As New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson continues to draw headlines for considering granting a posthumous pardon to outlaw Billy the Kid (and angering the family of Pat Garrett, the lawman who’s believed to have shot Billy down in a blaze of glory in 1881), we can’t help but appreciate the timing: Young Guns II, which reignited the debate over whether The Kid died at Garrett’s hand that day at 21, or had lived to be an old man as “Brushy Bill” Roberts, was released 20 years ago in August 1990. We recently chatted with John Fusco, screenwriter of both Young Guns movies, who reminisces about the sequel — and Jon Bon Jovi nabbing it a surprising Oscar nomination, for Best Original Song — in the issue of EW out today. Because we love us some good movie trivia — and stories that involve Bon Jovi being wrapped with explosives, Viggo Mortensen carrying a rifle, and a 35-year-old retired horse — here are a few of his best stories about the making of Young Guns II:

• Fusco used Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” as “mood music” while writing the first film because it captured the contemporary rock ‘n roll cowboy feel he was going for in his telling of the Billy the Kid story. He told star Emilio Estevez that on a research road trip, and Estevez asked his pal Jon Bon Jovi if they could use the song over the end credits of the first movie, but Jon thought the song was too contemporary — the steel horse he rides is the band’s tour bus — and said he’d rather write something new. That never happened, but the seed was planted. Jon became a fan of the 1988 Brat Pack Western after its release and borrowed Estevez’s script for the sequel. One day he showed up on the Galisteo, New Mexico set of Young Guns II, acoustic guitar in hand, and Estevez introduced him to a surprised Fusco and said Jon had something he wanted to show him. They went into Estevez’s trailer, and Jon played “Blaze of Glory,” singing the lyrics from a crumpled sheet of notebook paper. “It had the edge and outlaw spirit of ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ but no anachronisms, and I loved it,” Fusco says. “I went out on-set and got my coproducers, and Jon played it a second time. It was pretty much a done deal right there. He told us about his plans to do a solo album and maybe write some other songs that were inspired by the film.” READ FULL STORY »