Clint Eastwood’s 2008 feud with Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Somebody got a bee under their bonnet”
As two of Hollywood’s most iconic grizzled veterans, both of whom have a fondness for a well-timed quip and a legendary catchphrase, there’s a lot of common ground between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood.
They both made their name as the bankable stars of action movies, and they’ve called California home for as long as either can remember, but in terms of appreciation and admiration, it’s always been much more of a one-way street, and it hasn’t been the ‘Man with No Name’ fawning over the Terminator.
Schwarzenegger’s post-politics comeback flick, The Last Stand, was directly inspired by Eastwood’s In the Line of Fire, and the former governor also named Unforgiven as one of his favourite films. He described the four-time Academy Award winner as “an idol of mine,” and he’s felt that way about him since the 1970s.
On the other hand, Eastwood joked about potentially directing an Expendables sequel, which is as close as they’ve gotten in a professional capacity. In Hollywood, at least, since their paths did cross politically, at which point Schwarzenegger took a leaf out of the book he picked up when he replaced another politico as the host of the American version of The Apprentice by firing him.
In 2001, the Dirty Harry frontman was appointed to the California State Park and Recreation Commission by then-governor Gray Davis, and he was kept on board when the ‘Austrian Oak’ took the job in 2003. However, he was booted in 2008, with reports suggesting that it had to do with his opposition to the state’s Route 241 highway, which Schwarzenegger was in full support of.
He didn’t just fire Eastwood, either; he fired his then-brother-in-law, Bobby Shriver, too. “I talked to him the day we were not reappointed, or as Donald Trump would say, ‘You’re fired,'” Eastwood shared. “I said, ‘Me? But you’re his brother-in-law!’ and he said, ‘But you’re his friend and long-time mentor!'”
“I think it was just somebody got a bee under their bonnet at the right moment, so there we are,” the western icon mused. “I guess he felt we were going to be guys who were going to be obstructionists for anything through state parks.” Just like that, he was out on his arse, and after all that, the extension didn’t even go through, although it did happen in 2021.
He’d held his position on the Parks Commission for seven years, but when a musclebound Austrian decided enough was enough, he claimed that it didn’t bother him. “I’m a grown person,” Eastwood pointed out with complete accuracy. “I’m not a kid.” It was a voluntary gig, but he wouldn’t have have agreed to do it in the first place and done it for so long if he didn’t enjoy it.
Following his dismissal on Schwarzenegger’s watch, he made an even more salient point, noting, “It’s not like I need a day job.” That’s true, he had movies to make, and having been ousted by Schwarzenegger, he had even more time on his hands to make them.
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