Your relationship with Akira Kurosawa dates back to the beginning of your career. Can you share how you first encountered Kurosawa’s work and what drew you to reimagine it?
Spike Lee: People always assume that this film is a remake of Kurosawa’s High and Low, but it actually began with Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom.
Anora is such an intense and ferocious character, but there’s an understated vulnerability. How did you weave that into the performance?
Mikey Madison: I always saw her as someone who was deeply vulnerable on the inside but is constantly protecting herself by covering it up with anger and spunk.
What draws you back to these Western stories? What is it like when you develop a project over the course of many years, as you’ve done here?
Kevin Costner: I think it’s the idea that it’s not a part of Disneyland: it was part of our history.