The Book of Eli is set in the not-too-distant future, across the wasteland of what was once America. Eli is a lone man, fighting his way across America, in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind. He is a warrior who must fight to bring civilization the knowledge that could be the key to its redemption. At the San Diego Comic-Con, co-stars Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis were joined by directors Allen & Albert Hughes, in talking to the press about bringing this post-apocalyptic world to life.

Q: What makes this film a post-apocalyptic western?

Albert: I think somebody said it once and it caught on. Studios are scared of westerns so they're like, "Don't say that." But, at the same times, some of the influences of the Eli character come from The Man With No Name, and some of those movies, stylistically, as far as what we researched, but I wouldn't call it a western. It takes place in the west, but this story could very easily take place on the east coast.

Q: But, it is post-apocalyptic, right?

Allen: I don't like the word because it's such a genre word. We've got a great story here, that's not about being post-apocalyptic. It is 30 years in the future, after an event, but if you don't have a good story and characters, it doesn't matter what genre it is.

Albert: There are 40 million cop movies that come out, every year. You can place genres on a movie, but I think the post-apocalyptic part is a third or fourth character in the story. It's more of a character than anything. It could very easily have been an island with just 100 people.

Gary: When you're looking for a soundbite, in a situation where you're walking up the carpet and someone's saying, "Gary, tell me about this . . .," it is set in a post-apocalyptic world, and it has a vibe or echo of a western. So, I've been guilty of saying it because it's a shorthand to wrap it up.

Q: For the actors, what are the characters that you play in the film?

Denzel: There is this book, and there is a mission that my character is on to take this book across the country. Gary's character is a man who also wants to use this book to influence and control the world, so these two men collide.

Mila: Gary Oldman plays my stepfather, and he uses me to seduce Denzel's character. In return, I become infatuated by him and his belief, and the man that he is, because he's not abusive and he's not the man of the world. She decides to escape and follow him on his journey, and be like him and be inspired by him, and escape from the small town with Eli.

Q: What was the inspiration for this?

Albert: That last movie we did was about Jack the Ripper, so we researched those movies which had come before, and tried to get rid of the clichés, and make new things that work. Then, we go to comic book material, which was ironic for this one because it wasn't based on a comic book. We use a lot of those artists to help us with the look of the movie.

Trying to set it aside from the other movies that are out there, and find colors that work and hit your eye pretty quickly, we would say, "Okay, that doesn't look like, The Road or Mad Max. Those films had that color." It's as simple as that, sometimes. Then, there was the tip of the hat to the western. We're greatly influenced by Sergio Leone and the simplicity of his filmmaking, but also the startling imagery.

Allen: Also, we had a stack of books that were from professors who studied, in the ‘80's, what would happen if there was a nuclear event. There are three definitive books on it, about the environment, humanity and the animal kingdom, and they studied the clouds, based on their research, to see what the reality was, and if it wasn't nuclear, but one of those 2012 things. They all, basically, said the same thing would happen after 30 years. The atmosphere would look a certain way. There'd be a certain color to the sky. There'd be a certain decomposition of the landscape.

Albert: When the normal trailer comes out, you'll see more of the world. There's no vegetation.

Q: Will we see scenes of scavenging for supplies?

Gary: Most people are scavengers. A lot of people that you see in this film are.

Denzel: People kill now for things they used to throw away.

Albert: And, it's more a peripheral thing to the story. The story's more about this group of three or four characters. The world is more peripheral, in a way.

Allen: You do see survival, all throughout the film. It is about humans, whether it's Gary's character or Mila's character. They are all survivors.

Q: Will we see a dramatic scene, where you kill for something we take for granted?

Denzel: Well, there's a few meat sandwiches. I'll leave it at that. There are some meat sandwiches that are eaten in the film.

Q: You devour them?

Denzel: I didn't say I did. I just said there were meat sandwiches.

Gary: You know, for survival, Carnegie has a source of fresh water, which is really the currency. It is the commodity. It's more expensive than gasoline. So, he rules because he knows where that well is. That's the king's ransom, right there. But, people have been pushed to extremes.

Q: Was it hard for you to mount another film, after so long?

Allen: I think it's hard to find great material. And, the climate has changed a lot. I didn't realize that. Few people know that, the longer a filmmaker stays away from filmmaking, the more the industry doesn't know what to do with you. If you're not bonded, they don't know if they can work with you, or if you're sane. So, each year that goes by gauges where our heads are and why we're being very picky about material. We finally found some material. We shot a lot of ads. We've been working a lot, but it's very tough to find something that's important to you and important to them, at the same time. Then, you have to find important actors to make it happen.

Albert: Yeah, it was a really conscious choice. When you get something, you read the first 10 pages and go, "Oh, shit!" After you get 10 of those, you just give up until somebody says, "Well, there's a pretty good one, right here." You read that, and you're like, "Oh, damn!" Then, there's a battle to get that made. There's a battle to get any movie made. Denzel really helped us on this one, though. If it wasn't for him, I don't think this would've happened.

Q: Did you have to fight to get your vision on the screen?

Albert: Yeah. You have to fight to get it made. There was one instance, in our career, when we made our second movie, where there was no battle to make the movie. When there's no battle, there's no fight because you have nothing to fight for. Sometimes, the movie suffers for that. You can have a studio or producer fighting against you, or somebody saying, "We gotta make it for this number or don't make it at all," or "Go get that star," or whatever. Then, once it's up and running, you've still got more battles to take care of. But, Denzel really helped us with that.

Gary: It's amazing movies get made.

Q: Denzel, have you ever been to Comic-Con before?
Denzel: No, I'm a virgin.

Q: Are you aware of The Road, which is also post-apocalyptic?

Albert: I personally avoided even reading or looking at The Road, but I think that's a more serious, dramatic movie, from what I've heard. It's very depressing, so I think it's different. It's just a very different movie.

Allen: When you take advantage of more primitive times, true character starts to show through. When you put people in that element, you start to see the conflict there, a lot more. It's a hot-bed for drama. Our piece is very dramatic. There's action. But, we start with character and that conflict. It's survival.
Gary: I think it feels very present, too. You walk around thinking that it could happen, and that it's going to happen. Since we made this movie, Korea had been shooting missiles in the air. We're in a very strange time.

Q: Denzel, how did this stretch your abilities?

Denzel: Just with the physical work. I've done other physical films, but that's the adventure, to be able to step into other people's shoes. In this case, I had the opportunity to work with some really brilliant martial artists, like Jeff Imada and Danny Inosanto, who's a contemporary of Bruce Lee. So, for six or eight months, I was able to work out with them and to learn from them.

Q: Will you direct again?

Denzel: I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try.