Val Kilmer got some of the best notices of his career playing Doc Holliday opposite Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, and with his career on the skids for the past few years, he’s decided that perhaps it’s time to return to the world of the legendary gunman, this time playing Earp himself.
Variety reports that Kilmer will star as an aging Earp in the indie western The First Ride Of Wyatt Earp, with Mike Feifer directing from a script by Darren Benjamin. Presumably someone else will be cast as a young Earp too, as the film sees Kilmer’s older gunslinger ‘sitting down with a reporter to reflect on the ride that made him a legend, when the young marshal rounded up a posse to track down the outlaw who mistakenly murdered the woman he loved.’
Also in the cast are Matt Dallas as Bat Masterson, Wilson Bethel as Doc Holliday and Daniel Booko as Spike Kennedy, while Trace Adkins, Miracle Laurie, Steven Grayhm, Shawn Roberts, Levi Fiehler and Mason Cook will also star.
The producers apparently envision the film as a ‘Young Guns for the next generation’, but as Feifer’s resume largely seems to be made up of dodgy serial killer biopics, I think they should just feel lucky if the film doesn’t go straight to DVD.