Clint Eastwood turns 93: These are the two big roles he turned down ...

31 May 2023

Clint Eastwood, the veteran actor and movie director, who is already working on his farewell film 'Junior 2', turns 93 on May 31.

A legendary career loaded with great films and characters, although he also happens to have turned down two of the most important roles in film history.

'Million Dollar Baby' and 'Gran Torino' are two of his most famous films, but Hollywood attempted to cast him in many other roles that he himself turned down.

In the documentary 'Clint Eastwood: A Life in Film', he opened up about his past.

The two great characters rejected by Clint Eastwood

Eastwood was one of the names floated to play Superman in 1978, a role that ended up going to Christopher Reeve, who later reprised the role in three sequels.

In fact, Eastwood was officially offered the role by Frank Wells, president of Warner Bros. but he said no: "I was like, 'Superman? No, no, it's not for me'. Not that there's anything wrong with it. It's for somebody else, not for me."

"I've always liked characters who are grounded in reality. Maybe they do fabulous things or some superhuman things, like Dirty Harry, who has a knack for doing crazy things, or guys from westerns, but they still don't wear capes," he went on to explain.

"That was part of the consideration, a big part. Look at Reeve, he was excellent. That was a very important factor. To take a role like that and get kind of locked into it.

"It's true I did a lot of westerns and the Dirty Harry role, but everybody did westerns and cop movies; they didn't seem so bad."

On one hand, Superman, on the other, James Bond. Agent 007 was intended for him, and he was offered the role for 'Casino Royale', which David Niven ended up playing.

"For me that role belonged to someone else. That was something for Sean [Connery]. It didn't feel right for me to do it," Eastwood explained.

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