The movie that stopped Clint Eastwood from quitting acting: “Go ahead and have another shot”
Hollywood is a tough world to find your feet in. The sheer nature of the business means sure-footing is very rarely available, let alone an obviously comfortable path to take. It means, for the most part, new actors have to carve out their own route with a hefty degree of brute force. Due to his sheer prowess as both an actor and a director, Clint Eastwood has enjoyed the good fortune of choosing which path he wants his career to go down.
While the western cinema icon is perhaps slightly better known for his efforts in front of the camera, those behind it are admittedly equally remarkable. It is enough to have afforded him an icon status that he has rarely fallen short of living up to.
By proxy, Eastwood has directed himself in the lead role several times, including in The Bridges of Madison County, Gran Torino, Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, showing that he perhaps seemed to love both professions equally. However, Eastwood had toyed with the idea of quitting acting for good, and he took a lengthy break after Million Dollar Baby.
He once told The Yorkshire Post, “I said that back when we did Million Dollar Baby. I figured maybe this would be good – to quit on top, unlike a prize fighter who fights one too many fights.” Evidently, Eastwood felt it a good idea to end his career on a high rather than see his efforts in cinema decrease in quality and thereby fall by the wayside. It’s a smart move, as Eastwood’s analogy suggests, to leave the industry that made you before it has the chance to truly break you is perhaps the smarter move.
Hollywood has a habit of chewing up and spitting out legendary careers with a single misplaced step. Eastwood, with an Academy Award in hand, had a chance to bow out gracefully. However, the legendary actor wasn’t quite finished because when another offer came in, he couldn’t help but make one last film. After Million Dollar Baby, Eastwood took a four-year break from acting, but the temptation of Gran Torino in 2008 was enough to bring the film icon back into the fray once more.
“Then Gran Torino came along,” he added. “It seemed like an interesting part. It was a man my age, and I figured I wasn’t stretching things that much. So I decided I’d go ahead and have another shot.” The 2008 film saw Eastwood direct himself once again in his first acting role since the 2004 sports drama. It provided the star with the perfect vehicle to once again put himself into the Hollywood firing line.
Gran Torino takes place in Michigan and follows a recently-widowed, lonely Korean War veteran, played by Eastwood, who expresses an anger against the world that’s ramped up even more when his young neighbour steals his prized car to be initiated into a gang before eventually developing a relationship with the boy and family.
In another interview with Film Comment, Eastwood explained that he’s toyed with the idea of quitting acting as a way to combat the inevitability of age, noting, “I’ve threatened to quit, but maybe that’s a defense mechanism, because there aren’t enough good roles at my age. That’s probably true, and if it is, I’ll stay behind the camera.”
“The reason I started directing 37 years ago was I thought some day I or the audience would probably look at the screen and say, ‘That’s enough of that,'” he added. “I’m not saying it won’t happen again, but the odds get less if you set yourself a goal that fits your age group. You just never say never.” So far, it feels unlikely that Eastwood will ever see Hollywood turn its back on him, but as a man in his tenth decade on the planet, one might suggest he slow down anyhow.
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