The battle against a rival studio Kurt Russell refused to lose: “I’m going to take you on”
Kurt Russell is not a man who tends to get overly emotional when talking about his career. He’s always been a straight shooter who is extremely realistic about the realities of working in Hollywood, likely because he’s been in the industry since he was a child star at Disney. If you catch Russell on the right (or wrong) day, he’ll tell you that acting isn’t even an art form and he’d much rather be playing baseball or flying planes.
However, Russell’s matter-of-fact attitude to show business always ensured he was, if nothing else, the consummate professional. If Russell said he was going to do something, he would do it, by hook or crook, and if he gave you his word, it was his bond. So, when he signed up to star as the iconic Wyatt Earp in the rootin’ tootin’ western Tombstone in 1989, he made a pact that he would get that movie made no matter what, even personally securing $25million in financing from super producer Andrew Vajna.
Unfortunately for Russell, though, the production of Tombstone turned into the most challenging film experience of his career, with the movie beset by a myriad of problems almost from the second Russell read Kevin Jarre’s script. For starters, Kevin Costner was originally attached to star as Earp, leaving Russell waiting in the wings. But, when Costner decided he wanted the movie to focus solely on Earp, and not be the ensemble piece Jarre had written, he left the project to set up his own Wyatt Earp biopic at Warner Bros with writer/director Lawrence Kasdan.
This seemed like great news for Russell, who gladly stepped into the breach – but then Costner began playing dirty pool. During this period, Costner was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, but he also proved himself as a force behind the camera when he won ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ at the Oscars for 1990’s Dances with Wolves. This gave him an enormous amount of clout within Hollywood, and he used that power to ensure Tombstone couldn’t be made at any of the major studios except Buena Vista, which Disney owned. That studio wasn’t exactly known for releasing westerns that lit up the box office, so Costner figured he’d successfully tied one hand behind the project’s back.
Fascinatingly, Russell didn’t bear Costner any ill will for this seemingly underhanded tactic; if anything, he appreciated the balls displayed by the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves star. “He was powerful enough at the time, which I always respected,” Russell shrugged to True West magazine. “I thought it was good hardball.” Later, while speaking with GQ about his career in 2024, Russell claimed that certain people from Warner Bros were “not good guys to me” during the Tombstone vs Wyatt Earp drama, but maintained, “Kevin Costner not being one of them; Kevin being a good guy.”
Still, one of these studio “bad guys” was responsible for something that not many people have accomplished over the years: he made Russell mad. Furious, even. You see, the normally relaxed star, who usually feels like people have just got to do what they’ve got to do, told GQ that he floated an idea he felt was best for both Buena Vista and Warner. To his dismay, he was unceremoniously shut down by an unnamed executive in a way that truly pissed him off.
“Once I said, ‘Hey, how about if we do this and that, and maybe we could do some things together,” Russell recalled. “I said, ‘I could kill you in yours, and you could kill me in mine.” Russell thought this was a fun compromise, and audiences would get a kick out of seeing the two cinematic Earps turning up for a cameo in the other’s movie, only to be summarily dispatched. It’s possible that Costner may have been into the idea, although that’s never been confirmed, but the notion didn’t get past go. With a grimace, Russell remembered, “This one individual said, ‘Oh, we’re gonna kill a lot of people in Wyatt Earp.'”
Suddenly, Russell’s cool, calm demeanour changed in an instant. “There were some people standing around me, and it was just such a slap in the face,” Russell said, his irritation still palpable all those years later. “I thought, ‘Fuck you, buddy. I’m gonna take you on full force…let’s go. You’re now gonna run into Wyatt Earp.'”
At that point, Russell was adamant that he wouldn’t lose this battle to Warner Bros and resolved to do whatever he could to put Costner’s Wyatt Earp in the dirt. He succeeded, too, because Tombstone became one of the most beloved westerns of all time and is still talked about today. Meanwhile, Wyatt Earp was dismissed as a bloated Costner folly, disappearing into obscurity within months of its release.
