I may have told this story before, so apologies if I'm repeating myself, but back in the day—the long long ago, the before times—I was a film critic for the Washington Times. And being a film critic for a mid-tier paper in a major market involves, in part, attending events where celebrities are hanging out and trying to get them to talk to you. The best—the most fun, the most intimate—of these events in D.C. takes place at the State Department each year before the Kennedy Center Honors: a black tie dinner with the winners and a bunch of celebrated friends hanging out at a reception before and after in which reporters mingle freely with people who actually have talent and bug them for quotes. I only got to do this once, but I had a legitimately pleasant chat with Dave "The Coolest Man in America" Grohl, as well as more professional encounters with Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, and a slightly embarrassing, but thankfully brief, discussion with Ethan Coen about how one should interact with one's artistic heroes.
There was one celebrity who I tried to get a quote from, however, and failed. I waited until he was done talking to a well-wisher, stepped up, and said "Hi, I'm with the Washington Times, was hoping to get a—". Mid-sentence, this famed actor/director turned his head and looked at me something like this:
Clint Eastwood had approximately zero interest in chatting with me, and when Morgan Freeman (who he was there to introduce) grabbed his elbow to lead him away, I was, honestly, kind of relieved.* It's the one time I've been intimidated out of grabbing a line from someone; usually I would've stuck around and given it a second shot. This time was different. I had no interest in seeing that withering glower again.
Despite this personal and professional failure, Cranky Clint Eastwood is still my favorite Clint Eastwood. And I'm always vaguely amused when he pontificates on political issues, since a pronouncement from one of the few legit libertarian/conservative/Republican/non-Democrats/whatever he is has a tendency to reverse the polarities on celebrity pronouncements. Those on the right, generally annoyed by the leftists in the celebrity-industrial complex, say, "Hey, we should listen to this guy!" Those on the left, meanwhile, retreat to the "shut up and act" position and its variants ("this guy always sucked anyway, who cares" and "I've lost so much respect for him as an artist"). Fun times!
And, of course, today's no different after Clint dropped a number of Truth Bombs on an unsuspecting populace in an interview with Esquire. Behold, some highlights from the piece:
ESQ: Your characters have become touchstones in the culture, whether it's Reagan invoking "Make my day" or now Trump … I swear he's even practiced your scowl.
[Clint Eastwood]: Maybe. But he's onto something, because secretly everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. That's the kiss-ass generation we're in right now. We're really in a pussy generation. Everybody's walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist. And then when I did Gran Torino, even my associate said, "This is a really good script, but it's politically incorrect." And I said, "Good. Let me read it tonight." The next morning, I came in and I threw it on his desk and I said, "We're starting this immediately." [Editor's note: Fact check, true.] ...
ESQ: What do you think of Hillary?
CE: What about her? I mean, it's a tough voice to listen to for four years. It could be a tough one. If she's just gonna follow what we've been doing, then I wouldn't be for her. [Editor's note: Fact check, zero Pinocchios.]
ESQ: But if the choice is between her and Trump, what do you do?
CE: That's a tough one, isn't it? I'd have to go for Trump … you know, 'cause she's declared that she's gonna follow in Obama's footsteps. There's been just too much funny business on both sides of the aisle. She's made a lot of dough out of being a politician. I gave up dough to be a politician. I'm sure that Ronald Reagan gave up dough to be a politician. [Editor's note: Basically, the only reason to vote for Trump is because Hillary's an unmitigated disaster, so I'll give this one a Fact check, mostly true.] ...
ESQ: Politically, you're the Anti-Pussy party?
[Scott Eastwood]: That's right. No candy-asses.
CE: Yeah, I'm anti–the pussy generation. Not to be confused with pussy.
SE: All of us are pro-pussy. [Fact check: hilarious, but Scott Eastwood might have trouble getting some of the candy-ass squish directors to cast him after this. That's a very problematic answer, smdh. The takes from the Guardian and Jezebel will be scorching.]
Anyway, read the whole thing. Then make sure to say whether or not you agree with what he said on Twitter. The world needs you to position yourself properly on this one. Go forth and tweet, young man!
*If I remember correctly, Mr. Eastwood was much happier to talk to my female colleague, Kelly Jane Torrance, a little later on in the evening. But I also might just be telling myself this to reduce my shame. Memory's a funny thing.