The two pieces of advice that turned Clint Eastwood into a legendary director: “That always resonated with me”
There’s only one Clint Eastwood, and just uttering his first name makes you think of crooked cops, anti-heroes, and dusty western plains, of which he is always at the centre.
The actor began his career back in the 1950s, with roles in the likes of various cheaply-made movies and TV shows, eventually coming to prominence with his long-standing role in Rawhide. From here, he moved from American TV to international acclaim, appearing in Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy as The Man with No Name. Of course, it was 1966’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly which received the most praise, and Eastwood was soon one of Hollywood’s most recognisable stars.
He represented a changing era for the industry. The western genre, which had typically seen figures like John Wayne play the heroic patriot, was now much more violent, with Eastwood’s anti-hero character given a distinctive European edge. These spaghetti westerns were much different from the American entries into the genre.
But then there came a time when Eastwood expressed interest in directing himself, making his feature debut in 1971 with Play Misty for Me. While he continued to act in other people’s projects, like Dirty Harry, the actor soon allowed directing to become his main deal, often opting to direct himself in movies.
But to get there, Eastwood kept several pieces of advice close to him, the first, in fact, coming from Dirty Harry director Don Siegel. He knew that it wouldn’t be easy for Eastwood to direct a movie in which he also played the leading role, so he told him something that he’d never forget.
The actor revealed the advice in an interview with Esquire, “There’s a temptation to spend more time on the other actors’ performances, and then when you get to your own work, you kind of go, ‘Oh, yeah, well, let’s cut that’. And [Siegel] said, ‘Take your time and make sure you do your work right’. It’s especially good advice if you’re going from one career to another.”
Clearly, this stuck with him, because Eastwood has found great success as both a director and an actor, even earning ‘Best Actor’ nominations for two movies that he wound up winning ‘Best Director’ for at the Academy Awards (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, to be precise).
The other piece of vital advice that Eastwood has kept with him came from his father, Clinton, and it encouraged him to find the strength and craftsmanship to become one of Hollywood’s biggest, most powerful names. “I was 40 the first time I directed. I formed a company in 1967, looking to the future. My dad taught me that whatever you do, do it well. Be the best at what you can do for that particular job in life. That always resonated with me.”
And that he certainly achieved; Eastwood has directed 40 movies since he started making films in 1971, while never letting his first love, acting, slip into second gear.
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