Young Eastwood takes the helm
Alison Eastwood has been a model, an actress, a Playboy Playmate and a producer. Now, the 35-year-old daughter of Clint Eastwood has turned toward directing.
Her first effort, “Rails & Ties,” features Marcia Gay Harden and Kevin Bacon as a couple forever changed by a deadly train crash.
Eastwood says she was immediately drawn to the story, and in the process of making the movie, she discovered that she’s a director.
Associated Press: How did you find this story?
Eastwood: I got the script through a friend of a friend … I read it and I liked it and originally I attached myself as a producer. Then after having it for a couple of years and working on it with the writer, I started having a vision for it.
AP: The leap from actor to producer to director is substantial. Was it an organic shift?
Eastwood: It was never like I aspired to direct. I always wanted to be involved in films whether it was producing or acting, but directing? Maybe it was subconscious just because of the association, like, OK, I’m already kind of living in the shadow of this iconic person … (but) after finding this material, it kind of became obsessive, almost like where I couldn’t refuse. It’s like you have to do this, you have to do this.
AP: Did your father contribute at all, in terms of suggestions or working with the studio?
Eastwood: He was helpful in getting it to some people to read. He’s always kind of been supportive from afar, but he did hand it over to a couple of key people (at the studio) and fortunately they really liked the material. … Again, you get your foot in the door a little bit with something but then you have to actually walk through the door and pull it off.
AP: How did your work in front of the camera inform your directing?
Eastwood: I think it helps tremendously … (A) lot of directors are very technical and obviously have the creative things going on, but they don’t know what an actor has to go through.
AP: What inspired you to pose for Playboy?
Eastwood: I’d just turned 30 and the opportunity kind of arose. I think I had some other ulterior motives which I don’t necessarily need to talk about, but I think it was more that I thought, you know, I’m probably not going to look like this for too much longer and I’ve always been extremely comfortable in myself and in my body … I was able to kind of pick and choose the photos I wanted and who I wanted to shoot it. And of course they compensated me well.
AP: You’ve done many things, but now you’re a director.
Eastwood: I feel most comfortable. This is really where I felt like I had that moment, even on the first day of shooting, where I just went, I feel like I’ve been doing this forever. And it was great. …Now I know why everything’s happened the way it’s happened and it all kind of brought me there, so I have no regrets.
The birthday bunch
Actor Alan Young (“Mr. Ed”) is 88. Talk show host Larry King is 74. Talk show host Dick Cavett is 71. Media mogul Ted Turner is 69. Newsman Garrick Utley is 68. Actor Dan Haggerty is 66. Sportscaster Ahmad Rashad is 58. Actor Robert Beltran (“Star Trek: Voyager”) is 54. Actress Allison Janney (“The West Wing”) is 47. Actress Meg Ryan is 46. Actress Jodie Foster is 45. Dancer Savion Glover is 34.