It feels like Clint Eastwood has been old for as long as I’ve been alive. My introduction to the movie star was probably his first go-round as bare-knuckle brawler (and friend to orangutans) Philo Beddoe in “Every Which Way But Loose,” where he was already giving off too-old-for-this-s*** vibes as he idly romanced Sondra Locke. He was basically as old as I am now (51), which, let’s face it, is old, so each new Eastwood film, particularly the action flicks, felt like a referendum on aging. When Clint chased down a perp as Dirty Harry or snuck into the Soviet Union to steal an experimental aircraft (“The Bridges of Madison County” — what, you don’t remember that subplot?), you sensed that he was engaging with a world that was on the verge of passing him by.
Clint Eastwood is now 94 years old and may or may not get around to directing another movie after swatting “Juror No. 2” out of the park last year (much to the apparent dismay of Warner Bros. Discovery honcho David Zaslav, who throttled the film’s theatrical release). He has admitted to “slowing down” according to those in his inner circle, but given that most people his age are incredibly dead, simply pondering a new film project feels like landing on the moon to me. If he’s got the energy to shoot a movie, though, I can’t help but wonder if he’d be open to stepping back in front of the camera for the first time since 2021’s “Cry Macho.”
Yes, Eastwood has said his acting days are behind him, but he’s said this before and somehow mustered up the strength to give it another go. In fact, he previously considered retiring from acting before he directed the film that earned him his second Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.
Eastwood couldn’t say no to his role in Million Dollar Baby
In a 2008 interview with Reuters tied to the release of the underrated “Changeling,” Eastwood was asked if he still had an appetite for acting. Given that he’d just completed the filming of “Gran Torino,” in which he plays a mostly unapologetic bigot who stands up for his Vietnamese neighbors, he clearly wasn’t quite done with the craft. However, he did acknowledge that, earlier in the decade, he’d thought about calling it quits. As he told Reuters, “I think I started saying that back a few years ago, I said, ‘I don’t think I’ll act anymore, I’ll stay behind the camera,’ and then ‘Million Dollar Baby’ came along and I liked that role.”
He’s terrific in that role and also gave a very moving performance in “Cry Macho” at the age of 90, so, being a lifelong fan of the old man’s work, I’d like to think we haven’t seen the last of Clint on the big screen. I’m not necessarily expecting my guy to punch another man’s lights out (as he did in “Cry Macho”), but if he’s with it enough to call “action” and “cut,” why not treat us to one more performance? If memory’s an issue, he can always pull a Marlon Brando and paste his dialogue on other actors and objects in the scene. He seems to have no interest in retiring altogether, so live it up while you’re still living, Clint!
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