Eastwood
ALWAYS THE GOOD TROOPER, Clint Eastwood cheerfully showed up last weekend for his "Modern Master Award" at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, defying those snarky types who thought he would skip the event because he'd been snubbed by the Globes and Oscars.
But Clint is not a no-show guy. Indeed, at age 78 (he joked to the crowd that his real age is 38) I don't think he gives a damn how Oscar voters view his work -- he just keeps turning out the product.
And it's great product -- "Gran Torino" deserved plaudits for actor, director and picture. The film, typically lean and mean, was also his highest-grossing movie ever. But Clint's already plunging ahead with his next two projects, undeterred by the "noise" of the award season.
Indeed, Clint's unique productivity sets him apart from the other members of the septuagenarian superstar circle -- Clint, Beatty and Redford. Even as Eastwood becomes ever more productive, Beatty and Redford continue to hunker down on the sidelines.
There's been random speculation among their friends and associates as to why this is true. I have been involved in making films with each of them, but by no means claim membership in their inner circle, so my observations are those of an outsider/insider.
Beatty hasn't acted in a movie since "Town and Country" in 2001, or directed one since "Bulworth" in '98, but he's held countless meetings about making movies. Warren likes meetings. He likes to audition people, but he always ends up saying no to whatever project is on the table. He even auditions architects for his long-planned new home, but never builds anything.
During the last political campaign, Beatty seemed to be distanced from the action, even though he'd always been a fierce political advocate in the past.
The reasons? Beatty is obsessively self-protective. He's intelligent enough to see how everything that can go wrong will go wrong, and to a degree has been immobilized by his own intellect. Even his biggest successes briefly verged on disaster -- "Reds" and "Bonnie and Clyde." He went so far overbudget on "Reds" that he simply ran out of money. And Warner Bros., at first, was as dismissive of "Bonnie and Clyde" as were key critics. As a result, Beatty seems to be content to become like Chance (Chauncey Gardiner) in "Being There": He likes to watch.
Redford's friends argue that he should have made another film right after the dismal failure of "Lions for Lambs." But like Beatty, Redford, too, "does" meetings, not movies, and he's always very, very late for them.
In prepping a movie, Clint Eastwood will usually tell his writer, "I like it, don't change it," while Redford is big on rewrites. He is as intelligent as he is nonconfrontational -- if he doesn't like something, he simply disappears. While Clint's style is dead-on look-you-in-the-eye, Redford is remote but is also a control freak. Even in his film roles, Redford never surrenders control.
Eastwood, by contrast, is neither as articulate nor as cerebral as Redford or Beatty, but while Redford learned how to start a great festival, Clint knows how to start great movies. Arguably, Eastwood's a prisoner of the Old Hollywood dictum that the work speaks for itself. Writers should write, directors should direct -- it's about the work, not the meetings.
I respect all three of these men. All have made extraordinary contributions to our popular culture.
But I'm especially proud of Clint for getting the work done.
Contact Peter Bart at
peter.bart@variety.com