Whatever your opinions are on his appearance at the Republic National Convention last year, you can't deny the 'gangsta-ness', for lack of a better term, of silver screen legend Clint Eastwood. As an actor, director, producer and composer, he has contributed some outstanding works to the world of cinema for nearly 60 years. If you happen to be one of those individuals who asks whenever an Eastwood flick comes out, "goodness, he's still making movies?!" Be prepared to continue to ask that question.
Eastwood appeared at the Tribeca Film Festival to introduce a new documentary about his body of work entitled Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story. During a conversation with fellow filmmaker Darren Aronofsky on the craft of directing, he expressed his admiration for 104-year-old Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, who has been making films since 1931.
"It would be great to be 105 and still making films," Eastwood said. He called this dream "the ultimate optimism."
Eastwood, the accomplished director who is also known as the quintessential "tough guy" in old spaghetti Westerns like the Dollars Trilogy and the Dirty Harry series, spoke also of the difficulty of getting a picture made in the formative years of his career. "In the early days it was more of a fight to get films green-lit. Now they go, 'Oh, well, if he's the old guy…"
It certainly sounds like as long as this 'old-guy' keeps coming up with great stories to tell, they're going to keep letting him tell them from age 82 until he's ready to stop.
He also said, "I don't think you ever lose [the passion for filmmaking], probably." If you're an Eastwood admirer, let's hope not.