Article courtesy CBS: Who would say “No” to Clint Eastwood, the actor who’s best known
for his line, “Go ahead, make my day?" But despite all his clout, earned over four
decades in Hollywood, this Oscar-winning actor and director had a hard time convincing a
studio to let him make “Mystic River,” which is nominated for six Academy Awards. So
Eastwood came up with a very un-Hollywood solution to get it made. “I said I’ll work for
nothing on it,” says Eastwood. “It’s ironic that 33 years later, from my first film,
where I deferred my salary on, I’m back doing the same thing.”
“He loves the spontaneity of the first few takes,” says Harden. “I love it when it’s one take,” says Eastwood. “I
love a scene when, right away, you see it and it appears there and go, ‘That’s it.’” So
what happens when that’s not it? Marcia Gay Harden found out. “We’re shooting a scene in
the rain. And I thought, ‘I get it. It’s rain. Celeste is in the rain. She’s crying like
the rain,’” says Harden. “So he says, ‘Whenever you’re ready,’ and I’m like thinking I
would impress him with immediate tears and angst and whatnot. And we finish the shot, and
I thought he would say, ‘Great, Marcia, thank you.’ And he says, ‘Marsh, can you take it
way, way down?’ And I said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I realize she’s not the rain.’ He says,
‘Marcia, ‘She’s not even the mist.’” The fact is, Eastwood says he wants his actors to
take chances: “If you’re afraid to take risks in anything in life, it’s just boredom.”
Read the complete article, along with some interesting clips, here at
CBS. |
