USA Today’s Anthony Breznican caught up with Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie at the NYFF where Changeling was screening. Eastwood says it wasn’t his strategy to place Gran Torino square in the middle of the Oscar race but the studio’s. He does talk a bit about the character he plays:
“I’m a weirdo in it. I play a real racist. … It’s a great time in life (to do that) because, you know, what can they do to you once you’re past 70? There’s nothing they can do. But it also has redemption. This Hmong family moves in next door, and he has been in the Korean War, in the infantry, and looks down on Asian people and lumps everybody together. But finally they befriend him in his time of need because he has no relationship with his family.”
It will be interesting to see how this plays with Oscar voters and audiences in general. Really, this is such a pivotal year politically and America hasn’t been this divided since Kennedy and Nixon went at it. How the election plays out will impact how we see many of the Oscar films – which ones will resonate will depend on who is elected. Gran Torino feels political to me and it feels very current to the state of things. We shall see.
19 Responses for "Eastwood Talks Gran Torino"
Sounds like this role could be Oscar (nomination) bait for Eastwood.
And of course next year Clint will have The Human Factor lined up for Oscar season which could make it two years in a row in which he’ll be competing presuming either Changeling or Gran Torino plays well with Academy voters. That seems likely despite the bile being spat at the former by kid bloggers.
It doesn’t seem that political; just a small drama about a lonely old man finding some unlikely new friends. Although it doesn’t sound like a strong BP contender, compared to the Changeling.
But hopefully it Clint will get some decent respect as an actor.
according to imdb, doesn’t seem to be strong enough cast to make it a real ensemble drama contender.
But still not political, more sentimental.
And overall I don’t think there are that many truly political films (maybe W, the Road, and Nothing But the Truth -and they’re hardly controversial ), certainly not in comparison with recent years.
Who cares? I never even liked Eastwood in the first place.
The project seems like pure bait anyway. People attack “Crash” for being too “obvious” (idiots). This looks positively see-through.
Is Clint Eastwood imply its okay to be a racist if you’re old?
Patrick, I think he’s implying that once you’re past a certain age no one’s going to attack you for antiquated views.
RE: “Is Clint Eastwood imply (sic) its okay to be a racist if you’re old?”
It’s perfectly obvious what Eastwood is saying here. He’s at a point in his career where there’s no great risk involved in alienating the audience by playing an essentially unlikeable character. You are either deliberately taking his remark out of context (the kind of sleazy behavior that makes politics so . . . well, so sleazy) or you’re just dumb.
“The project seems like pure bait anyway. People attack “Crash” for being too “obvious” (idiots). This looks positively see-through.”
So you’re an idiot if you call a movie “obvious” when almost a half-dozen characters in the movie almost literally yell “I’m a racist!” Crash had one of the worst handles on subtlety that I’ve seen in a long time. Eastwood has shown in his past few films that he is incredibly adept at intimate dramas focusing on a core group of people, to me that sounds like a much better venue for a subtle look at race relations than a sprawling overwrought flick that guilts people into liking it like Crash.
Stevens, you don’t get to call me an idiot. Go f*ck your mother.
I am one of the majority that saw more in “Crash” than the almost literal (???) calls of racism.
And you do realize that Haggis co-wrote “Letters from Iwo Jima” and “Milion Dollar Baby”?
I think most people don’t get Clint’s sense of humor. I’ve seen him speak and he’s mostly joking deadpan. But people always take him seriously. I don’t feel like I have to agree with him to appreciate his contribution to American film – his politics aren’t so offensive that they overshadow what he does, in my opinion. I feel like I’m sort of alone on that, in these comments sections anyway.
I apologize for the outbust in my previous comment. I should have been more polite.
I try to make people’s politics not to affect my enjoyment of their work but, in truth, I find that they do. I can’t help but think of them in an affected light. Obviously the severity of these views plays a large part in this.
Strangely enough, this isn’t a very common problem for me as most of those people are the ones I didn’t like in the first place.
And I really do think Crash is a very good movie.
CRASH sucks.
Anyway, if any of you get a chance, check out Clint Eastwood’s underrated solid thriller TIGHTROPE from the early 1980s.
Now he didn’t direct it (Richard Tuggle, scripter of ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, did), but you gotta admire how Eastwood was willing to enter new dangerous turf, back when he career was safe with all the shoot-em-ups and DIRTY HARRY pictures.
So imagine that with TIGHTROPE, he’s after a serial killer of prostitutes – many of whom Eastwood has had “prior commitments” with previously.
OK, that sounds routine right? How about ole Clint’s sexual fetish being that he has sex with those hookers handcuffed?
Freaky shit huh? That my friends is why Eastwood is awesome. He kicks ass, but willing to push the envelope at times.
TRANSLATION – Eastwood is a pimp
“Anyway, if any of you get a chance, check out Clint Eastwood’s underrated solid thriller TIGHTROPE from the early 1980s.
Now he didn’t direct it (Richard Tuggle, scripter of ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, did),”
Actually Eastwood directed Tightrope after Tuggle quickly showed himself as too inexperienced. Eastwood, not wanting to harm Tuggle’s career. took over filming but generously allowed him to keep screen credit.
Re pushing the envelope, a question. Every Which Way But Loose has Eastwood pursuing a gal across country after he falls in love with her. When they finally meet she physically attacks him, tells him he’s a slab of meat & that she only slept with him for the sex. Is it likely that any other major male star of that period would have allowed such an ending? Would McQueen, or Bronson, or Reynolds, or Caan not have nixed that and called for a rewrite in which the heroine wilts before the hero? But not Clint. He has a long history of quietly subverting expectations about him right from his very first feature Play Misty for Me. I wouldn’t claim Every Which Way is a great movie (although it’s certainly a personal favourite of mine) but it is fascinating to me how even in pics like that you can find Eastwood tinkering with some aspect of his screen persona. Right turn Clyde!
No Crash kicks ass. It could be the best Oscar winner of the decade so far (with the possible exception of Gladiator) though it wasn’t the best movie of 2005.
Zed & No Noughts – REALLY? I didn’t know that Clint took over on TIGHTROPE. I guess I’m an asshole now for giving Tuggle the directorial credit in my old review.
Did Clint say that somewhere? I’m damn intrigued now.
I’m reminded in fact of TOMBSTONE, which George P. Cosmatos has credit, when in fact Kurt Russell practically “ghost-directed” it.
Anyway, you’re absolutely right on EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE. That’s why Eastwood is a pimp.
Proman – No, CRASH sucks. It sucks so hard, it can move golfballs through a water hose. It sucks so much, the other whores in town think you’re devalue-ing the market. It sucks so much, BATMAN & ROBIN thinks it sucks.
To put it another way, without BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, would CRASH have won?
“Zed & No Noughts – REALLY? I didn’t know that Clint took over on TIGHTROPE. I guess I’m an asshole now for giving Tuggle the directorial credit in my old review.Did Clint say that somewhere? I’m damn intrigued now.”
The ‘Tightrope’ business is an old story that’s cropped up in various features & biogs of Eastwood over the years. Probably your best source is Richard Schickel’s Eastwood book which covers the incident & also relates another one on the set of ‘A Perfect World’ where Kevin Costner threw a tantrum & retreated to his trailer. Unwilling to halt production Eastwood matter of factly continued shooting with a Costner body double. When the star found out what had been going on he confronted Clint who told Kev that he’d been hired by the producers to shoot film & that’s what he was going to do. When Costner heard that he got the message & started behaving himself. It was only half a days shooting that Costner missed but for a star to find himself sidelined like that must have been quite a reality check.
Zed – You know, I need to read Schickel’s Eastwood book after all. If he says it, I believe it.
So basically, TIGHTROPE was another good one of his, and as for the A PERFECT WORLD incident….I’m sure Costner got his balls busted in that he didn’t get what he wanted.*
Again, Eastwood is a pimp.
*=Hell, if Kurt Russell is to be believed, Costner tried his best to keep every studio in town from picking up TOMBSTONE, so that it wouldn’t conflict with his WYATT EARP that same year, in threatening them.
No RRA, Crash owns. And I will keep saying this for as long as you keep denying it. And it’s the waste of your time , because to put it blantly I don’t think much of you or your opinions for me to be swayed by your repetition. I get your opinion and you get mine.
And yes it probably would have won without Brokeback Mountain to which it is superior, as much as I would have loved to think that the aboslutley brilliant Munich would have taken the prize that year.
htpTPj
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