Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan said they had the most fun in their career making this film. They loved westerns as kids, and were thrilled to finally to be in one.
Xander Berkeley is an American who plays an Irishman. Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan are Irishmen who play Americans. Anjelica Huston lived in Ireland for a lot of her youth, and holds Irish citizenship.
Pierce Brosnan is on-screen for most of the first fifteen minutes of the movie, but he doesn't speak his first word until thirteen minutes and fifteen seconds in. Until then, he just grunts, groans, and screams of pain.
Wes Studi's character is named Charon, which is also the name of the ferryman in Greek mythology who requires payment to transport the souls of the dead across the River Styx to the underworld. In the movie, Charon requires payment for the water both men drink and pass by.
In Jewish and Christian theology, a seraphim is a type of angel. One could conclude the two main characters are angels that have fallen from grace. They battle each other from the mountain tops (Heaven) to the hot desert (Hell).