Clint Eastwood A Cinematic Legacy Episode 5 An Actor s Director Warner Classics

He doesn't say action, he doesn't say cut. It's kind of going, it's there. He'll say anytime, something like that, whenever he feels like it. Or when the scene's over, he'll say, I don't want to do it. It's almost a part of the life goes on, and he photographs the life. I find that marvelous. You know, when you're doing your first take, you're operating on adrenaline, and I think he really responds to that. Okay, just quiet everyone, let's do this. Sound speed. I've never met anyone more in control of anything. Michael Jordan's jump shot wasn't as controlled as the Clint Eastwood set. When Clint says go, the crew's ready, so if the take wasn't good, it's probably your fault. Thought you might be interested in training me. I don't train girls. Maybe you should. People see me fat, say I'm pretty tough. Girly, tough, ain't enough. In his 50 years as a filmmaker, Clint Eastwood has directed more award-winning performances than any of his contemporaries. There's no mystery why so many films that he makes, the actors are nominated or they win. He just creates an environment for actors to truly succeed in the character. But before a performance can be captured, the right performer must be cast. Eastwood's eye for selecting talent is second to none. Casting is the most important part about making a movie. If you cast a movie right, things kind of fall into place. He hires actors the same way he hires crew people. He knows that they're professional and they're going to do their job, and he lets them get on with it. It's one thing if you say, well, of course Sean Penn and Tim Robbins are going to be great, you know, they're great actors, but the people that would come in and just do a couple of lines, you know, were unbelievable. Then there was a loud crack. Could have been a gunshot? Yes, maybe. Now, did you ever look out your window, Mrs. Pryor? No. I was in my dressing gown by then. I don't look out the window in my dressing gown. No director is better than Clint Eastwood at creating a safe environment where actors can do their best work. I feel a director's job, the real responsibility is to make those people feel at home, make them feel comfortable, set an atmosphere where everybody is extremely relaxed and there's no tension. So much of what you do as an actor is about, you know, trying to get rid of that third wall, to get rid of all the eyes that are staring at you and immerse yourself in the moment. And so he has very few people around, so you actually feel like you are in that moment. I believe that I am a fast and accurate judge of character. I know we've only gone out three times, but I don't mean more than that. Most people do, but I don't. I see people right off of what they are. And please call me Edgar, it's what my mother uses. Eastwood's respect for actors is returned in kind. Like their director, the cast arrives ready to work. There's no actor on his movie that isn't going to be fully prepared and know their lines. It's not going to happen. The actors on our shows know that they were not rehearsing. I mean, a rehearsal could be the take, so be ready and fire on all eight cylinders, and if it doesn't work, we'll do it again. And I remember one of the first scenes, Hillary said, Clint, do you think we could rehearse this? He said, well, you rehearse it and I'll shoot it. He told me a story about Unforgiven. He was talking about Morgan and Gene Hackman and how prepared they are, and how the first day of shooting, he asked them to rehearse, and he said each of them got one line out, and I said, stop. And I went and got the cameras, and he said I'd never rehearse with them again. Stop. Okay. We would often have the cameras run on a rehearsal, and if he was pleased with the work of the rehearsal, he had a tendency to say let's move on. Let's just fire one off, see where we are. I like working in a succinct way. I trust my first instinct, and then I tend to embellish after that, so it's probably less good. Who knows? It was just a great way to work, and I was glad to do it. I'm looking for a bridge, one of those covered bridges out here in this neighborhood. Well, I can take you if you want, or I can tell you. I can take you or tell you. Either way, it's up to you. I don't care. It's my experience that the really great directors don't let you feel when they're directing you. At the end of the shoot, you think, boy, I got to do whatever I wanted on that, and you don't realize that you were subtly manipulated. So I felt that anything that I wanted to try was fine, and I think actors do their best work when they feel that way. You get the full measure of somebody's talent and their work and their imagination and their commitment. If you make them feel, everything they do is wonderful. Generally, something they do will be wonderful. Gotcha. Oh, don't take my picture. Come on. Give me one of those French model looks. Oh, no. I love the work that Meryl Streep did in that film, how the relationship grew, but it's such an intricate piece, it's so delicate. You're a hypocrite and you're a phony! I don't want to need you. What? Because I can't have you. What difference does that make? It also is like two mature people falling in love but not trying to be teenagers, but trying to just express love in the way that they would. So I think it's that kind of growth and maturity, embracing that, that allows him to always feel relevant because he's being truthful and honest. You're so hopeful from her that it feels like such a great loss when she doesn't travel with him. Okay, and action! Clint has been doing it for so long that he's come to a place where he just trusts his instincts. He's just right. When he's right, he's right. You don't have to think about it. There's a confidence that he has, a strong confidence in saying, I don't need any more on this. Let's move on over here because this is where we're going to go. I got that. What that lends itself to is spontaneity and organic back and forth. Not so fast! And quite frankly, a lot of surprises. It's game day and you're ready to do the best that you can because that's what's asked of you. And I think it's a lesson that all of us are going to take for the rest of our careers to be 100% prepared. I think we got it now. It was great for us playing these characters because these guys only had one take too. When he wants one more take, it's going to cause tremendous panic in the room. If there's 5 actors in the room and he wants one more take, they're all probably looking at each other, what did I do, was it me, was it you? Why does he want one more take? He always walks away after two. If Clint wants one more take, that third take, everybody's going to be the best they've ever been in their careers. Okay, good. He puts an awful lot of stock in the actor bringing it at the moment. And it's true, he doesn't do a lot of takes, but he does a massive amount of coverage. So you have an ocean of opportunity in order to find the scene. And you can even say, could I have another pass at that? And he'll say, no, I think... No, I was really impressed the way it happened just then. And he wanted to say, well, you know, I inverted the lines and I don't think the pronouns were even proper. But what he's saying is, you're going to have another chance at it, so let's not waste time on something that I'm not going to use. Like the Western heroes he's played over the years, Eastwood is a man of few words, which comes as a relief to many of his actors. Actors like me, and there are a lot of us who don't like to be directed, director makes the movie, you hire actors. In my particular case, I like to be left alone, but a lot of times a director will say, could you try it with this, or could you try it? And you try to keep an open mind and do it his or her way. Grab my gnome. Okay, good stuff, rest everyone. I don't say too much, so when I say something, it means something. Tonight was the first time really he pulled me aside and he said, what did you think of that last take? You worked there, what, 3 years? You never missed a day, never called in sick, right? I said, there's nothing personal. Oh, that's BS. No, no, he's trying to protect the guys who have wives and kids. You should hire a lawyer. And I just didn't say anything. I just went back to where I started. I'm no dummy. I said, I think we're doing another. Actors on an Eastwood set are given the freedom to discover moments no screenwriter could script. Sometimes I'll let the actress play a little bit. I say, why don't you guys just walk around and talk about it? And you just walk around and you'll see it. They'll instinctively do something interesting. For a client to sit behind a camera and see an actor do something that is unexpected and to be able to recognize that as a plus, that's great. Sometimes improvisation, it works really well, and sometimes it's terrible, except maybe there's 10% of something that's really a gem that you can never capture again. Maybe it's a mistake, but it's a mistake that's so realistic that you like it in the film because they're human. It humanizes the characters. You're obviously military, what branch? Branch, I just finished Bud's. Are you kidding me? You're a SEAL? Yes, ma'am. I mean, it's pretty egotistical of you to think you can protect us all, isn't it, Chris? Well, our Bud's office commander says there's three... Okay, he says there's three things we gotta worry about. Ego, booze, women. Well, sounds like you're under attack. Improvisation goes both ways on an Eastwood set, extending to the men behind the camera as well. I'm constantly in improvisation mode. I know the script, I know the story to tell, but I'm in a constant improvisational mode from then on. So if it's supposed to be a clear day and it's snowing outside, I can shoot the scene. I was doing a scene in the park. What happened is it started pouring rain. They decided to go ahead and shoot the scene with me sitting in the middle of the park with the rain storming down on me. Don't ever leave your pop. He's not gonna drink anymore, I doubt it. And he loves you. I know. I read the note on the refrigerator. Because he was able to live with the elements and know how to heighten the scene, it actually became, like, much stronger of a moment, you know, because I'm drenched, just sitting there, lost. Eastwood's secret weapon in his quest for great performances is his crew, who have worked with him long enough to know the boss has a few tricks up his sleeve. I'll tell the cameraman, I'll say, when I say stop, don't stop. So if you say stop, the actor goes... and he gets more relaxed. And she or he, they kind of go, okay, okay. So now do that one line again. And they'll do it from another whole feeling, because they haven't got the adrenaline going through the system. They're kind of, okay, oh, yeah, I'll do it again, okay. And all of a sudden, it comes out, and it's really nice. Do you love her? Who? The lady who cooked the hamburger. Yeah, I love her. Kissed her, didn't I? I'll never forget, we were doing a scene with a guy who came in. I guess the guy was a little nervous, you know. He was a little unsteady. And Clint took me aside. He said, you know, sometimes it helps if you could screw up a little bit, because it might make the guy feel like, if Kevin's screwing up, then anybody can screw up, and I can do better. And I was like, well, that's a really interesting idea. So the next take, you know, I went in, and I flubbed my line. And sure enough, the guy got better. He got his, he got stronger. And then I went in and did another take and flubbed my line. Sorry. It's all right, it's all right. Clint said, okay, that's enough screwing up. Helping actors overcome obstacles is one of Eastwood's strengths, relying on his unerring instincts as a performer. There was a scene the other day, in fact, that wasn't working for me at all, in the barbershop. Now, if you were to point a pistol at a king or a queen, your hands would shake as though folded. Oh, I wouldn't point no pistol at nobody, sir. We tried it this way, that way, it wasn't really working. I couldn't put my finger on it. What he did, he said, is that line is in the wrong place, and it breaks up the rhythm of what you're doing, what you're trying to achieve. That's it! That's it! So let's try it without that. And we tried it without that, it went like a symphony. I can assure you, if you did, that the sight of royalty would cause you to dismiss all thoughts of bloodshed, and you would stand... How shall I put it? In awe. Drawing upon his 5 decades behind the camera, Eastwood has mastered the art of nurturing great performances. He was really like a corner man, you know? It was like going into a boxing ring and having your coach there telling you what movements to make. You know, in this world, we need people who believe in us. Everybody does. And Clint believed in me, just like Frankie believed in Maggie. And he gave me that gift. It was an extraordinary feeling to have that support and that confidence behind you. I got nobody but you, Frankie. When I saw the film, I realized how he guided me in certain ways, yet I didn't know it when it was happening. As an actor, to get the opportunity to work with a legend like him, if I had to be done tomorrow and I could never do it again, having the experience with him would make it okay. Good man to have in the corner. Yes, he is. Can we get serious now? Police! There she is!