Clint Eastwood refused to cast his son in ‘American Sniper’: “I auditioned and didn’t get a role”
These days, Hollywood nepotism is a hot-button topic that doesn’t seem like it’s going to go away anytime soon. In truth, the movie business has always worshipped at the altar of nepotism, and some of the biggest stars in history were undoubtedly given a leg up by their family name. However, it’s perfectly understandable why people with no connections in the business feel at a disadvantage when going up against the latest “nepo babies” for roles. Perhaps this is why Clint Eastwood never gave a handout to his son Scott, who claimed his old fan ruthlessly turned him down for one of his biggest hits.
Scott Eastwood was raised in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where his father happened to be the mayor for the first three years of his life. However, he eventually moved to Hawaii with his mother, Jacelyn Reeves, when he was ten. She worked as a flight attendant in the 1980s when she had an affair with Clint, and Scott was the product of that union in 1986. Scott was primarily raised by his mother, although he says his iconic father was also a part of his life from a young age.
As he grew up, Scott didn’t initially intend to follow his father into the family business. “Acting wasn’t inevitable for me,” he told The Independent in 2015. “I’ve always wanted to do something that is active and engaging and helps people. I would have been a firefighter.” However, he eventually developed a taste for performing, but didn’t fully commit to it until 2010 because he found roles hard to come by.
In those early years, Scott insisted on being credited as ‘Scott Reeves’ on any project he did book, because he wanted to avoid accusations of nepotism. However, it can’t be denied that his father did help him gain a foothold in the industry, even if he didn’t exactly make it easy. Between 2006 and 2009, Scott appeared in minor roles in three of his dad’s directorial efforts: Flags of Our Fathers, Gran Torino, and Invictus. Clint made him earn those parts, though.
“I was 18 years old when I called him and wanted to audition for Flags of Our Fathers,” Scott revealed. “I was a young actor trying to make something of myself, working two jobs and hustling, and he said, ‘Well, we’ll see. I’ll give you a shot to audition.’ I auditioned for one of the bigger roles in Flags, and that obviously didn’t happen. But I did a good enough job, so he hired me to do a couple of lines in the film.”
The same process was applied to the other movies, where again Scott auditioned for a significant role but had to make do with a smaller one. “That’s how it rolls with him on every project,” Scott admitted. “I’ve auditioned for a lot of the bigger roles in his films and never got them.”
By the 2010s, though, Scott had become more established in Hollywood and began appearing in many movies that had no connection to his father. So, when he got the chance to audition for Clint’s war biopic American Sniper in 2014, he jumped at the chance. He put himself forward to play the brother of Bradley Cooper’s Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle, and wondered if this would finally be the time he managed to land a substantial role in one of his dad’s movies.
“I auditioned for American Sniper and didn’t get a role,” Scott chuckled. The part went to Australian actor Keir O’Donnell, and Scott was initially disappointed, but when he landed his first lead role in 2015’s The Longest Ride, he realised that missing out may have been a blessing in disguise. “It was actually perfect because it was around the time this film was gearing up, so it was maybe a better thing,” he argued. “I would have loved to have been part of American Sniper, but then I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do this film.”
In the years since his dad put the kibosh on his American Sniper dream, Scott has starred in huge movies like Suicide Squad, The Fate of the Furious, Fast X, Wrath of Man, and Pacific Rim: Uprising. However, he still occasionally encounters the ugly allegation that he only has a career because his dad is Clint Eastwood – and it sticks in his craw every time. “It doesn’t work like that,” Scott grumbled. “He can’t just pick up the phone and say ‘Cast my son.’ It’s not like I didn’t have to audition for Fast & Furious because of who my father is.”
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