Re: Eastwood in the press (minor mentions)

[Jed Cooper]

There's a recent interview with Sondra Locke that "mentions" Eastwood and his work and personal ethics:

http://davidlfurtado.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/exclusive-interview-with-sondra-locke-magic-in-films-and-the-real-world/

Actually there's also an interesting article with some "minor" mentions about Clint Eastwood. It's mainly focused on Sondra Locke:

http://davidlfurtado.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/sondra-lockes-the-good-the-bad-and-the-very-ugly-the-woman-with-a-name/

If you ban this post, I can only say one thing: "Democracy in action". Now you tell me from which of his movies is this quote from.

Heartbreak Ridge 

[antonis]

http://gregkihn.com/blog/go-ahead-make-my-day-my-clint-eastwood-story/

Go Ahead, Make My Day! My Clint Eastwood Story!


The Greg Kihn Band performed at a private affair for the MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION in Carmel at Clint Eastwood’s Tehama Golf Course recently and it was a star–studded affair.  It was a fund-raising event complete with silent auction, a not-so-silent auction, a raffle, and other ways to bid on lavish items.

I had missed 90% of the proceedings because I was busy sound-checking the band upstairs.  After the band had finished their sound-check, I drifted downstairs to the banquet room.  The lady who put this gala event together grabbed me by the arm and pulled to the front and center table suddenly I was shaking hands with Clint Eastwood himself.  Dirt Harry gripped my hand and looked me in the eye.  I felt compelled to say something… anything!  I mean, Clint was giving me the eye, you know the one I mean, with the one eyebrow arched as if he’s saying, “I know what you’re thinkin’… did he fire six shots or only five?  In all the excitement I kinda lost count myself, so you’ve got to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky?”  He gripped my hand firmer.  “Well, do ya, punk?”  I was on cloud nine.

I searched my brain for something to say to Clint Eastwood.  Finally I blurted out something incredibly stupid yet somehow sensible.  I leaned over to speak in his good ear.  I said, “I’m Greg Kihn.  I’m the bandleader.  Got any requests?”
Clint eyed me suspiciously.  “Band leader, eh?  Just play whatever you normally play.”

“Yes, sir!”  I finished my handshake and got the hell out of there.  I was sitting at a banquet table with Clint Eastwood and George Lopez!  How cool is that?  I’m trying to be a good boy and not embarrass myself by making “Dirty Harry” quotes like “Go ahead, make my day.”  Or “A man’s got to know his limitations.”  So I just sat there making small talk.

George Lopez was sitting next to him cracking one-liners.  It was surreal.  Anyway, once you’re seated at the first table with Clint Eastwood you can’t leave.  Everyone’s watching.  And there’s an auction going on and people are bidding $20,000 to $50,000 on fabulous items.  It was like on I Love Lucy when they went to the auction and she scratched her nose and they thought it was a bid.  Needless to say I sat on my hands.

Then I realized, I’m sitting with Clint Eastwood and no one’s taking my picture.  Of all the people I’ve met, Clint is the one guy I would put up on the wall.  Are you kidding me?  Online in two hours!

Except no pictures!  I kept looking around for one of the small army of photographers who were always around, but they had all disappeared.  Finally, as we were getting up to go I grabbed a lady with a camera and she took a picture of me and Clint Eastwood.
 I said, “One more picture Mr. Eastwood?”
He looked at me and squinted that way he does.  “The Band Leader?”
 “Yes, sir.”
 “I don’t know.  Of course I haven’t heard the band yet.”
He took the picture anyway.

That is my Clint Eastwood story.  By the way, we nearly a million dollars for the MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION.  Not a bad night.

[Jed Cooper]

Here's a decent article I just came across in the Cinema Retro site:  A Tribute To The Films of Clint Eastwood and Don Diegel

It leads to another article, a brief synopsis of each film:  Clint Eastwood, Don Siegel, and the great anti-hero

This may have already been posted, so I'll understand if the moderators delete this one.

[antonis]

Hugh Laurie considers Clint Eastwood to be the greatest influence on his acting career and he has always looked up to the screen legend.

Hugh Laurie says Clint Eastwood is his biggest inspiration.

The 54-year-old actor has been compared to the 83-year-old star and he believes it as a good thing because he sees Clint as a screen icon, who has influenced all his acting work.

Hugh said: ''The comparison pleases me a lot, of course. I consider Clint to be a father, who educated me. I love 'The Blues', this primitive music that comes from the cotton fields, and its ability to calm while telling terrible stories.''

http://www.contactmusic.com/story/hugh-laurie-clint-eastwood-is-an-icon-to-me_3951731

[higashimori]

 I do not know if this quote is valid for this thread......

 Clint Eastwood never uses the excuse, “Sign one, you have to sign all.” He’ll stay until everyone’s satisfied.

 http://pagesix.com/2013/11/07/the-best-and-worst-celebrity-autograph-signers/

[KC]

I've moved the above post here from the "Clint quote of the day" thread. I think it's more appropriate here.

[Jed Cooper]

I do not know if this quote is valid for this thread......

 Clint Eastwood never uses the excuse, “Sign one, you have to sign all.” He’ll stay until everyone’s satisfied.

 http://pagesix.com/2013/11/07/the-best-and-worst-celebrity-autograph-signers/

Man!  If I EVER run into Shatner and lose my senses enough to ask for an autograph and the idiot tries to charge me ten bucks, I’ll refuse and tell him he should be paying me instead.  Schmucks!  At least Eastwood’s got it right.

[antonis]

Camerimage Interview: Cinematographer Tom Stern

Nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Changeling in 2008, cinematographer Tom Stern is best known for his frequent collaboration with director Clint Eastwood. Although he didn't become the full-fledged director of photography until Blood Work in 2002, Stern's history with Eastwood goes back even farther, as he explains in the below interview with ComingSoon.net from this year's Camerimage Festival in Bydgoszcz, Poland.


CS: As far as your repeated partnership with Clint Eastwood, can you tell me where you first met and how you form that creative bond?
 Stern: He has a very flat organization and always has and he's got the motto, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." We started through some bizarre thing where I met the guy who was shooting his movies and who, before, had operated his films. They went off to do "Firefox." There's a joke about tomatoes. Actually, it's not a joke, it's a fact. There's two kinds of tomatoes. There's tomatoes that travel and there's tomatoes that don't. That's actually the case. The best tomatoes don't travel. Then there's other tomatoes that you can ship around the world for two months and will still look like a tomato. They taste like s--t. They say people are the same way. It turns out that the gaffer at the time who had that position was a tomato that didn't travel. He flipped out and there were some issues in Austria. Suddenly there was an opening and I was asked if I would like to do "Honkytonk Man" in 1981. That's where that all started.

CS: Are you still working on "Jersey Boys" or is that full shot now?
 Stern: We finished it.

CS: How was that?
 Stern: A lot of Four Seasons music. No, it was a nice break for what I was going through and stuff. A lot of singing and dancing and stuff like that.

CS: It seems like a nice change of pace for Eastwood.
 Stern: Yeah, I was like, "Wait, what are you doing?" I think we were supposed to do something else. We had talked about doing something else and I was tied up. Then he says, "We're gonna do 'Jersey Boys.'" I was like, "Huh. Okay." That pleasant. We did most of it in LA, so I got to see a lot of friends.

CS: Are you doing "American Sniper" now?
 Stern: Yup.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=111866

[KC]

Thanks, Antonis! The whole interview is well worth reading. Also, this is the first we've heard about the American Sniper project in quite a while.

[antonis]

Choosing life: The words and impact of Jeff Shannon, 1961-2013

Jeff Shannon, who died Dec. 20, was a Seattle-based film critic and RogerEbert.com contributor who often wrote about issues facing the disabled. He was a gifted writer and fiercely independent man, and his aesthetic opinions often intertwined with his life experience in ways that made him unique, and uniquely important.

As his friend Scott Jordan Harris wrote in an appreciation, Jeff "was more than just a disabled person: he was a disabled activist." He served on the Washington State Governor's Committee on Disability Issues and Employment, wrote widely about his experience as a disabled person, and often wove political analysis into his film writing.

One example is Jeff's 2011 review for RogerEbert.com of the documentary "Life is Worth Living,"  which mixed biographical nuggets ("I had just turned 29 and I'd been disabled (C-5/6 quadriplegia) for 11 years, since a diving accident on the coast of Maui in 1979, two weeks after high-school graduation and three weeks before my 18th birthday") with critical appreciation of a documentary about the history of disabled activism in the United States. The piece includes a sharp assessment of what the landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities act has accomplished and where it has fallen short. "To be disabled in America, in 2011, is to realize that you may have gained your civil rights, but most of society didn't get the memo," he wrote.


Jeff died yesterday at Stevens-Swedish hospital in Edmonds. He'd been on life support due to pneumonia, which made it hard for his heart to process oxygen without assistance. He is survived by family and friends who remember his humor, compassion, and determination to make a difference. You could see this quality manifested not just in his political activism and straightforwardly prescriptive writing—for New Mobility, and more recently for FacingDisability.com— but also in his reviews and features. Jeff's life experience let him speak with authority on subjects that other writers might have had to imagine their way into.

One example is Jeff's writing about "Million Dollar Baby," which he loved and defended, both on his own and in concert with Roger Ebert, who loved Jeff and promoted his work for years. Jeff was angered by conservative activists who blasted the Clint Eastwood film as an ad for euthanasia. He reached out to Roger and praised it.

"Until 'Million Dollar Baby' become an issue," Roger wrote in a 2005 piece, "I didn't know he was a quadriplegic. He is writing an article about the movie from his point of view; he thinks it is a great film and takes issue with those in the disabled community who attack it. Shannon has chosen life, and leads a full and productive one. Ramon Sampedro, the character in 'The Sea Inside,' refuses to be supplied with a chair he could control by his head and breath. He has given up. Jeff Shannon wrote me about the movie: 'Despite considerable pain and anguish for a variety of quad-related reasons, I agree with Ramon Sampedro's cause, but I cannot share his attitude for one simple reason: I look at life the way I look at a good movie -- I can't wait to see what happens next.'"

Jeff's personal authority allowed him to play devil's advocate and ask knowledgable and pointed questions of Clint Eastwood during an interview about "Million Dollar Baby." "Some disabled people are very discouraged by the film," Jeff told Eastwood, "because they perceive a potentially harmful image that suggests that disabled people are 'better off dead.' "I don’t think that’s the situation [in the film], and it wasn’t the intention at all," Eastwood replied. "The intention was just to tell the story of these two people, and it’s not advocating that at all." Eastwood was so impressed by Jeff that he invited him the set of his next film, the Steven Spielberg-produced "Flags of Our Fathers," where the photo at the top of this article was taken.

http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/the-words-and-impact-of-jeff-shannon

[KC]

Thanks, Antonis. That's a very interesting article. I edited your post to fix the formatting of the headline.

If you follow the link at the bottom of Antonis' post, the original story has links to related material, such as Jeff Shannon's interview with Clint about Million Dollar Baby: http://www.newmobility.com/2005/04/clint-eastwood-defends-his-baby/

R.I.P., Jeff Shannon.

[higashimori]

 Ahmad Jamal

 

He was friends with Miles Davis, Clint Eastwood is his biggest fan, and he’s had his work sampled by Jay-Z, John Legend and De La Soul. Now jazz great Ahmad Jamal is set to return for a date in Dublin. Alan Corr talks to the veteran 83-year-old pianist about Miles, Clint and why he’s still learning

 http://www.rte.ie/ten/features/music/2014/0116/498320-ahmad-jamal/

 

And of course, Mr Jamal’s biggest early influence, fellow pianist Erroll Garner, also hailed from Pittsburgh. Garner’s best known song, Misty, famously featured in Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut Play Misty for Me in 1971 and years later, jazz fan Eastwood was to feature Jamal’s 1962 hit Poinciana in his 1995 movie The Bridges of Madison County. (Bringing it bang up to date, four compositions by The Ahmad Jamal Trio feature on the soundtrack to The Wolf of Wall Street).

“Clint Eastwood is the only director who has done two movies on two famous musicians – he did a movie on Charlie Parker and he did a documentary on Thelonious Monk,” says Mr Jamal. “Which other director in Hollywood has done that? None of them and that shows you the character of the man. That’s why the man is so successful. It’s because he has some insight to what it is.”

 

 http://www.hollywood.com/news/brief/26787363/clint-eastwood-honours-jazz-star-ahmad-jamal
 http://blog.sfgate.com/missbigelow/2012/05/09/clint-eastwood-ahmad-jamal-make-sfjazz-gala/#5034101=0

[KC]

Ahmad Jamal

 
 http://www.rte.ie/ten/features/music/2014/0116/498320-ahmad-jamal/

 
  http://www.hollywood.com/news/brief/26787363/clint-eastwood-honours-jazz-star-ahmad-jamal

“Clint Eastwood is the only director who has done two movies on two famous musicians – he did a movie on Charlie Parker and he did a documentary on Thelonious Monk,” says Mr Jamal. “Which other director in Hollywood has done that? None of them and that shows you the character of the man. That’s why the man is so successful. It’s because he has some insight to what it is.”

 http://blog.sfgate.com/missbigelow/2012/05/09/clint-eastwood-ahmad-jamal-make-sfjazz-gala/#5034101=0

In fact, Eastwood only served as "ex post facto" executive producer on Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser; he stepped in and helped obtain distribution for the documentary after it was already finished.

However, since then, he has produced and/or executive-produced documentaries on Tony Bennett, Johnny Mercer and Dave Brubeck, with a good deal of personal input and featuring himself as an on-camera participant.

[higashimori]

 '' 'Baby' tops the best pictures of the last decade ''

 http://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/Baby-tops-the-best-pictures-of-the-last-decade-5294239.php

 

In collaboration with Rotten Tomatoes and its parent company, Flixster, Hearst Newspapers presents the critical consensus of the last 10 best picture Academy Award winners. (The figure listed is the percentage of critics who have rated the film positively, based on reviews listed at rottentomatoes.com.)

1. "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) 91 percent: Clint Eastwood's assured direction — combined with knockout performances from Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman — help "Million Dollar Baby" to transcend its cliches, and the result is deeply heartfelt and moving.

 

[higashimori]

 '' Judge Gives Warner Bros. a Victory in 'Trouble With the Curve' Lawsuit ''

 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/judge-gives-warner-bros-a-682948

 

Warner Bros. has scored a summary judgment win in a copyright infringement lawsuit over the 2012 film, Trouble With the Curve, starring Clint Eastwood as a cantankerous aging baseball scout. On Tuesday, while not completely dismissing the case, the judge ruled in Warners' favor by saying the plaintiffs hadn't shown requisite similarity from an allegedly stolen script.

[KC]

'' 'Baby' tops the best pictures of the last decade ''

 http://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/Baby-tops-the-best-pictures-of-the-last-decade-5294239.php

That list is apparently just the ten Best Picture winners  in chronological order, so it's misleading to say Million Dollar Baby "tops" it.

The figure listed [after each film title] is the percentage of critics who have rated the film positively, based on reviews listed at rottentomatoes.com.

That figure is 91% for Million Dollar Baby. Except for Crash, #2 on the list but with only 75%, all other films on the list scored higher.

Here's what the list would look like if the films were ranked according to the Rotten Tomatoes' critics' ratings:

1. "The Artist" (2011):  98 percent
2. "The Hurt Locker" (2009):  97 percent
3. (tie) "Argo" (2012):  96 percent
3. (tie) "12 Years a Slave" (2013):  96 percent
5. (tie) "No Country for Old Men" (2007):  94 percent
5. (tie) "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008):  94 percent
5. (tie) "The King's Speech" (2010):  94 percent
8. "The Departed" (2006):  93 percent
9. "Million Dollar Baby" (2004):  91 percent
10. "Crash" (2005):  75 percent

[higashimori]

 '' Nancy Hillis, 'Midnight's' Mandy, sings last song with book ''

 http://savannahnow.com/news/2014-03-29/nancy-hillis-midnights-mandy-sings-last-song-book

 

When the Savannah Morning News published several stories in January about the 20-year anniversary of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” one of the book’s characters, Nancy Hillis, aka Mandy Nichols, was nowhere to be found for an interview.

Writer John Berendt described Hillis’ character as an accomplished singer who ran a night club, Sweet Georgia Brown’s, with piano-playing, attorney-turned-conman Joe Odom. Alison Eastwood played the role in the movie version directed by her father, Clint Eastwood.

[higashimori]

 '' Clint Eastwood flips out at builder? ''

 http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=231132

 

Los Angeles, April 26 (IANS): Actor-director Clint Eastwood reportedly flipped over a builder when his car was blocked with a cement truck.

"Clint was livid when he pulled out of the driveway of his Bel-Air home and where two new homes are under construction, with trucks constantly blocking traffic. Clint was stopped by a workman who told him he’d have to wait until a cement truck could be moved out of the way," said a source.

"Exasperated, Clint freaked out leaping out of his car and screamed at the guy, 'I can’t take this anymore! It’s been over nine months of construction what the hell are you building here, the Taj Mahal?’," added the source.

Clint was reportedly late for a meeting and demanded that the path gets immediately cleared.

 Calm down Mr Eastwood, the anger is not good and danger to your health! 

[higashimori]

 '' CLINT’S DAD WRITES TO THE OTHER CLINT ''

 http://emag.co.uk/clints-dad-writes-to-the-other-clint/142850

 

Can Clint Eastwood help to immortalize the work of an Indian child prodigy named after him?

M.T. Joseph and Chinnamma Joseph, of Kochi, Kerala, have sought the support of the great star to popularize an online International Painting Competition for Children that was set up to honour the memory of their son, Edmund Thomas Clint. Little Clint’s father, M.T. Joseph was a wrestling coach in his spare time and an ardent fan of Hollywood movies. He chose the Hollywood Actor’s name ‘Clint’ for his only child. The child, believed to be a genius by many, lived only for 2522 days but left a legacy of more than 25,000 pictures, many of which are extraordinary.

The Josephs were aware that Clint Eastwood was familiar with the work of little Clint, because the actor had sent them a personal message after learning about the sad demise of their son. Clint Eastwood said that he had seen a documentary on little Clint and his work; the film, directed by Sivakumar, a noted Indian film maker, had been showcased at an international film festival and Eastwood had been impressed by the child prodigy. The Hollywood star wrote a handwritten message on his photograph and had sent it to the parents after Clint died. Even today, the portrait hangs on their living room wall as one of the most precious gifts received in their lifetime.

 

[antonis]

Big star, small car! Clint Eastwood takes his friend out for a spin in his tiny Fiat 500

He can afford any car on this earth but forget a Lamborghini, the only Italian motor Clint Eastwood wants is a Fiat.
The 83-year-old mega star arrived on set with his friend in Venice, California, on Thursday, in the tiny two door hatchback.
The veteran actor's car choice may seem bizarre, but the director is actually putting his keys where his mouth is.

The director famously spoke on behalf of Chrysler - which is majority owned by Fiat - during a halftime Superbowl advertisement earlier this year.
The Million Dollar baby star is also doing his bit for the environment as the 83-year-old is driving the 500e version of the vehicle which runs on electricity.
Currently directing his latest feature, American Sniper, Clint can probably afford to but the entire crew the little car considering it costs just $30,000.

While many stars would probably avoid such a compact vehicle, the actor turned director smiled away at the cameras as he arrived on location.
While no spring chicken any more - and with 60 years of a film career under his belt - the star looked ready and rearing to go as he zapped on to the film's lot.
Setting a cracking directorial pace, Clint has only just wrapped filming the movie version of Broadway musical Jersey Boys.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2636677/Clint-Eastwood-takes-friend-spin-tiny-Fiat-500.html