Clint Eastwood’s disastrous attempt at experimental cinema: “It’s not an intellectual art form”
As one of the industry’s foremost icons, Clint Eastwood has been called a lot of things over the years: cinematic superstar, bankable leading man, versatile director, award-winning legend, and much more. However, one term that’s never followed him around is ‘experimental filmmaker’, and there’s a reason.
Eastwood’s no-frills approach to his work on either side of the camera has been one of his trademarks for over half a century, and he very rarely deviates from that template. When he’s acting, he’s never been the type of performer to belt out a grandstanding monologue when he knows a simple glance or gesture can say more than a thousand words and get the point across better.
As a director, any more than two takes is borderline heresy on an Eastwood-operated set. Anyone who dares to ask for more than that will get swiftly put in their place, regardless of whether they’re an A-lister or an esteemed veteran. It’s a simple way to go about his business, and it’s also one of the most successful, given that he’s been one of the most famous and prolific names in Hollywood for more than six decades.
Still, even the filmmakers more set in their ways than most need to freshen things up every once in a while to outrun the constant threat of stagnancy, and it’s probably not a coincidence that Eastwood venturing outside of his comfort zone to embrace the more experimental side of cinema gave rise to the worst film he’s ever directed.
The true story behind 2018’s The 15:17 to Paris was an incredible one, without a doubt. Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos were rightfully hailed as heroes when the three American travellers took matters into their own hands to thwart a terrorist attack on the titular train, earning them recognition and adulation for their courage and bravery, which helped save the lives of hundreds of passengers after they sprung into action without a second thought for their own safety.
It could have been a riveting biographical thriller, but Eastwood made the fatal mistake of casting Stone, Sadler, and Skarlatos as themselves in the movie about their actions. They weren’t actors, and it showed, with The 15:17 to Paris wasting the riveting potential of its ripped-from-the-headlines premise by tanking its three central characters from the outset after having them played by people who couldn’t emote their way out of a soggy paper bag.
Attempting to justify his decision to hire non-actors, Eastwood explained to The Independent that he was seeking as much genuine emotion as he could muster. “It’s not an intellectual art form; it’s an emotional art form,” he mused. “And the reason that they did well was they were back in the same locations, with the same feel.”
He might have been under the impression he whipped his central trio of non-professional thespians into requisite shape, but he might be the only one. Hiring people who aren’t actors is always a tricky proposition, and that becomes more true when they’ve been hired to play themselves. Their real-life actions may have been heroic, but Stone, Sadler, and Skarlatos’ on-camera endeavours were anything but, and Eastwood’s desire to seek the utmost authenticity yielded the worst directorial effort of his career.
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