Clint Eastwood is known for his legendary acting and directing roles, but one thing he surprisingly always takes into account is his audience.
At 90 years old, Clint Eastwood is a seasoned veteran on-screen with over 80 movies under his belt. Although the actor is at ease in front of the camera, he still works at perfecting his craft as a director. He does this by attempting to put himself in the audience’s shoes when it comes to the story content.
In an interview with Screen International editor Mike Goodridge for his book “Film Crafting: Directing,” Clint Eastwood shares his personal experiences both in front and behind the camera.
Eastwood knows you cannot please everyone, especially in the entertainment industry. Yet, the director still tries to create something interesting and new with every piece he works on.
“Whether it’s a drama or an action film, the story content is everything to me,” reveals Clint Eastwood. “Sometimes it’s good and sometimes not, and that is in the eye of the beholder. You definitely have to step up to the bat and try to hit the ball out of the park. If you don’t, you should at least try to be innovative, and hopefully, the audience will respond to that.”
But Clint Eastwood says he doesn’t just stop at the storyline. He notes that the audience, the people who dictate his career, must also be captivated by the film, or it will never have “life.”
“I always think about the audience. When you are thinking about telling the story, you are thinking about how you want the story to be as interesting as it possibly can be for the audience. Otherwise, it will never take on the life it’s supposed to have out there with the audience.”
Clint Eastwood Puts Himself in the Audience’s Seat
The trick to being new and exciting for a director yet relatable and interesting for the audience is hard to balance. Clint Eastwood says to not dwell on it too much. Put yourself in the audience’s position and judge it from a different perspective.
“It’s hard to be a judge of that,” states Eastwood. “You can’t start thinking about it too much because a lot of wonderful movies haven’t done any business, and a lot of not-so-wonderful movies have done tremendous business. All you can do is use yourself as the audience, ask yourself if you were going to the theater how would you like to see this. What about this actor in that part? In every element of the film, there’s always that thing an audience is going to see and judge, like or dislike. Of course, once you have committed yourself to doing it on a film, that’s it. If the audience likes it, that’s great; if it doesn’t, go back to the drawing board for the next feature.”
Clint Eastwood is currently working as the director and actor for the film Cry Macho. Although Eastwood has not yet shared a release date, it will debut sometime this year.
The American neo-Western drama movie is based on the 1975 novel Cry Macho by N. Richard Nash.
Like most films that Eastwood creates, we are sure it will be great.
