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I had the advantage of reading the book, and when the script was first submitted to me, it was just another gangster story - the east side taking over the west side and all that.

I wanted to shoot straight, mainstream, somehow off-beat. Not only realistic West, which is quite unfamiliar to the world's population - even to a lot of Americans.

If getting a contract was relatively straightforward, writing fiction was far harder than I could have imagined, and there were moments during the long and torturous edit process when it seemed that 'Zulu Hart,' the first of the trilogy, would never be fit for public consumption.

I did not intend for there to be an incisive historical lesson in 'North and South.' Basically, it's just a good, juicy story.

It was interesting to shoot history as it happens, without anyone demanding a huge story.

The little bit of buzz around 'Warrior' led to a lot of opportunities anyway, before the movie even came out.

I would have to say that working on 'Warrior' felt more like working on a play than any other film I've ever done.

I don't think I would have written a combat novel if I had just had peacetime military training. I think, in fact, I probably would have remained a poet and just written a short story every now and then.