Jeremy Renner is trading in Hawkeye’s bow and arrow for the six-shooters of famed gunslinger John Henry “Doc” Holliday, whom he is attached to play in an upcoming film from Palmstar Media.
The yet-to-be-titled project, which will be produced by Renner with Kevin Frakes from Palmstar and Don Handfield from The Combine, will be based off of “Doc” and “Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral,” two novels about Holliday written by Mary Doria Russell. The novels trace Holliday path from his origins as a dentist in Reconstruction Era Atlanta to his battle alongside Wyatt Earp at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous gunfights in the history of the Old West.
Holliday later became an iconic character in Western cinema after he was portrayed by Kirk Douglas in the classic 1957 film “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,” though that film depicted the fight as a dramatic, drawn-out battle when, in reality, the shootout was finished in 30 seconds. Holliday was later played by Val Kilmer in the 1993 film “Tombstone.”
Philip G. Flores, The Combine’s VP of Development, and Kristoffer Winters will also produce with Renner and Handfield. Renner will next be seen in theaters in August, when he will play a federal fish and wildlife agent who discovers a corpse in the wilderness in “Wind River,” the directorial debut of “Hell or High Water” writer Taylor Sheridan. He is also slated to play Hawkeye for a fifth time next year in Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War.”
The Combine, Handfield and Renner are all repped by CAA.