Eastwood, 90, to make new movie
CLINT Eastwood is set to direct and star in ‘Cry Macho’. The 90-year-old actor and director will also produce the movie, which is based on N. Richard Nash’s 1975 novel of the same name.
Eastwood will direct from a script written by Nash and Nick Schneck, before Nash’s death in December 2000 at 87, while Al Ruddy, Jessica Meier and Tim Moore will produce alongside Eastwood.
‘Cry Macho’ tells the story of down on his luck horse trainer Mike Milo (Eastwood), who tries to make US$50,000 by kidnapping a boy from his mother in Mexico City and delivering him to his father – Milo’s former boss – in Texas. This will be Eastwood’s first on-screen role since 2018’s ‘The Mule’.
‘Cry Macho’ has had a complicated journey to the big screen. Back in the 1980s, Eastwood intended to star and direct but instead chose to focus on the 1988 movie ‘The Dead Pool’.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was interested in the film in the 2000s but his run for governor of California in 2003 put the project on hold. It was then announced as a star vehicle for Schwarzenegger in 2011, who is a close friend of producer Ruddy.
Speaking about Schwarzenegger at the time, Ruddy said: “He’s got a vulnerability and a sweetness. He’s never had an extended opportunity to do this kind of work as an actor.” However, the project never went ahead and Eastwood has now renewed his interest in the movie.
Meanwhile, Luca Guadagnino has teased that his ‘Scarface’ movie is an ‘amazing project’.
The 49-year-old director is to helm a new take on the iconic crime movie and has now hinted that it could be his next film.
When asked if the ‘Scarface’ adaptation would be his next flick, Luca replied: “I think the project is amazing. I have a great producer in Dylan Clark and a great studio in Universal, so if the gods of cinema want that, I’m in.”
Luca also praised the quality of the screenplay, which has been written by the Coen brothers.
He said: “It’s a great script. We’re working on that, yes.”
Guadagnino’s movie will be the third time ‘Scarface’ has hit the big screen after the 1932 original and the famous 1983 remake, which starred Al Pacino as Miami-based Cuban drug lord Tony Montana and he insists it will be a ‘worthy reflection’ on the character and the time we live in now.
The filmmaker explained: “The first ‘Scarface’ from Howard Hawkes was all about the prohibition era. Fifty years later, Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma make their version, which is so different from the Hawkes film. Both can stand on the shelf as two wonderful pieces of sculpture.
“Hopefully ours, forty-plus years later, will be another worthy reflection on a character who is a paradigm for our own compulsions for excess and ambition. I think my version will be very timely.”
Luca also addressed the possibility of a sequel to comingof-age romance ‘Call Me by Your Name’ and admits he would be keen to revisit the project – which starred Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet – in the future, citing the example of French director Francois Truffaut and his character Antoine Doinel.
When asked about a sequel, he explained to Collider: “I wouldn’t call it sequel. I would call it a chapter in the chronicles. It’s like Antoine Donel and (director) Francois Truffaut, who revisited a character he loved throughout his entire life. I’d love to do that. Let’s see.” — Bang Showbiz