The Clint Eastwood role Robert Redford was too handsome to play: “He’s such a matinee idol”
It might be a sweeping generalisation, but it’s also not untrue that many Hollywood casting calls have been reduced to beauty contests. At the end of the day, it’s an aesthetic industry in the eyes of many high-profile and high-powered individuals who make the decisions, with Clint Eastwood benefitting from his natural ruggedness when he was pitted against Robert Redford.
That said, it would be unfair to suggest that Eastwood wasn’t a handsome devil during his lengthy stint as one of the industry’s most bankable leading men. The actor’s grizzled features, thousand-yard stare, and chiselled features were more than capable of luring an audience to their local theatre, with Quentin Tarantino branding him as the “sexiest motherfucker” in cinema history.
Redford may have been more conventionally attractive, but the California native fought hard to avoid being typecast. It’s definitely a first-world problem, but the legendary star was constantly trying to battle back against the producers and executives who viewed him as nothing more than a pretty face, and he wanted nothing to do with the roles that traded solely on his looks.
Of course, beauty is entirely in the eye of the beholder, and it was decided that Redford had far too much of a Hollywood glow to play a part that eventually went to Eastwood. It definitely helped that the latter was also the film’s director, but that wasn’t the case when The Bridges of Madison County first entered development.
Steven Spielberg purchased the rights to Robert James Waller’s novel before it had even been published, and he tasked Sydney Pollack to direct. The latter was one of Redford’s closest friends in the industry and his most famous frequent collaborator, which is presumably when his name entered the conversation.
However, when Eastwood began circling the lead, Spielberg hopped back on board with plans to make The Bridges of Madison County his first post-Schindler’s List feature. He eventually dropped out, after which the actor-turned-filmmaker stepped into the breach to pull double duty, and he was the one who lobbied for Meryl Streep to join the project as his co-star, which earned her a customary Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Actress’.
When Spielberg was still attached, and Eastwood hadn’t yet formalised his deal, there was still support from those involved to have Redford cast as photographer Robert Kincaid, only for the studio to overrule his backers. “Warner never approved of Redford,” an exec told Entertainment Weekly. “He’s such a matinee idol as opposed to a rough, earthy guy. Clint has more edge.”
Redford and Streep had proven chemistry after co-starring in Out of Africa, which Pollack directed, but he had too much sheen for The Bridges of Madison County. When the film became a critical and commercial smash hit, Eastwood’s unexpected late-stage sojourn into playing the romantic lead turned out to be a masterstroke.
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