“I’m only interested in serious films”: the iconic role Paul Newman called “shit” and turned down
Even though he was undeniably a man of principle, Paul Newman was also a man of contradictions.
He resented the idea of being known as a ‘movie star’ when he was a serious, thoroughly trained actor who’d honed his craft on the stage, who subsequently became one of his generation’s defining movie stars, and had no issues pocketing multi-million-dollar paydays to capitalise on it.
As he got older, he also increasingly abhorred the increase in sex and violence being depicted in mainstream Hollywood films, despite being, for all intents and purposes, a mad shagger. After all, he built a dedicated outpost at his home known as the ‘Fuck Hut’, which doesn’t need any explaining.
He lamented how special effects and spectacle had started to overtake drama as the audience’s preferred viewing experience of choice, and still admitted that the only reason he agreed to star in one of them, The Towering Inferno, which he also called “junk,” was because he was being paid a lot of money to do so.
Of course, actors have been speaking out of both sides of their mouths forever, so Newman was hardly an outlier. He did turn down one of the most iconic roles in modern history, though, which was based on several of the factors mentioned above, proving he wouldn’t compromise his principles for nothing.
“It’s very difficult to find good material,” he bemoaned. “I’m not pleased with the shit Hollywood has been turning out recently.” Commerce was gradually beginning to outstrip art as the easiest way to get a picture into production, but since he preferred his scripts to have some meat on their bones and something to say, he knocked back a legendary antihero.
“A serious film is a film that deals with human beings; their lives, relationships,” he explained. “I’m only interested in serious films, films that do not depend upon violence or pornography. That’s why I turned down Dirty Harry.” In his defence, he wasn’t the only one.
It would be an understatement to say that Newman wasn’t exactly politically aligned with the reputation Don Siegel’s classic eventually earned, whether it was warranted or not, and a gun-toting rogue cop who’d rather shoot first than ask any questions and bent the rule of law to suit his own agenda wasn’t something he’d ever imagine himself playing.
John Wayne also said no, and came to regret it so much that he tried to remake it on the sly with McQ, while Frank Sinatra bailed out, with Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, and Steve McQueen declining, too. Their loss was Clint Eastwood’s gain, with the star effortlessly turning Harry Callahan into one of his definitive roles.
