel tremendous friendship and kinship with, but I admire. He knows a tremendous amount about the art and craft of making movies.”
And whoever gets credit for what Tombstone became, it undeniably turned into a movie that’s stood the test of time.
