Yes, what every actor wants to really do is direct.
But few—if any—will enjoy a long and lasting career Clint Eastwood has had in front of and behind the camera.
At 76, the director only gets better with old age, and he’s enjoying a critical and commercial resurgence thanks to Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River. Known for wasting little time shooting his films, Eastwood also shows no sign of slowing down. He seemingly possesses more energy than Quentin Tarantino, having directed 14 of his 27 films since turning 60 in 1990. He even shot the World Two War epics Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima back-to-back so he could present the Battle of Iwo Jima from the U.S. and Japanese viewpoints.
The $90 million Flags of Our Fathers ($33.6 million) flopped after failing to distinguish itself from Saving Private Ryan. But the Golden Globe-winning Letters from Iwo Jima—opening in 300 theaters on Jan. 19 after earning under $1 million in limited release since Dec. 20—is already resonating with audiences in Japan, where it’s doubled its $15 million budget.
As Dirty Harry, Eastwood racked up a huge body count thanks to his .44 Magnum. In his twilight years, Eastwood seems more interested in the consequences of violence. And that’s lead to Oscars for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. (Letters from Iwo Jima, though, is unlikely to earn Eastwood a third Oscar if he’s nominated—Martin Scorsese probably will be the sentimental favorite for The Departed.)
Eastwood wasn’t the first actor who wanted to yell “Action!” Almost everyone in Hollywood’s directed a film, from Jack Nicholson to Jodie Foster to James Franco. Ben Affleck (Gone, Baby, Gone), Sarah Polley (Away From Her) and Stuart Townsend (The Battle in Seattle) make their debuts this year. Actors enjoy the creative freedom that come with directing, especially when their clout allows them to bring to the screen projects they hold near and dear, such as Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd.
The bigger the star, though, the less time, energy or motivation they have to divide their time on both sides of the camera for more than once or twice in their career. Yes, Warren Beatty, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson and Robert Redford have won Oscars for directing. And Kenneth Branagh, who began his career directing himself in film versions of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, is only just getting around to directing his first film, As You Like It, in six years. But Eastwood’s the only major star to have spent the majority of his career—beginning with 1971’s Play Misty for Me—multitasking as actor and director. And that was only because he wanted a fallback gig for when his popularity as an actor began to fade. Perhaps only Woody Allen has been more productive, though certainly not as prolific.
Still, it’s easy to imagine Mel Gibson and George Clooney eventually turning their undivided attention to directing. Gibson already seems to be moving that way with The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto. But the fallout of his drunk-driving arrest—and subsequent anti-Semitic rant—may adversely affect his future directing plans. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Good Night, and Good Luck shows Clooney‘s learned a lot from frequent collaborators Steven Soderbergh and the Coen Brothers.
While it’s hard to argue that Clooney, Gibson and Redford aren’t as committed to their craft as Eastwood, there’s no denying that Eastwood doesn’t work faster and more efficiently. OK, part of that has to do with Eastwood’s “one for the studio, one for me” work ethic. How else to explain 1990’s offerings The Rookie and White Hunter, Black Heart? But such for-the-masses efforts as Absolute Power and Blood Work were worth enduring so Eastwood could give us such lovingly crafted character studies as Unforgiven, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby.
Still, now with his career almost at an end, now’s the time for Eastwood to devote his time and attention to the stories he really wants to tell.
The Bottom Line
For Eastwood, directing was a means to prolonging his career. He’s certainly achieved his goal—to the point where he no longer worries about whether audiences will go see the likes of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Really, why should he? Who knows how many more films he has left in him, but as with John Huston and Robert Altman before him, Eastwood’s made it clear he plans to work until the day he dies. But when he’s gone, Hollywood probably will never see the likes of him again.
