sound a little weird to you, but I’m going
to play it anyway.” It was him doing
a take-off of my voice. It was like
listening to myself talk, very weird. But
I can’t say enough for Bradley. I’ve never
worked with a director who was more
committed to hard work. He said, “Just
trust me and you’ll be glad you did. Just
trust me and we’ll find the truth.”
When did you become aware that your
voice was A Thing for people?
I tell you, I never thought about it but
people talk about it incessantly. I was
singing baritone back in middle school.
I always had this deep voice but I never
thought about it being a thing, you
know? It’s like the moustache. I never
thought about the moustache being
a thing but it certainly is for people.
But you’ll change the moustache
for certain roles.
Absolutely. I’ll take it off or make it
Above: Elliott
showcases his
Texan cowboy
heritage. Right,
top to bottom:
Kurt Russell, Paula
Malcomson, Dana
Wheeler-Nicholson,
Lisa Collins, Elliott
and Bill Paxton
in the troubled
Tombstone (1993);
With Patrick
Swayze in 1989’s
cult hit Road
House; Alongside
Jeff Bridges’ The
Dude in The Big
Lebowski (1998).longer, or shave my head. It’s a great
effort to be able to do that.One of the most iconic versions of
the ’tache was in Tombstone [1993] —
which was, I know, a difficult shoot.
I think it’s as good a Western as has been
made in a long, long time, but it was
a painful experience on some levels.
Kevin Jarre, who wrote the screenplay,
really hand-picked that cast and was
then taken off [directing] and replaced
by George Cosmatos. That was a painful
thing, to see the man who was responsible
for all of us being there lose the helm,
so to speak. When George came in...
George was George. He was not
necessarily a nice man. He was a big
loudmouth, he treated women like shit,
but he understood Sergio Leone’s work.
That’s why that film looks like it looks.
And they had that screenplay, and
a handful of actors there that, I think,
did the best work of their careers.