“I’m not sure what he meant”: The star who compared Clint Eastwood’s acting to “dynamic lethargy”
Despite being neither a classically trained thespian nor a practitioner of the method, Clint Eastwood has done alright for himself by settling upon a method of performance that’s somehow entirely unique but widely influential.
Much like the way he directs, there’s always been a distinctly unfussy approach to Eastwood on camera, with the star deciding that ‘less is more’ is always the best option. In his defence, it worked wonders and showed beyond all doubt that grandstanding showcases aren’t the only way to attain legendary status.
Eastwood doesn’t even cry too often on the big screen, but he’s among the best ever at saying more with a single glance or subtle change in body language than any long-winded monologue could ever hope to achieve. All it takes is a glare, a sigh, or a shift in posture, and the audience knows exactly what he’s thinking.
Not many would suggest he’s up there are one of the greatest ever in terms of nothing but pure dramatic ability and range, but he’s comfortably one of the most iconic actors Hollywood has ever produced. He’s not as gifted as Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, or Al Pacino, but he’s been famous for longer than all of them and has more Academy Awards than they do.
There’s always been a stillness and economy to Eastwood’s work, which applies to his directing career, too. If it doesn’t need to be there, then he doesn’t see any point keeping it in, whether that’s referring to pages in the script, scenes in a movie, or exposition his character shouldn’t have to say out loud when he’s more than capable of doing it without uttering a single word.
He’d be terrible at delivering a Shakespearean soliloquy, but one actor who was among the best to have performed the works of William Shakespeare respected Eastwood’s no-frills approach. The two worked together on the classic war story Where Eagles Dare, with the notoriously hard-to-please Richard Burton offering his co-star a backhanded one, but a compliment nonetheless.
In a conversation with Michael Parkinson, he asked Eastwood for his thoughts on how Burton had “rather intriguingly” referred to his acting style as “dynamic lethargy.” There was a professional respect there, but for the most part, the four-time Oscar winner wasn’t entirely sure he understood.
“I loved Richard; he was a terrific guy, and I enjoyed working with him,” he said. “And he was great at coming up with things like this. I’m not sure what he meant, though.” Fortunately, the man himself had a much more in-depth explanation, which does, in fact, encapsulate Eastwood to a tee.
“Actors like Clint Eastwood have a dynamic lethargy,” he offered. “They appear to do nothing, and they do everything. They reduce everything to an absolute minimum. For instance, he had perhaps a four-line speech, and he reduced it to four words.” Damning with faint praise to a certain extent, but undeniably true.
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