The classic performances inspired by Clint Eastwood
When you’ve carved out a legacy like Clint Eastwood on either side of the camera, countless actors and filmmakers are inevitably going to be inspired in one way or another.
The icon’s signature thousand-yard stare, grizzled charisma, and effortless cool have been imitated and replicated by many, while his functionality as a director who always brings their projects in on schedule and on budget with the minimum of fuss has made him a byword for cinematic efficiency.
Several of his most legendary roles have been lampooned and parodied extensively – such is the way they’ve burrowed into the pop culture consciousness and refused to let go – but more reverential homages have ended up appearing in the most unexpected of places.
For one, Meryl Streep admitted her performance as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada was a “direct steal” from Eastwood, with her intimidating fashion mogul indebted to the way the four-time Academy Award winner commands respect. Not only that, but he was also pivotal in the creation of a leather-clad warrior in a game-changing sci-fi blockbuster.
Carrie-Anne Moss told Esquire that in preparation for The Matrix, she “decided to watch Clint Eastwood” due to her disinterest in both the action and science fiction genres. Echoing his “still but full of strength” demeanour for Trinity, the star explained that she “really wanted that quiet intensity” and nailed it after she “watched Clint”.
His shadow loomed over the comic book adaptation, too, with Hugh Jackman informing Yahoo of how Unforgiven‘s William Munny dictated his approach to his final solo movie as Wolverine in Logan when he wasn’t planning to be killed off: “It’s more powerful that Munny doesn’t die at the end. You assume he’s going to die, but by taking that final action and shooting everyone down, he embraces all the darkness he’s tried to put outside him,” he said. “Now he’s got to live with it, and it’s almost more devastating.”
Jeremy Bulloch credited Eastwood for influencing Boba Fett in Star Wars, calling the intergalactic bounty hunter “very much like the Man with No Name from the Sergio Leone Westerns,” and Arnold Schwarzenegger named In the Line of Fire as pivotal in his own post-politics comeback vehicle The Last Stand for the way in which it was “smart to acknowledge” the advancing years of its protagonist and transform it into a recurring story point.
Mel Gibson’s Max Rockatansky was another rough-and-tumble hero who drew inspiration from Eastwood’s tight-lipped stint as the stoic face of the western genre, further underlining just how many unforgettable characters, household names, award-laden greats, and all-round icons in their own right have found a way to show their appreciation for the cavalcade of top-tier turns the silver screen veteran has delivered over the decades.
