Mr. Television
10-23-2008, 07:50 PM
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-10-22-gran-torino-first-look_N.htm
First look: Eastwood puts his scowl in high gear for 'Gran Torino'
By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY
Eastwood is back in your face.
Perhaps the most successful and prolific actor to turn director, Clint Eastwood's appearances on-screen have become increasingly sparse over the years as he has taken on projects that don't have roles for him.
The last one was four years ago as the boxing manager in Million Dollar Baby, which earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor. He didn't win, but the movie added best picture and best director to his Academy Award victories.
He's back again in Gran Torino, opening Dec. 17, and he hasn't looked this furious in a movie poster since 1976's The Outlaw Josey Wales.
"Well, I'm older now. It's easier to look angrier when you're an old guy," Eastwood, 78, says with a laugh.
Eastwood is still finishing the movie, but it already is regarded as a stealth Oscar contender given his recent track record of Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Letters From Iwo Jima. The first trailer for Gran Torino can be seen this weekend before Eastwood's Changeling.
His Gran Torino character is Walt Kowalski, a racist Korean War veteran whose prized possession is a classic car that catches the eye of local gangs in his Detroit neighborhood. One of the troubled kids who covets the vehicle is from a family of Hmong immigrant neighbors, whom Kowalski has long resented.
The story comes down to two objects (three if you count the scowl): his 1972 Ford muscle car and his M-1 rifle.
"That's the weapon he has had left over since being in the service," Eastwood says. "And the same weapon I had when I was in the Army."
Eastwood also served during the Korean War, and though he wasn't in combat, he says: "I still know how to operate it. Field strip it …"
He chuckles.
Apart from that slight parallel, Eastwood has little in common with Kowalski. "He worked on the line in the Ford plant and retired and had this one car he bought himself. It's sort of a symbol of his days with the Ford plant. The M-1 is sort of a symbol of his days in the military. … He's clinging to the memory of the war. You'll find out when you see it, some of (the memories) are not as pleasant as others. That helps make him even tougher to get along with."
Newcomer Bee Vang, a 17-year-old Hmong American originally from the Minneapolis area, was cast as the neighbor boy who strikes up a mutually reluctant relationship with Walt.
"The young kid, as part of a gang initiation, tries to steal it, and the old guy gets him at the end of the M-1, which becomes kind of a big deal," Eastwood says. "The kid has to do penance because of the pride of the Asian group. They make him do penance. He has to come over, and the old guy doesn't want anything to do with him, doesn't want him anywhere around."
The fastest way to rid himself of the boy, Kowalski decides, is to cooperate.
"Walt helps him get a job and helps him toughen up a bit," Eastwood says. "(Walt) doesn't work construction. He's retired. But he gets the boy in through a buddy, an old crony. They take him in and try to show him how to handle himself in life."
"The old guy," as Eastwood calls his character, ends up confronting prejudices that have isolated him.
"It's got a lot of twists and turns in the story," indicating some darker moments. "It also has some good laughs."
Eastwood is producing, directing and even composing music for movies at an age when other filmmakers would be retired. Acting is the only area in which he has cut back.
"Yeah, it'll probably be my last," he says of Gran Torino. "I'll be drummed out of it after this one."
After more than 50 years and dozens of iconic characters, could he be serious?
That familiar dry voice on the phone turns into a chuckle. "Nah, I'm just kidding."
But Eastwood acknowledges that the thought crosses his mind. "Every time you do one you think, 'Aw, that's enough of that.' I always feel it's very comfortable to be behind the camera."
And then there's working with the director. "Yeah, I don't have to deal with him," Eastwood says, laughing again. (The last time he didn't direct himself was 15 years ago, in Wolfgang Petersen's In the Line of Fire.)
Turning serious, he acknowledges the obvious about acting in Gran Torino. "It was fun. But I'm not destined to do too many more. I've been happy doing the ones I haven't been in."
First look: Eastwood puts his scowl in high gear for 'Gran Torino'
By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY
Eastwood is back in your face.
Perhaps the most successful and prolific actor to turn director, Clint Eastwood's appearances on-screen have become increasingly sparse over the years as he has taken on projects that don't have roles for him.
The last one was four years ago as the boxing manager in Million Dollar Baby, which earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor. He didn't win, but the movie added best picture and best director to his Academy Award victories.
He's back again in Gran Torino, opening Dec. 17, and he hasn't looked this furious in a movie poster since 1976's The Outlaw Josey Wales.
"Well, I'm older now. It's easier to look angrier when you're an old guy," Eastwood, 78, says with a laugh.
Eastwood is still finishing the movie, but it already is regarded as a stealth Oscar contender given his recent track record of Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Letters From Iwo Jima. The first trailer for Gran Torino can be seen this weekend before Eastwood's Changeling.
His Gran Torino character is Walt Kowalski, a racist Korean War veteran whose prized possession is a classic car that catches the eye of local gangs in his Detroit neighborhood. One of the troubled kids who covets the vehicle is from a family of Hmong immigrant neighbors, whom Kowalski has long resented.
The story comes down to two objects (three if you count the scowl): his 1972 Ford muscle car and his M-1 rifle.
"That's the weapon he has had left over since being in the service," Eastwood says. "And the same weapon I had when I was in the Army."
Eastwood also served during the Korean War, and though he wasn't in combat, he says: "I still know how to operate it. Field strip it …"
He chuckles.
Apart from that slight parallel, Eastwood has little in common with Kowalski. "He worked on the line in the Ford plant and retired and had this one car he bought himself. It's sort of a symbol of his days with the Ford plant. The M-1 is sort of a symbol of his days in the military. … He's clinging to the memory of the war. You'll find out when you see it, some of (the memories) are not as pleasant as others. That helps make him even tougher to get along with."
Newcomer Bee Vang, a 17-year-old Hmong American originally from the Minneapolis area, was cast as the neighbor boy who strikes up a mutually reluctant relationship with Walt.
"The young kid, as part of a gang initiation, tries to steal it, and the old guy gets him at the end of the M-1, which becomes kind of a big deal," Eastwood says. "The kid has to do penance because of the pride of the Asian group. They make him do penance. He has to come over, and the old guy doesn't want anything to do with him, doesn't want him anywhere around."
The fastest way to rid himself of the boy, Kowalski decides, is to cooperate.
"Walt helps him get a job and helps him toughen up a bit," Eastwood says. "(Walt) doesn't work construction. He's retired. But he gets the boy in through a buddy, an old crony. They take him in and try to show him how to handle himself in life."
"The old guy," as Eastwood calls his character, ends up confronting prejudices that have isolated him.
"It's got a lot of twists and turns in the story," indicating some darker moments. "It also has some good laughs."
Eastwood is producing, directing and even composing music for movies at an age when other filmmakers would be retired. Acting is the only area in which he has cut back.
"Yeah, it'll probably be my last," he says of Gran Torino. "I'll be drummed out of it after this one."
After more than 50 years and dozens of iconic characters, could he be serious?
That familiar dry voice on the phone turns into a chuckle. "Nah, I'm just kidding."
But Eastwood acknowledges that the thought crosses his mind. "Every time you do one you think, 'Aw, that's enough of that.' I always feel it's very comfortable to be behind the camera."
And then there's working with the director. "Yeah, I don't have to deal with him," Eastwood says, laughing again. (The last time he didn't direct himself was 15 years ago, in Wolfgang Petersen's In the Line of Fire.)
Turning serious, he acknowledges the obvious about acting in Gran Torino. "It was fun. But I'm not destined to do too many more. I've been happy doing the ones I haven't been in."