Biography

Ned Kelly and His Gang was made in 1906, only three years after The Great Train Robbery. It was banned by Victorian-era censors for its 'romantic' portrayal of bushrangers, who might otherwise have become folk heroes and inspired class war. The western wasn't allowed to grow into a real genre in Australian cinema, although colonial-period dramas started re-surfacing in the '70s.

Shooting in the Outback was like being on another planet. It's much more harsh and extreme than the American desert. [on The Proposition]

[About violence in "The Proposition"] There was a conscious decision to try and be realistic, not gratuitous. I think it's actually becoming more gratuitous, violence in mainstream films. We could have gone the Mel Gibson route - in fact, the more lucrative route. And because we were trying to show the harsh reality what was happening on the frontier, you can't shy away from the fact that it was extremely violent.

[About his films] There is a connection in that all three deal in extreme environments and characters under extreme conflict. I have to say I am most happy with "The Proposition". I've got my reservations on all three but I'm most happy with this one.

When I actually read the book, what inspired me was how believably it put you in the here and now. Come apocalypse, it all becomes about your immediate day-to-day survival. And, refreshingly, the story didn't need to explain the big event. -- on "The Road"