Clint Eastwood: 'My lawyer begged me not to make Every Which Way but Loose'
Clint Eastwood's lawyer and agent both pleaded with him not to star in classic 70's movie Every Which Way but Loose.
After becoming synonymous with spaghetti westerns early in his career, Clint stunned his team when he announced plans to make a film with an orangutan.
The veteran tells American Esquire it was one of the first times he chose to follow his acting instincts, rather than listen to people when they told him to steer clear of the 1978 action comedy.
"It's so easy to get to a certain spot and say, 'This is very comfortable'," he smiled. "My agent begged me not to do Every Which Way but Loose and my lawyer begged me not to do it. (They said), 'This is a piece of s**t. It's not the kind of thing you do'. And I said, 'It's not the kind of thing that I've been doing - all these pictures where I'm shooting people. I want something you can take your kids to'."
Clint's judgment was correct and the movie was such a big success it spawned a sequel, 1980's Any Which Way You Can.
"If you make a couple (of) decisions where your instincts worked well, why would you abandon them?" he said.
Clint's nose for a good script has helped him win two Best Director Academy Awards for Unforgiven in 1992 and Million Dollar Baby in 2004.
The star was 62 when he received his first Oscar, and admits that while many of his peers would start to take their foot off the gas after so many years in the business, the win pushed him to the next level.
"I put it in third gear at that point."
Now 86, Clint still shows no signs of slowing down, admitting he fears he would drop if he stopped.
"A lot of people when they retire, they just expire," he said. "It happens to men more than women. I don't look at my life too much. I'm always looking forward, not backward."
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