Clint Eastwood is a legendary star whose charm and ruggedly handsome features captured the hearts of millions of fans.
After concerns that he had set off into the blazing sunset, the nonagenarian recently re-appeared following a two-year break to direct his upcoming movie, Juror #2, a thriller that some say is his “swan song.”
Clint Eastwood, who celebrated his 93rd birthday on May 31, is hoping to add one final box office hit to his long list of credits.
Clint Eastwood’s movie career
Oftentimes seen on screen with a broad-brimmed hat resting on his head, the legendary actor was launched into stardom with his stellar performances in westerns.
Earning five Academy Awards and Golden Globes for directing and acting, Eastwood had his big break in 1959 with the western drama series, Rawhide as cattle driver Rowdy Yates. Eastwood played Rowdy for seven seasons in the show that ended in 1965.
In the mid 1960’s, Eastwood became an international superstar with his performance as The Man with no Name, the poncho-wearing cowboy in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns (westerns filmed in Europe).
The three films were Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), introducing Eastwood as the tough guy gunning down the bad boys.
Immediately after, Eastwood played the lead role as the “antihero” in the five Dirty Harry films, which emphasized his character typical of traditional masculinity at the time.
In 1971, the same year the first Dirty Harry was released, the star also made his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me.
Taking on directing
“I like being in films, I like making films and I started directing films because I thought, one day I’m going to look up on screen and say, ‘That’s enough Eastwood, you’d better do something else.’ So I thought, If I direct, I can let other people be on screen,” said the director of Letters from Iwo Jima.
His diverse creative talents involved him in westerns, action, comedy and dramas like the neo-noir crime drama Mystic River (2003), the romantic drama Bridges of Madison County (1995) the multiple award-winning sports drama Million Dollar Baby, and the 1978 comedies Every Which Way but Loose.
He also directed and produced 2014’s Jersey Boys, which is based on the Tony Award-winning stage musical. Other notable films he’s credited are Oscar-nominated pictures like Invictus, American Sniper and Sully.
When speaking with the LA Times, the star of Escape from Alcatraz explained that, at first, “The whole point of directing was something you can do as an older guy.” (He was 41 when he directed his first movie.) But now, “I just like it. I have nothing against other directors, but I might have a whole different take on things, and I don’t want to be thinking, ‘Why did I give it to him?’”
Clint Eastwood recent sighting
After almost two years away from movie sets, and complete suspension with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strikes, the beloved star was recently spotted in Georgia, behind the camera, directing the film, Juror No. 2.
The new movie, which stars Zoey Deutch, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Messina, Nicholas Hoult, and Toni Collette, follows the story of a juror who realizes during a murder trial that he is responsible for the death of an innocent victim.
Juror No. 2, which is slated for a release sometime in 2024, will likely be Eastwood’s last, due to what an insider claims is “his advancing age.” The person, who suggested that this film would be his “swan song,” continued, “The fact that he hasn’t been around as much lately has a lot of people in Hollywood worried about him…It’s hard to imagine him in anything other than fine form, but Father Time catches up to all of us.”
But similar rumors about the former mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea retiring swirled after his 2021 film Cry Macho, a box office bomb.
At the time, Eastwood said, “I don’t have anything percolating at the moment…I didn’t have anything percolating before this one. If something comes along where the story itself, the telling of it, is fun, I’m open to it.”
But, the same source reveals the star, director and producer of Gran Torino feels that Hollywood “retired on him,” especially after Cry Macho was a total flop. “Some thought Cry Macho was going to be his last film two years ago because he seemed frail even then, but the movie wasn’t well received, so Clint’s gathering up the troops one last time – and hoping for a blockbuster.” And people were gobsmacked when they saw what Eastwood looks like now…
Still, he might have other films in the works.
“I love what I do,” he said in 2018. “I’ll probably keep on going. I feel good, but it depends on material. I probably wouldn’t do something just because it was marginal–I have to kind of think it has some validity and has some relationship to today. With a lot of other people, was it that their health went bad or did they just get bored with it? I often wonder, because I haven’t gotten bored with it.”
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