‘Revenge of the Creature’: Did Clint Eastwood confirm his directing approach in his first movie?
Clint Eastwood has never been one to suffer fools whenever he makes a film. Despite being one of the premier actors of his generation, some of his best moments come with his meticulous attention to detail whenever he makes a film, usually making sure that he can capture the moment in exactly the right way rather than beating things into the ground. Then again, perhaps his work on his first film was what instilled in him the importance of living in the moment whenever he was at work.
Because what it means to be an actor is about more than simply showing up and saying the lines. It’s about creating magic and doing a dance with the camera in certain moments. Eastwood works by looking at the person behind the performance before anything else.
Just look at one of his famous award-winning films, American Sniper. Everyone who has read the book that the film is based on knows how the story ends with Chris Kyle, but instead of seeing the graphic way that he met his end at the hands of a veteran with PTSD, we get a look at the family man behind everything, even if not every moment manages to have the same finesse found in a Kubrick film.
Before Eastwood even stood behind a camera, though, he was far more intrigued by using the best he had in a limited time frame. Since half of his jobs at the start of his career involved only a certain number of shots, acting practically became like boot camp, making sure that every line came out loud and clear for fear that he would have been kicked off the studio lot should he slip up.
While Eastwood was promised to be included as a lab technician in his first feature, Revenge of the Creature, his first day saw him on the chopping block already. Before shooting his scenes, producer William Alland took him down to meet the director, only for him to get reprimanded because the scene was going to ruin the flow of the movie and the filming legend had no right even bothering to show his face that day.
Whereas most people would crumple into a heap on the floor after that kind of argument, Eastwood said Alland helped him see the true struggles directors have to face, saying, “Alland made me realize that it wasn’t anything against me – the director just didn’t want the scene in the movie. But it was a hell of a way to start your acting career: walk on a set, and you know that the director hates the scene. Therefore you know he hates you.”
Given how he would later direct movies, though, Eastwood did have that kind of singular vision whenever he made films. Despite having a habit of getting everything he could with one shot, he knew to care about the crew and everyone’s hard work when making creative decisions. He even gave a similar verbal beatdown to Matt Damon when he asked for another take, saying, “Why? Do you want to waste everybody’s time?”
So when you see Eastwood and only look at the stoic badass who seems to have no emotions, just remember that he has seen the dark side of a film set as well. No matter how many people give their all to a project, Eastwood knows that everyone is there to work, and that means not having time to phone it in or put some fluff into the mix.
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