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Clint Eastwood

Why Clint Eastwood Always Tries To Use The First Take As A Director

Director Stanley Kubrick — in the name of perfection — infamously required his actors to do as many takes as sanity permitted. Actor Philip Stone, who played the ghost of Mr. Grady in “The Shining,” reported to the Independent that to took 50 or 60 takes to shoot a single eight-minute scene. Stone theorized that Kubrick, having come from a background in photography, was far more obsessed with aesthetics than he was with performance, realism, or basic understanding of what actors need to go through. Everything needed to be just so for Kubrick, or the actors would have to do it again.
 
Standing proudly in contrast to that kind of repeated, weeks-long meticulousness is Clint Eastwood, one of Hollywood’s most notable powerhouses — even without considering his acting career. With 39 directing credits to his name, the 92-year-old filmmaker has long been established as part of the Hollywood firmament.
Eastwood has adopted a directing philosophy that is 100% the opposite of Kubrick’s: Once the lights and the cameras have been set up, Eastwood wants conversations to sound extemporaneous, just like they are in real life. People don’t get “second takes” when it comes to conversation. As such, Eastwood has endeavored to use only one take per scene if possible. He seems to be a very hands-off director, trusting his cast and his crew to provide what they’ve been hired to provide.
In a 2005 interview with Film Comment, Eastwood elucidates on his laidback process.
Everyone just does it


In 2005, Eastwood had already directed 24 features, two of which had won Academy Awards for Best Picture (“Unforgiven” and “Million Dollar Baby”). As such, he had long since become confident that anyone he hired — many of whom he worked with on the regular — already knew what he wanted without too much communication. This unspoken understanding, for Eastwood, greatly streamlined the process, and allowed him to make films quickly and instinctually. Said Eastwood:
“Everyone directs movies differently, but the way I get that is just by doing it. Certain scenes I’ll rehearse if there are technical difficulties of lighting and camera. Fortunately I have a camera crew that’s very well oiled, so they pretty much know where I’m headed, without much explanation. And then, when we get to the point where I’m doing it, no one asks questions when I’m trying to get into the part.”Eastwood also stresses the need for actors to get on board quickly. Unlike Kubrick, he wasn’t there to rework their performances as infinitum. Eastwood likes a more casual form of conversation, something regular viewers of his films might sense: If there are long speeches in an Eastwood script, they tend to be subdued. Little feels orchestrated in an Eastwood film, and a lot feels improvised. Eastwood had even found that giving actors the constraint of few takes can bring out some great performances.
Spontenaity

Given his broad filmography, Eastwood has naturally worked with hundreds of notable actors in his career, each one of which likely has a different style. Some actors like a theatrical, spontaneous, instinctual form of acting. Others prefer study, rehearsal, careful preparation and repetition. As Eastwood said, he tries to force all his actors into being the former, with, according to him, some rather good results. In Eastwood’s words:
“The objective is to make everything sound like the first time it’s said, so the only thing I can do is try to pick it up the very first time it is said. So a lot of times I’ll do it that way. I know some people don’t like to do that. And if it doesn’t come out perfect the first time, you have to go onward and upward with it. But you’d be surprised with good performers how interesting something can be the first time they try it.”Eastwood will only do multiple takes, it seems, if the scene requires a little more direction. His elder statesman status, he has seemingly found, has taken the need away from extensive directing. It’s only when Eastwood sees something done beyond his expectations that he’ll need to do another take. Period. No rehash of motivation. It’s all about rhythm and timing. Although Eastwood likely delved and micromanaged early in his directing career, by 2005, not much else was left to be said beyond noting rhythm. As Eastwood said:
“Sometimes the rhythm or the timing isn’t right, so you say let’s do it again with a little more tempo, or let’s not make a moment out of something that shouldn’t be a moment, or let’s make a moment out of something that should be a moment.”No tension on set

While Eastwood has directed multiple genres of films — thrillers, mood pieces, theological preponderances, musicals (!) — he seems to like the mood on the set to be, in his words, “relaxed.” Eastwood’s directing style stands directly in contrast with his famed personae as an actor; after playing grizzled gunslingers in multiple 1960s westerns and a grizzled, no-nonsense cop in the five “Dirty Harry” movies, Eastwood’s own personality as a soft-spoken square is what shines through in his directing. Again: Those familiar with his directorial career know how mellow — almost frustratingly so — his films can be. Eastwood confirmed this in the Film Comment interview, saying:
“I think that’s what keeps me doing it at this stage in life. It’s that every sequence has its own little challenges. And there are no rules. The rule is whatever it takes. There is no style for every scene. It’s whatever it takes to get there. You have to understand the people. You have to set an atmosphere and a tone where everyone can feel extremely relaxed and there’s no tension to obstruct what you’re trying to do. And it’s amazing what good things will come out of it.”No tension, no obstructions, no arguments. Eastwood seems to want a set where everyone, y’know, just does the thing. There doesn’t need to be any kind of pretense when you’re two dozen films into your career. His “just do it” philosophy has kept him prolific for decades.
Kubrick, meanwhile, only made 13 features in 47 years.

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Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood Fans Get the Western Icon Trending on Twitter With Epic Throwback Pics

For those people who saw Clint Eastwood trending on Twitter on Sunday morning, then just know that he’s doing just fine. The onslaught of attention, though, did bring some epic throwback pictures to the platform. Fans were sharing many different shots from his iconic career. We picked out a few of them for you to get a peek at and enjoy. Our man Clint loves to keep working and even getting a round of golf in here and there. When he’s on the movie set or in some other setting, it’s always a good time to get some photos.

Those photos and even a video definitely liven up a Father’s Day filled with fun for many. Yep, even Eastwood probably had some fun and well wishes coming his way from his children. Daughter Alison Eastwood is a solid actress in her own right, having starred in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. As for papa Clint, well, where do you start with his movie career? Of course, there’s his time as the “Man with No Name.”

Clint Eastwood Did Find Success In Movies Thanks To ‘Spaghetti Westerns’

The work with Sergio Leone helped him get that movie career up and running. Meanwhile, he made Harry Callahan a major character thanks to Dirty Harry. Yet those Westerns do make him look that much better, right? Think about the “Spaghetti Westerns” that we alluded to just now.

Go beyond that to Unforgiven, a movie he not only acted in but had a role in getting the film made. Heck, Clint Eastwood wanted veteran actor Gene Hackman on board from the get-go. As the story goes, though, Hackman had reservations about joining up. When you play “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection, that becomes an iconic role for him. But the movie had its fair share of violence and that kind of turned him off at the outset.

In fact, Hackman, at first, said he didn’t want to be involved in another violent movie. That would be because of his daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, who had some say in the matter. The actor did read the script but said no at first. Eastwood did tell Hackman that there was a chance to make a statement against violence in Unforgiven. When looking at the script again through those eyes, Hackman would agree to do it. Good thing he did. Hackman would win an Oscar for his role. “It’s all in the execution, you gotta execute it right, or else nothing means anything,” Eastwood said in an interview about the film. “He [Hackman] re-read it and came back and said, ‘Yeah, okay, I’ll do this.’”

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Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood’s Daughter Reveals Her Favorite Advice He Gave Her

Alison Eastwood is an actress as well one of the daughters of the famed actor and director Clint Eastwood. Getting any type of advice from dear old Dad is a good thing. When it comes to her favorite piece that he gave her, you might think it was acting. She did get the acting bug, too, and did star in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. This advice must be about her career, right? Nope. It had to do with the always tough task of living life.

“I guess just not to take [life] too seriously,” Alison Eastwood tells Closer Weekly in an interview from 2019. “He never seemed to take anything too seriously. Maybe that’s not a good thing … I don’t know.” Yet she also would offer up a little more insight which she’s picked up from being around him. “He makes me laugh, I make him laugh,” Alison said. “That’s my favorite part about it. I think just having a lot of laughter, especially in our family, amongst ourselves. We’re all getting older.”

Clint Eastwood Isn’t A Big Fan Of His Birthday, Daughter Alison Says

She also says that Dad isn’t a big fan of his birthday. He would rather be doing something else, like working or playing golf, than celebrating his big day. Still, Clint Eastwood keeps on providing fans with film work as an actor and director. He’s achieved great success and to think he also has a classic TV connection. Of course, Clint does from his days playing Rowdy Yates on Rawhide.

Yet it is in the movies of Eastwood that has really made him a household name. Working in Europe would provide some foundational success thanks to the “Spaghetti Westerns” directed by Sergio Leone. He would play the “Man with No Name” in films like A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. They all would lead Eastwood to then become an iconic police officer as Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry. One time, he talked about A Fistful of Dollars possibly becoming an “absolute disaster.” What in the world does he mean by this? Eastwood told Roger Ebert years ago that the movie’s producers were arguing among themselves. The issue at hand was who would pay the bills to get the movie done. This leads him to say, “It could have been an absolute disaster. But, we got lucky with it. And it turned out Sergio Leone was for real.”

While his record of success and achievement is solid, sometimes Eastwood has to pick and choose between projects. When it came to playing Bruce Willis’ role John McClane in Die Hard, Eastwood did turn it down. Screenwriter Jeb Stuart would say that Eastwood said that he didn’t get the humor in the movie.

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Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood’s Daughter Posts Rare Selfie, And Her Fans Are Absolutely Loving It

Earlier this week, Clint Eastwood’s daughter, Francesca Eastwood, took to her Instagram account to share a rare selfie.

The actress, who didn’t write a caption for the post, is seen with a pair of pink lens sunglasses while sitting near a plant. Follows of Clint Eastwood’s daughter gushed over the simple snapshot. “Extraordinarily Beautiful,” one follower declared. “You look gorgeous, so much like your mom,” another added.

Francesca is preparing to film her upcoming action-packed movie, “Live Fast, Die Laughing.” The film follows a broke taxi driver in Vietnam who thinks it is his lucky day when a mysterious offers him a fortune to drive her 1,000 miles from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. While on the road, the duo is pursued by mobsters and an assassin. Written by Timothy Linh Bui and Tim Tori and directed by Bui, Eastwood will star in the film alongside Harvey Keitel. 

Clint Eastwood’s Daughter Francesca Talks Starring in a Western Genre Film 

While promoting her 2016 film “Outlaws and Angels,” Francesca revealed to the Observer that she didn’t speak to her father, Clint Eastwood, about starring in the western genre film.

“I didn’t ask my parents for advice on this one,” Francesca stated about the role. But she did admit that she usually asks her parents but she wanted to do her own thing this time. “So I just ran and did it and talked with them about it later. I wanted to do one on my own, and it felt great.”

Frances Fisher, Francesca’s mother, was also part of the film. However, the duo did not appear in any scenes together. “This is the first time that I was on a film and then she came on after, rather than her being in a film and I join as her baby. I was probably the least experienced actor, and everyone was just so welcoming and really nurturing to that.”

While speaking about working in a desert, Francesca recalled, “It was pretty intense with the heat and the costumes, and we couldn’t wash them because they were supposed to look aged, so after about 3 weeks of being in the same layers it was just gross. It was fun and part of the experience though. Normally if you’re uncomfortable or too hot you go get a water and sit in a trailer, but that was so not the case with this one.”

Francesa went on to note that she and the rest of the cast just dealt with the production’s conditions. “No one really went to the trailers. We just hung out – no texting, Tweeting, Instagramming. I think it made it really special. There were no distractions.”

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