Spending two years on my uncle's ranch in Montana as a young man gave me the wisdom and the thrust to do westerns.

I'm not a great science fiction fan myself. I probably feel that way about Westerns. Like I used to play Cowboys and Indians they can act out Will and the Robot.

Politicians should read science fiction not westerns and detective stories.

I was always raised on cowboy films and then when I could start making choices about the movies I wanted to watch I found myself wanting to watch gangster films which were slightly more sophisticated than the baseline stuff that was in westerns.

I love Westerns and I remember as a kid climbing up on the couch and make it into a saddle and shoot guns and fall off. I would lay there after my death and my mom would tell me to eat lunch and I'd say 'I'm still dead Mom!' I was Method even then.

People love westerns worldwide. There's something fantasy-like about an individual fighting the elements. Or even bad guys and the elements. It's a simpler time. There's no organized laws and stuff.

When you're young you want to make every kind of film: musicals Westerns horror. Slowly you begin to hear your own voice. I hope people receive what I do as small personal films that are somewhat contrarian about their main characters.

Studios because they are investing a great deal of money in movies they want a guarantee that when they hire somebody that person can deliver for them. Everything is fear based so they pigeonhole people. But I've written everything from Westerns to sci-fi to dramedy I've done it all.

I did 10 years of comedies and 10 years of Westerns. I really like to stay away from car chases. I prefer the more intimate film. You have a much more direct association with the emotions.