Director Paul W.S. Anderson admitted that the film did not turn out the way he had originally intended. He and screenwriter David Webb Peoples had always envisioned the movie as a classic western, a sort-of Shane (1953) set in space, and wanted to film in wide open environments and existing locations as much as possible, as opposed to using studio sets. However, Kurt Russell insisted on bulking up for the role naturally, without use of steroids, which pushed the production schedule of the movie back by several months. By the time that his lengthy training was finished and filming was about to commence, the 'El Niño' hurricane caused such adverse weather conditions that filming on the selected locations was no longer possible. There was no other option than scaling back the picture and shooting inside a studio, with all its limitations. Anderson stated that it sadly compromised the entire look of the picture; he named the shot where Todd arrives on the planet and walks through the abandoned spaceship as an example of "the kind of imagery I wanted to put onscreen and get more of."