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163 Q & A with a Western Icon Jerry Roberts / 1995 Published in Daily Variety, March 27, 1995. Reprinted by permission. After helming nearly twenty films and starring in dozens more, Eastwood ’s work as a director and actor has reaped box-office bonanzas and yielded awards all over the world, including an Oscar for his direction of 1992’s Best Picture, Unforgiven. But he’s also got an Oscar on his mantle for producing the esteemed Western pic, and his new Oscar courtesy of receiving the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is for almost thirty years of producing achievements. “The Man With No Name” has been wearing three hats since his Malpaso Productions outfit kicked off with Hang ’Em High in 1968. This exclusive interview with Eastwood was conducted for Daily Variety by film critic Jerry Roberts. Daily Variety: The Irving G. Thalberg Award is rarely presented to producers who remain contemporary figures. And it has never been given to someone who is known primarily as an actor. Were you surprised when you were selected? Clint Eastwood: Yes, I was surprised. But I formed Malpaso Productions in the mid-1960s, so for thirty years I’ve been directly involved in the total process of making the movies I’ve done. If you want to say I’m a contemporary figure, I’m what you would call a longtime contemporary. It’s one of those deals where I just outlived everybody. I started in the Italian Westerns in 1963 and ’64 and came back here and formed Malpaso for Hang ’Em High. I didn’t take a producing credit then, but started to later on. We worked mostly for Universal first, and after Dirty Harry, for Warner Bros. We gradually moved the company over and settled with Warners in 1976. 164 clint eastwood: inter views DV: Why did you leave Universal? CE: Universal eventually got more into the tour business than the picture business. You couldn’t go outside your office without some tour going by. And Warner Bros. had a bigger lot, more resources and their promotions department was pretty good. The first picture we did at Warner Bros. was The Outlaw Josey Wales. With the exception of a film for Paramount (Escape from Alcatraz) and one for Columbia (In the Line of Fire), we’ve done everything for a Warner Bros. release. We’re not exclusive with them. It’s sort of a handshake deal. If somebody else has a great job they want me for—like In the Line of Fire for Castle Rock—then I’ll go do that. DV: The definition of the title of producer depends on who you talk to. What is your own definition of that job as you perform it? CE: Producers get the least amount of attention and gratification on a film. They’re not as hands-on as the director and the actors. But by and large they finance and envision the project. The producer is the person who puts together the elements and then lets the director run with the ball. DV: How has the profession of producing changed over the years? CE: In the old days, producers were knowledgeable on all aspects of filmmaking , plus they were the presidents of the company. In the late sixties and seventies, many producers merely packaged the deal and then walked away from it. In the old days, the Hal Wallis kind of producers were a little more hands-on. They knew lighting. They knew when the director was b.s.ing them. They relied on the unit manager to do the auditing, but they had their eyes on the overall project. How I fit into it—I’m fairly good at watching things. If you’re responsible and have figured out your needs, there’s no reason to be over budget or have late miscalculations. You hire good people and they’re going to make you look good. It’s like riding a horse. It can make you look noble and elegant up on it or it can make you look like a bum. A producer has to be a salesman for the project. He has to raise enthusiasm to finance it. You have to sell it to actors if you want a name cast. You have to sell the different elements to a director. It’s a difficult process, but if you have a track record, if the studio has shared in your good luck in the past, it will put...

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