Clint Eastwood: “I don't see myself the way people see me, and certainly not as a legend”

In 2005, Clint presented Million Dollar Baby on Première.

Arte is showing tonight at 9 p.m. the poignant drama of Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Babywho is training as a boxer Hilary Swank . When it was released in spring 2015, the filmmaker answered questions from Christian Jauberty in First (#337 with Will Smith on the cover). We've selected five below to tide you over until this classic boxing movie is re-released.

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Why did you choose Hilary Swank for the role of Maggie?
I had seen her in Boys Don't Cry [Kimberly Pierce, 00] of course, and in some other movies like Insomnia [Christopher Nolan, 02]. I like her acting, her presence. She seems real and always brings a little something to her characters that is not necessarily in the script. When I met her, I noticed that she moved in a very athletic way. But she was also very thin, too thin for the role. To bulk up, she had to undergo intensive physical training and a strict diet. I must say that her willpower impressed me. She wanted to do justice to the character with the same strength that Maggie deploys to become a champion.

The atmosphere of Million Dollar Baby refers to some films from the 30s and 40s like We won tonightby Robert Wise [49]. Is this intentional?
I really like We won tonight. It's a really good boxing movie. I think one of the things that attracted me to this project is that it reminds me of fiction that could have been made in the 40s or other eras, far from these stories about contemporary characters who flutter around in superhero costumes. I love my job passionately. But the more Hollywood tries to make prefabricated products, the more I enjoy playing the rebel by making stories in which the characters take precedence over the special effects.

There is an equal share of joy and sadness in Million Dollar Baby. [critique]

Is there a connection between jazz (as in Mystic RiverClint himself composed the music for Million Dollar Babyeditor's note) and your way of making films?
Definitely. I play the melody and respect its structure, but I also like to improvise to see what can happen. When an actor's instinct leads him to do something different from what I had planned, I am ready to follow it. I like the people I work with to feel free to try things.

The word legend often comes up when we talk about you. How do you feel about that?
I don't see myself the way people see me, and certainly not as a legend. I have to live with myself all the time, and familiarity breeds contempt. I've been making films in different ways – and with varying degrees of success – for fifty-one years. It's a lot. There will probably be people who say it's too much. For others, I'm just part of the scenery…

Do you feel the weight of those years?
I don't know. Recently I was asked to record new dialogue for some unreleased scenes from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. [Sergio Leone, 68]. It's hard to think that my voice could be the same as it was back then… Luckily, I didn't have many lines. I found myself in front of the screen, facing a guy who was younger than my son. It's a funny feeling. I had a moment of nostalgia thinking back to those days spent in the plains of Spain with Sergio, Tonino Delli Colli and the whole team. I tried to remember what I had in mind at the time, my dreams, but it's difficult. In any case, I could never have imagined then that at 74 years old, I would be doing what I'm doing today. I saw myself sitting in front of my house smoking a pipe, like Gene Hackman in Ruthless.

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