Harrison Ford talks about westerns, Daniel Craig and Cowboys and Aliens
Well, the title has been the same since the beginning. Cowboys AND Aliens. My interest in it was the cowboy, to be frank. The cowboy part of the story. And happily that's the prevailing component. It is Cowboys AND Aliens. In other words, when the aliens come along and stuff happens, it goes back, wisely I think, to being a cowboy movie. And because that's what makes it fresh.
What's interesting is, is that these people, back in 1875 in the old west, didn't have our experience of space travel and planetary understanding. When this happened, they had no context in which to understand what was happening. The only possible context, is the context that was given to them by the preacher in town. These were possibly daemons. And remain daemons throughout the telling of the story.
It makes perfect sense. Because here's an opportunity to take advantage of the humanity of the western. The elemental nature of the western. And its attachment, its importance to American culture. And then to fold into it, a sense of contemporary interests and the opportunity to bring modern film making devices to the western.
No, I hadn't met Daniel before. Certainly knew his work and I was very impressed by it. Both his work as a leading man, but also other character things that he's done that are really very impressive. So I was delighted to have the opportunity to work with him. And he turned out to be a very generous person to work with. Wonderfully capable. Quite serious about it all. And yet a lot of fun to hang with.
