Jeremy Renner to play legendary gunslinger “Doc” Holliday in new film

PanARMENIAN.Net - Jeremy Renner is taking aim at legendary gunfighter John Henry “Doc” Holliday. PalmStar Media has optioned the rights to two Mary Doria Russell novels, Doc and Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral, that are being developed as a Renner starring vehicle The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

PalmStar’s Kevin Frakes will produce the as-yet untitled film alongside Renner and Don Handfield’s The Combine, a company whose credits include the Michael Keaton starrer The Founder. The Combine inked a first-look deal with PalmStar in 2015.

Considered to be seminal books on the charismatic gunslinger, the novels chronicle Holliday's life from his time as a gentleman dentist in Reconstruction-era Atlanta to his stand alongside Wyatt Earp at the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, made famous in Hollywood films including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Tombstone. Previous Doc Hollidays include Kirk Douglas, Val Kilmer and Dennis Quaid.

“We are excited to re-introduce this classic American character to a whole new audience by chronicling Doc Holliday’s incredible transformation from average Joe dentist to a man who Wyatt Earp called the ‘nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun [he] ever knew,’” Renner and Handfield said in a joint statement.

The Combine's Philip G. Flores and Kristoffer Winters also will produce alongside PalmStar's Buddy Patrick.

PalmStar is currently in production on The Catcher Was a Spy, starring Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti, Guy Pearce and Sienna Miller. The company is in development on an adaptation of Paulo Coelho’s best-selling novel The Alchemist with TriStar Pictures.

The Combine recently wrapped production on Season 1 of Knightfall for A&E Studios and History Channel, which was created, written and produced by Handfield and Richard Rayner. The pair also produced Kill the Messenger for Focus Features.