I thought I might die. But then I thought, 'Other people have made it through these things before'. I kept my eyes on the lights on shore and kept sw… - Clint Eastwood

I don’t know if I should present this award on behalf of all the cowboys shot in all the John Ford Westerns over the years

Westerns. A period gone by, the pioneer, the loner operating by himself, without benefit of society. It usually has something to do with some sort of vengeance; he takes care of the vengeance himself, doesn't call the police. Like Robin Hood. It's the last masculine frontier. Romantic myth. I guess, though it's hard to think about anything romantic today. In a Western you can think, Jesus, there was a time when man was alone, on horseback, out there where man hasn't spoiled the land yet.

In recent times it just seems that women have been relegated to either romantic roles or fluff pieces. So the appeal, for me, is to make a picture about a real woman.