The actor Clint Eastwood compared to Katharine Hepburn: “Just as big a name in that era”
Clint Eastwood has never been someone who doles out praise easily, so if you’re the recipient of a genuine compliment from the man, it’s a pretty big deal.
Generally speaking, when the legendary Dirty Harry hero gets asked about the folks he’s worked with – whether behind the camera or in front of it – he’s polite enough, but usually plays it close to the chest.
You won’t catch him dishing out too many specifics. You’re unlikely to hear him go into much detail or heap on the praise. Maybe it’s just what happens after seven decades in the business. He’s seen it all, done it all, probably a dozen times over, so it must take a lot to genuinely impress him. Then again, it might just be down to his no-frills, straight-talking nature. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t rate people or think they’re good at what they do…he’s just not one for gushing.
Because of all this, it definitely makes you sit up and take notice when Eastwood actually dishes out proper praise – like when he compared Angelina Jolie to Old Hollywood icon Katharine Hepburn. Back in 2008, Eastwood’s Changeling hit cinemas, with Jolie playing a mother in 1920s Los Angeles whose young son goes missing. When the police return a boy to her, she insists he isn’t her child. Rather than listen, the authorities label her unfit and have her thrown into a mental institution. Classic.
Jolie is superb in the movie as Christine Collins, a woman who is steadfast in her beliefs, but also powerless against the might of a city and the misogyny she faces at every turn. She was rightfully rewarded with an Academy Award nomination, and – perhaps even more importantly – some extremely high praise from the usually non-committal Eastwood.
Amusingly, when first asked why he cast Jolie, he indicated that it was primarily her timeless looks that sealed the deal. “Her face is one that works both contemporarily and in a period,” he told MTV with a shrug. “And so I said, ‘Yeah, let’s go with her.’ It was kind of a no-brainer.”
However, when he subsequently spoke to Empire, he admitted there was a lot more at play in his casting of Jolie, and she didn’t only boast a face that seemed to fit in the ’20s. Instead, she also displayed a quality in her performance style that Eastwood felt would have been right at home in Old Hollywood.
“To me, it’s like she’s a throwback to the women in film of the ’40s,” he stated with uncharacteristic precision. “Not to say the women today aren’t great, but back then, there was more individuality. All the faces were different; they didn’t have the same Botox look. Angelina has that great individuality, her own look, and her own style, and she’s a terrific actress besides.”
Fair play, Eastwood might’ve lumped an entire generation of actors into one Botoxed basket, but you can kind of see where he’s coming from. Jolie’s never really looked or felt like the rest of the Hollywood lot. She’s got that otherworldly thing going on – piercing eyes, a bit of danger bubbling under the surface. There’s a wild streak in her performances that you don’t see much these days. So maybe Clint wasn’t chatting complete rubbish when he reckoned she’s more in line with the old-school icons than the glossy, cookie-cutter crowd doing the rounds now.
“I think she would have been just as big a name in that era,” Eastwood concluded, before delivering the biggest vote of confidence any actor could ever hope to hear from a legend like him. “The same as Katherine Hepburn, and Bette Davis, and Ingrid Birdman.” Talk about being in good company!
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