I'd met Harrison Ford before, but he was just finishing a meet with Jon Favreau and the other producers on the film, and we said "hello" as he walked out and I walked in and sat down and had this meeting with those guys. They basically described what they were looking for, and they thought that I brought a certain amount of authenticity to the genre, and would I want to take part? And I said, "Absolutely! I'd love to!"

That was Robert Aldrich. And that [Emperor Of The North] was one of the only times I actually got a part in a movie in the conventional way: The role was there, I auditioned, I auditioned again, and then I actually did a full-fledged screen test, which they shot on a soundstage on the lot at 20th Century Fox. They put up a set, and Robert Aldrich actually directed me in this screen test.

I like the Western genre, I think it's uniquely American.

You know, for an actor to come into the midst of that, it's - It can either be difficult and somewhat unnerving, or it can be very embracing and like, kind of stepping into a nice hot tub.

[Mel Gibson] had just directed The Passion [Of The Christ], and it had just been released as we started production on Complete Savages. But I have to say, nobody ever talked about it, and he never brought any of that to work. He was just delightful, and I had a great time.

[Mel Gibson] played this kind of sadistic motorcycle cop. He was terrific. And he had this great sense of visual comedy.

He was definitely known as the foremost man killer in the West; however there's controversy about virtually every killing that he was known to have been involved in.