More than three decades after its release, Tombstone has developed the kind of reputation that few movies ever achieve. The Western wasn’t particularly beloved by critics when it first arrived, but repeat viewings helped transform it into a bona fide classic, with Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday and Michael Biehn‘s Johnny Ringo becoming particularly beloved among fans. Given the famously turbulent production behind the movie, it’s hardly surprising that stories about missing material have persisted over the years. Unfortunately, anyone hoping there’s an enormous amount of unseen footage sitting in a Disney vault somewhere shouldn’t get too excited.
Speaking exclusively with Collider while promoting Onslaught, Biehn explained that Tombstonedid originally contain considerably more material — but on the page, not on film. According to the actor, Kevin Jarre’s original screenplay ran approximately 142 pages before the filmmaker was fired four weeks into production.
“It was a great, great script. It was 142 pages, so it should have been two and a half hours long. Kevin, who created it, did all the pre-production on it. They shot with Kevin for four weeks, and then they fired him.”
Biehn says it was Jarre’s reluctance and unwillingness to collaborate ultimately led to his dismissal despite having an enormously experienced cast and crew surrounding and supporting him. “I know why, because he wanted his way or the highway, and he was not very collaborative,” explained Biehn. “He had Kurt there, and he had William Fraker, the DP, who was an Academy Award winner. He had a bunch of great actors around him, and he just didn’t listen to anybody.”
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Does an Extended Cut of ‘Tombstone’ Exist?
After Jarre’s departure, Biehn says Kurt Russell, and producer Jim Jacks and another writer spent a weekend drastically restructuring the screenplay so production could continue. Approximately 40 pages were removed, with Biehn saying virtually everyone in the ensemble lost material as a result.
“Over the weekend, they cut about 40 pages out of that script, so everybody lost a lot. The Cowboys always felt we got the raw end of that deal as far as some of the stuff that got cut out, because you never see the Cowboys unless they’re around the Earps, and that’s not the way it was in the script at all. They had a whole different life that they lived away from Tombstone. When I say life, two or three scenes.”
But here’s the important distinction: those scenes weren’t filmed and subsequently removed from Tombstone. They were eliminated from the screenplay before they could be shot. That means there isn’t a hidden version of the movie waiting to be reconstructed.
“People always say, ‘God, I’d love to see all the stuff they cut out of it. I’d love to see it back in again and see that movie.’ Well, it was never shot. There is no ‘there’ there. There is no recutting. Everything that was usable is on the screen.”
Tombstone is streaming now and Onslaught arrives in theaters on September 4.
