Five times Clint Eastwood went too far
Still going strong into his 90s, Clint Eastwood secured his legacy as one of cinema’s most iconic figures a long time ago, but he’s never once considered the idea of entertaining permanent retirement.
As the star of countless classics and a filmmaker with four Academy Awards under his belt, few names in Hollywood history can match Eastwood when it comes to longevity, consistency, and enduring popularity.
Being around the industry for so long has resulted in a fair few hits and misses, though, whether it’s box office disasters, critical drubbings, or unfortunate situations entirely of his own making. Eastwood has ruffled plenty of feathers over the years, too, which can sometimes manifest on-screen.
Going too far isn’t something that’s been a recurring element of his legendary stint in the spotlight, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened on occasion, anyway.
Five controversial Clint Eastwood moments:
5. Hijacking an interview to trash the subject of his son’s movie (2016)
Eastwood and Oliver Stone have diametrically opposed political views, making it an ill-timed coincidence that not only was the former’s Sully and the latter’s Snowden released just one week apart in September 2016, but Scott Eastwood played a major role in Stone’s biographical drama as Trevor James.
Not only that, but the Eastwoods took part in a joint interview to promote both projects and their relationship at large, which the elder of the family quickly turned into an airing of his personal grievances. Describing the world as a place with “a great lack” of integrity, Clint pitted the protagonists against each other.
“I want to see it because it’s about deserting your country, for whatever reasons you have,” he told Esquire. “Snowden became famous for the wrong reasons, as Sully became famous for doing something spectacular”. He even pushed for Chesley Sullenberger to run for political office, sharing how “Sully should be running for president, not these people.”
Meanwhile, poor Scott just had to sit there and listen to his old man railroad the conversation and turn it into a takedown of the person who was the subject of his highest-profile feature film role to date.
4. Using the worst fake baby in the history of cinema (American Sniper, 2014)
For a movie that earned over half a billion dollars at the box office and earned Academy Award nominations for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, it’s equal parts remarkable and hilarious that the lasting legacy of American Sniper is its laughably fake baby.
There may have been extenuating circumstances that necessitated the use of a prosthetic infant, but it was so unconvincingly awful that stars Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller openly mocked just how ridiculous it was within the context of a serious drama rooted in real life.
If Eastwood thought nobody would notice, then he was dead wrong, and it’ll take some doing for a high-profile production to use a fake baby that looks any worse.
3. Believing he had what it takes to be a singer (Paint Your Wagon, 1969)
It had been obvious since the beginning of his career that Eastwood always harboured ambitions of being a popular singer, despite the fact he was terrible at it. And yet, he continued to persevere, even going so far as to headline a musical Western that made his poor pipes a focal point.
That’s to say nothing of 1959 album Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favourites, the singles he released in the 1960s and 1970s, number one ‘Hot Country Singles’ hit ‘Bar Room Buddies’ in 1980, duetting with Ray Charles on ‘Beers to You’, or the gargled theme to Gran Torino.
He’s proven his talents as a musician and composer, but when it comes to belting out a tune, Eastwood has always been sorely lacking.
2. Responding to criticism by calling an entire generation “pussies” (Gran Torino, 2008)
Gran Torino was a sizeable hit that drew stellar reactions from critics, but Eastwood lived up to protagonist Walt Kowalski’s standing as a curmudgeonly old man by doing the opposite of taking criticism on the chin, instead using it to brand an entire generation as pussies when reflecting on a film.
Reflecting on the script, the star and director wasn’t interested in what anyone else had to say. “Even my associate said, ‘This is a really good script, but it’s politically incorrect,'” he shared. “And I said, ‘Good. Let me read it tonight.’ The next morning, I came in and I threw it on his desk and I said, ‘We’re starting this immediately.'”
From there, he continued to let loose. “That’s the kiss-ass generation we’re in right now,” he said. “We’re really in a pussy generation. Everybody’s walking on eggshells.” By Eastwood’s definition, the ‘pussy generation’ are “all these people that say, ‘Oh, you can’t do that, and you can’t do this, and you can’t say that,'” not that he took it into consideration on Gran Torino.
1. Featuring two threesomes in a movie he produced, directed, and starred in at 88 years old (The Mule, 2018)
Would The Mule have been a lesser movie were Eastwood to ditch two separate scenes that see him engaging in threesomes with women young enough to be in the same generation as his grandchildren? It would not, but he decided to keep them in anyway.
As the producer, star, and director, the creative control lay with him above all others, which might go some way to explaining why the frisky interludes were deemed as so integral to the narrative. They weren’t, of course, but the intimations were nothing short of haunting.
There’s an obligatory Viagra reference, but it’s made abundantly clear Eastwood’s Earl Stone requires no such chemical assistance. He might be old, but as the filmmaker wanted everyone to know so much, he did it twice, he was a stallion.
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