Clint Eastwood is already a legendary figure in the industry. He is an icon who reignited people’s interest in Westerns with his Dollars trilogy in the ’60s. He created one of the most recognizable and memorable characters in film history with The Man With No Name. His swag, charm, and personality were what made the character a fan favorite and a legendary figure in Western cinema.
Eastwood contributed a lot in making the character stand out and intriguing to people. The way the character dressed including his poncho and cape was Eastwood’s idea while also making the role his own. He is mainly responsible for the character being relevant even to this day.
Clint Eastwood’s Ideas For The Dollars Trilogy Made It An Iconic Western Template
Clint Eastwood starred as The Man With No Name in The Dollars Trilogy which included A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The character has a unique personality and fashion sense, added by a level of swagger that only Eastwood could pull off. He was the one to consider that the character should wear a cape in the films. He told The Guardian,
“I’d done Rawhide for about five years. The agency called and asked if I was interested in doing a Western in Italy and Spain. I said, ‘Not particularly.’ They said, ‘Why don’t you give the script a quick look?’ I was kind of curious, so I read it, and I recognized it right away as Yojimbo, a Kurosawa film I had liked a lot. Over I went, taking the poncho with me: the cape was my idea.”
The look of the character and the costume became an instant fan favorite. It became a signature trademark for all protagonists in Westerns that came after. Eastwood continued to star in other acclaimed Westerns including Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Unforgiven, and High Plains Drifter among others.
Clint Eastwood Had Difficulty Convincing Studios To Make Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood made the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby which starred Hilary Swank and him in 2004. However, he had trouble convincing studios to finance the film as they wanted Eastwood to do more films like Dirty Harry. But Eastwood wanted to make a unique boxing film anchored by an emotional father-daughter relationship at the heart of the film. He told LA Weekly,
“I liked the Million Dollar Baby (2004) script a lot. Warner Bros. said the project had been submitted to them and they’d passed on it. I said, ‘But I like it.’ They said, ‘Well, it’s a boxing movie.’ And I said, ‘It’s not a boxing movie in my opinion. It’s a father-daughter love story, and it’s a lot of other things besides a boxing movie.’ They hemmed and hawed and finally said that if I wanted to take it, maybe they’d pay for the domestic rights only.
After that, I’d be on my own. We took it to a couple of other studios, and they turned it down. People who kept calling and saying, ‘Come on, work with us on stuff.’ I’d give it to them, and they’d go, ‘Uh, we were thinking more in terms of Dirty Harry coming out of retirement.’ And who knows? Maybe when it comes out they’ll be proven right.”
The film turned out to be a huge success at the box office. It earned Eastwood his second Oscar for directing after Unforgiven. Hilary Swank also won Best Actress and the film eventually nabbed Best Picture at the Oscars.
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