Tuesday Movie Trivia - Tombstone
CowboySpirit.TV - With a director, George P. Cosmatos, better known for cheesy horror and suspense films, no one had high expectations for the 1993 western Tombstone. However, with an all star cast including Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton, and the one and only Charlton Heston, Tombstone quickly claimed its place as one of the classic western movies. Here are some fun facts and trivia behind the making of this great film.
Tombstone Little Known Facts
Billy Claiborne, a supporting character, is played by the historical Wyatt Earp’s fifth cousin, who is also named Wyatt Earp.
Robert Mitchum, star of many early western movies, was originally to play the part of Old Man Clanton. After a fall from his horse he was not able to continue working, so he narrated the movie instead.
The famed Bird Cage Theater, though it makes an appearance in the movie, did not open until after the shootout at the OK Corral.
In the film Ike Clanton is shown participating in the OK Corral shootout; in the actual event, he ran away without firing a shot.
Tombstone Behind the Scenes Trivia
Although George P. Cosmatos is officially credited as director, most credit for the direction of the film is given to Kurt Russell, who stepped in to keep filming going after the original director was fired.
Many of the lines in the movie, particularly those spoken by Doc Holliday, are historically accurate – either from Doc Holliday’s life or other Old West scenes set down in papers at the time.
Mickey Rourke turned down the role of Johnny Ringo.
Tombstone is the twelfth highest grossing western movie released since 1979.
The movie almost didn’t find a distributor because of Kevin Costner’s efforts to blacklist it. Costner was involved with the original script with Kevin Jarre and made the competing Earp film, Wyatt Earp, after disagreements with Jarre.
Val Kilmer played Doc Holliday in Tombstone, which led to his casting as Batman. Both roles were played decades earlier by Adam West.
Tombstone quickly became a favorite with audiences, impressive considering the lack of support for new western movies in the 1990s. Now that you know these behind the scenes facts, the next time you watch Tombstone remember how hard the actors and crew worked to give us this classic western film!
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