“EVERY PROJECT IS A GAMBLE”

IN A CAREER THAT HAS SPANNED OVER HALF A CENTURY, THE ACTOR AND DIRECTOR

HAS MANAGED TO BECOME BOTH A TOP

BOX OFFICE DRAW AND RECEIVE ACADEMY AWARDS FOR HIS ROLE BEHIND THE

CAMERA. NEVER ONE TO WORRY ABOUT CRITICAL OR AUDIENCE RECEPTION, CLINT EASTWOOD HAS AMASSED A STAGGERINGLY IMPRESSIVE BODY OF WORK BOTH IN FRONT OF AND BEHIND THE CAMERA.

In a few months, if I am not mistaken, you are going to have a birthday with a zero. You are going to turn 90.

You don’t have to say it out loud. You are absolutely right.

I was wondering if you have any plans, if you wish to keep filming a film every year, and if you have any dreams that are still unfulfilled.

You never know if you are going to get there. Sixtysomething years ago when I started acting, you never think it’s going to end, and you hope that it goes somewhere and you are lucky that it goes somewhere. Then you think, you look back, and go “Why am I still here? Why am I not watching an old folks home or something like that?” But I was lucky enough, the genes from my grandfather have kept me going. You kind of just do the best you can and just keep doing that.

Are you working on a new film?

We are looking at a couple of things and talking about things, yes! I don’t know where it is yet. For me, it’s more fun to watch new people than being a guy who has been acting for many, many years. So that’s why I became a director, so someday when I got tired of looking at myself on a screen, I could do it just through that. I am in that era right now, where I am definitely tired of looking at myself. I love

watching them and watching them come along and making sure that in my mind they are doing the right thing.

You said that you owe your good genes to your grandfather. Can you talk a little bit about who he was and what kind of impression he left on you?

I just grew up with my grandfather. He was a chicken farmer. I was born in 1930 and the Depression was hard. It was an interesting time, but as kids, there was a difference, because you didn’t need a toy, you could have a stick and a rock or something, just little things would get your attention. Nowadays, kids get to see all kinds of things, stream this and stream that, and all kinds of movies and television and play games that are good. But now you appreciate things better, hopefully you have aged gracefully enough to accept the new as well. I’m not just in love with the old days, because they weren’t good sometimes, the good old days, but they were okay.

When you make a film, how happy will you be to make a film that will just show on television for streaming and not in the big theaters? For you, does your film have to still be in the big theater today?

Nothing has to be, it just does that because that’s where I am. I suppose if I wanted something to go to a certain audience, a broader audience, you might say you want it to go into people’s homes and they would see it, but then you might want to do a movie where people will come out of their