Clint Eastwood Yearns For 'Sam the Jew' Jokes

So many unanswered questions: How will Octo-Mom buy the mansion she's picked out? What kind of jokes did Clint Eastwood tell about "Jose?" Where in Warren Beatty's house will Lindsay Lohan live? More »

Keanu Reeves Devastates 'Doubt,' 'Che,' Rest of Earth

Welcome back to Defamer Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and/or Keanu-rrific at the movies. This week: Earth is doomed, Clint is done, and Che is looooonnng.

Broadcast Critics Latest to Bypass 'Revolutionary Road' in Awards Race

It's another day to keep your head down around Scott Rudin's office: was snubbed once again in the latest fiery belch from Awards-Season Hell. This time, it was the Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics' Choice Awards issuing the diss among its 2008 nominees, a list where seemingly anything even casually mentioned as Oscar bait in the last three months was recognized — with not just one Revolutionary exception. More »

The Sad Song Stylings Of Ed Harris and Clint Eastwood

Oohh, a new trend is emerging! One in which grizzled old movie stars like Ed Harris and Clint Eastwood not only act in, direct, and write their own movies, but where they gravelly-voice their way through closing credits songs! Above are snippets from Ed Harris's "You'll Never Leave My Heart" from his blink-and-you-missed-it Western Apaloosia, and Clint Eastwood's lilting, my-god-he-sounds-old ditty "Gran Torino," from the eponymous upcoming film. They sound, um... Well they sound like Ed Harris and Clint Eastwood bein' windblown dudes. Who will be next?? We're hoping for a fabulously gristly Ian McKellan disco ballad.

Who Will Replace Our Retiring Movie Stars?

Every movie star everywhere is quitting! In today's case of old Clint Eastwood it makes sense, because he's, y'know, old and his directing career has been a lot more illustrious than his acting career has for the past decade or so. But the once-promising, now-squandered Joaquin Phoenix? Baby mill Angelina Jolie? Nicole Kidman?? If they leave, then what are we to do? Find new movie stars, I guess. Trouble is, there aren't really any good, young understudies waiting in the wings. But there might be some! We'll take a look at who could replace these four retiring (or maybe semi-retiring) actors after the jump. More »

Clint Eastwood's 'Hereafter' To Gloss Over African-American Ghost History

· DreamWorks is in talks with Clint Eastwood to direct ghost movie Hereafter, which Spike Lee will later decry as featuring only white ghosts. ("Where are the black spirits?! You mean to tell me sheets don't come in brown? Another chapter of African-American afterlife history whitewashed by The Man.") [Variety] More »

Clint Eastwood Revisits His Fascist Avenger Glory Days in 'Gran Torino'

Here's your first look at what is expected to be Clint Eastwood's last performance, as a grizzled racist widower taking on an Asian gang in his forthcoming drama Gran Torino. The catch: He's defending an Asian family along with the rest of his quiet, diversifying neighborhood. At first rumored to be the capstone of the Dirty Harry franchise, Gran Torino's trailer instead hints at a kinder, gentler vigilante — a surly old coot whose prostate enlargement defers only to the growth of his chosen weapon from finger-pistol to rifle to the titular automobile itself, a washed-and-waxed piece of vintage American steel not so unlike the growling icon behind its wheel. Which isn't to say Gran Torino looks like it will make anyone forget the rogue San Francisco cop (though after 37 years, "Get off my lawn" is a clever enough permutation of "Do you feel lucky, punk?"), but it may provide just enough nostalgia to bring bullet-riddled closure you didn't even know you wanted. Check all the feel-good fascism after the jump. [YouTube]

EXCLUSIVE: Clint Eastwood Likens '08 Election to Oprah Car Giveaway

Clint Eastwood took himself and his new film Changeling to its US premiere last weekend at the New York Film Festival. Just like we had for our audience with Mickey Rourke, we sneaked in via a film canister to check out the scene and lob a question his way; still, as lovely and reliably austere as Changeling is, we had more pressing issues on our mind than how little Eastwood rehearsed with Angelina Jolie (answer: hardly at all). To wit: How is a long-time conservative, former elected official and John McCain supporter like Eastwood getting his head around the Celebrity Election of '08 — Sarah Palin's candidacy in particular? Was this a circus anyone could have foreseen 57 years ago when he joined the GOP? More »

Sarah Palin To SNL?

• Saturday Night Live is supposedly working to book Sarah Palin. Producers figure she's good at memorizing lines. [Scoop]
• Elitist New Yorkers at a fancy magazine party arrogantly assumed Clint Eastwood was talking about Joe Biden when he said, ""One of the candidates the other night seemed more prone to telling the truth than the other." They were wrong, and almost choked on their Chardonnay and cheese and so forth when he started talking about Palin. [P6]
• George W. Bush: "The moment things began to turn around in Iraq is when the USO deployed Jessica Simpson." It's a funny because it implies all the death over there was due to a lack of Jessica Simpson as opposed to a lack of planning by the Bush administration or the decision to invade in the first place, by Bush. Get it?? [Post]
• David Duchovny is out of sex rehab and ready to start his new movie, which has the word "fornication" in the title. [OK!]

Nobel Hopeful Steven Spielberg Brokered Fragile Peace Between Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood

During this year's NBA Finals, a courtside power summit at Staples Center provided stirring insight into the intimate camaraderie between Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Eddie Murphy. (You might recall Sylvester Stallone joining in when Katzenberg visited the men's room.) We're learning even more today about that alliance, which, in addition to Spielberg's orotund ref-hating, influenced detente in ways not seen since Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill converged at Yalta. The stakes: Peace between directors Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood, who had feuded over representations of African-American soldiers (or the lack thereof) in Eastwood's films. Lee remembers it like it was yesterday: More »

Hollywood Privacywatch: Ellen Pompeo, 'Staten Island Prostitute'

PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our millions of Defamer operatives. We'd like to remind you that this feature is powered by you, so if you want to see more installments of PrivacyWatch, then all you've got to do is to send us your sightings. Submit yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line so we don't lose them) and tell everyone about the time you saw Ellen Pompeo at the Century City Mall looking like (and we quote) "a Staten Island prostitute". More »

Spike Lee to Clint Eastwood: You're Not My Father!

First, director Spike Lee criticized Clint Eastwood over the absence of black soldiers in his WWII epic Flags of Our Fathers. Next, Eastwood pointed out that the flick is about the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima, which was done by white soldiers, adding that "A guy like him should shut his face." But Lee insists on keeping his face and mouth quite open, casually accusing Eastwood racism and calling him "an angry old man." Says Lee, "First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either. He's a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn't personally attack him. And a comment like 'a guy like that should shut his face'—come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there." More »

Spike Lee Refuses To Shut His Face For 'Angry Old Man' Clint Eastwood

Less than 24 hours after a mildly grumpy Clint Eastwood took the race-bait laid for him by Spike Lee over his omission of black characters from his WWII films, Lee's imminent rebuttal appeared online at ABC News. Needless to say, the filmmaker did not exactly follow Eastwood's directions to "shut his face," but rather artfully engaged a few choice metaphors the elder director will no doubt take under advisement as he pursues that reported project about Nelson Mandela: More »

Clint Eastwood Would Like Spike Lee To Shut His Face Right About Now

The Guardian runs an outrageously satisfying interview with Clint Eastwood today, in which he was asked to address comments made at Cannes by his perennially malcontented, bullhorn-wielding peer, Spike Lee. In them, Lee suggested Eastwood ignored African-Americans' contributions to the Allied cause in Flags of Our Fathers. (The exact quote: "There were many African-Americans who survived that war and who were upset at Clint for not having one [in the films]. That was his version: the negro soldier did not exist. I have a different version.") And while "a guy like him should shut his face" will undoubtedly emerge as the rant's most pull-quoted phrase—and deservedly so, being eight perfectly chosen syllables that manage to encapsulate everything we love about the shoot-first, dump-the-body-later Eastwood mystique—there's much else to savor in the permagrizzled auteur's verbal swat-down: More »

Clint Eastwood Tells Off Spike Lee On Race

A couple of weeks ago, black filmmaker Spike Lee criticized white director Clint Eastwood's World War II films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima for not having any black soldiers, saying, "In his vision of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist." Today Britain's Guardian publishes an interview in which Eastwood hits back, and you can practically hear the director peeling off lines like "A guy like him should shut his face" in his low, rough Dirty Harry voice. On to Eastwood's trash-talking: More »

Matt Damon To Don Thigh-Baring Shorts For 'Human Factor'

· Celebrity nape-haver Matt Damon will play South African rugby star Francois Pienaar in Clint Eastwood's Human Factor. Accent time! [Variety] More »

Clint Eastwood Reflects on Dirty Harry

Now that he's a bigtime fancy-pants director, Clint Eastwood wants nothing to do with his role as a rogue cop with a taste for brutality in the Dirty Harry franchise. Kidding! He's totally cool with it. "'At the time in the press, there was a lot of attention to the rights of the accused, and that's not bad or wrong, but nobody thought too much about the rights of the public or the rights of the victim, that's not what the attention was on,' Eastwood said. 'All of a sudden here was a picture about the rights of all the victims, and I think it really resonated with people who were frustrated.'" And Eastwood's not some gun-nut, either. More »

Today in Cannes Hell: Spike Lee vs. The World, 'Che' Unveiled and Mouthbreathing Over Penelope Cruz

Only a few days remain before Cannes ends and we can roll our bleary eyes from the backs of our heads. In the meantime, the rubbernecker in us can't help but take an interest in Spike Lee's latest sortie against the Hollywood establishment — this time as personified by Cannes darling Clint Eastwood, whom Lee railed against while promoting his upcoming Afro-centric World War II drama Miracle at St. Anna: More »

Shocker! Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie Make Oscar-Bait Drama Everybody Loves

Ho-hum. Clint Eastwood went to Cannes and all he got were more late-career raves, award mentions, his star Angelina Jolie on his arm and perhaps the most meta title switcheroo in Hollywood history: The Exchange (née Changeling) has all kinds of fans at the festival, where the child-disappearance drama premieres today in competition and already has Variety's Todd McCarthy running back at his hotel room to change his pants: More »

Today in Cannes Hell: 'Blindness' Still Bad, 'Indy 4' Making Few Friends and Egregious Oscar Hype

The pandas have been euthanized and Sean Penn is still lighting up despite you on the first full day of the Cannes Film Festival, which we continue to study from our vantage point in the salt mines. We continue to wince at the reaction to the opening-night film Blindness, whose bad buzz we were nervous about back when the festival waited forever to announce its selection. Variety's Justin Chang piled on this morning — "Blindness emerges onscreen both overdressed and undermotivated, scrupulously hitting the novel's beats yet barely approximating, so to speak, its vision" — with an only slightly happier James Rocchi following suit at Cinematical. More »

'Che' Visits Cannes After All; Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie Unveil Oscar Bait as Well

The Cannes Film Festival announced this morning it will get four hours of Che Guevara after all — not to mention additional Oscar bait from Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie and Charlie Kaufman in this year's competition program. As recently as last Friday, the Steven Soderbergh/Benicio Del Toro all-or-nothing two-fer of Guerrilla and The Argentine was looking doubtful for the Cannes deadline, but the festival announced this morning that it is indeed in. Out of competition, meanwhile, world premieres Indiana Jones 4 and Kung-Fu Panda will do battle for the honorary Jerry Seinfeld Award For Shameless Publicity Hijacking. More »

Clint Eastwood Back In The Driver's Seat

· Clint Eastwood will direct and star in Gran Torino for Warner Bros. While details "are being kept under tantalizingly tight wraps," muscle car enthusiasts are hoping the grizzled star of Dirty Harry will be voicing the Laser Striped title vehicle. [Variety] More »

The Return Of Kiefer Sutherland

PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers, and are posted several times a week, so send them in often. Submit yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line so we don't lose them) and tell everyone about the time you spotted Adrian Grenier possibly consoling the dead bird out of some weepy blonde girl: More »

A prosecutor who has not been to the movies in 28 years is lashing out at the film he thinks inspired two prison escapees to cover holes in their cell walls with posters of sexy women: Escape from Alcatraz. "This isn't fiction; this is real life. It is dangerous for other people, and I don't find it entertaining," vents County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow. The two inmates, one of whom was born 8 years after the Fred Ward-starrer hit theaters, went over the wall of the Union County on Saturday evening, escaping with just the clothes on their back and the entirety of IMDB's #2 rated film in their head. Damn you, Clint Eastwood. [CBS News]

Superproducer Brian Grazer Superwoos Clint Eastwood Over Dinner

PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers, and are posted several times a week, so send them in often. Submit yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line so we don't lose them) and tell everyone about the time you spotted Scott Baio: 45, single, and ready to settle down with a new iMac. More »

Defamer Oscar Moments: Consoling Clint

An eagle-eyed reader directed us to return to the TiVo for a replay of Martin Scorsese's Best Director victory speech, during which an inopportune cut to audience reactions clearly spotlights the hand of Clint Eastwood's wife taking a couple of swipes at the Oscar-nominated helmer's crotch. Sure, she's probably just brushing some crumbs from his pants, but she just as easily could be patting Lil' Clint, doing her best to console her husband's suddenly withering manhood after a disappointing loss to an inferior Scorsese effort. More »

Trade Round-Up: DGA ScreenerGate Takes Surprise Twist!

DGA ScreenerGate rages on! The Guild reverses its shocking no-screeners policy reversal by banning the DVDs for this award season, then promising there will be no awards campaigner mindfucking next year, when they'll be allowed. "The most awkward and disrespectful awards snafu of the year!" says Outraged Anonymous Exec of The Undisclosed Studio Review-Journal. [Variety] More »

Awards Round-Up: Everyone Wins!

· The International Press Academy (sort of like the HFPA, but even more international and obscure) presented their Satellite Awards in the Beverly Hills le Méridien ballroom Sunday. Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker get best acting nods for a drama, while Bill Condon and Clint Eastwood (for Flags) tie for best director, in a contest with a category and winner for just about everything. (A Lifetime movie picked up multiple awards.) [Variety] More »

The Golden Globes Nominations: Leo Vs. Leo, Clint Vs. Clint

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Trade Round-Up: New 'Iwo Jima' Release Date Sets Up Awards Deathmatch Between Clint Eastwood WWII Movies

· Hot on the heels of the launch of NBC Universal's online humor site DotComedy (it's still around a week later, apparently—so far, so good), AOL and HBO announce plans to erect This Just In in January, a novel idea centered around the unprecedented use of blogging technology to explore current events in comedic fashion. [Variety] More »

Hollywood PrivacyWatch: Bryan Singer And Friends Duck Third Period At Hugo's

PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers, which we try to post several times per week. (Spaced out at utterly random intervals—the better to keep you all on your toes.) So send those suckers in, and send them often. Submit yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line) and let the world know about the time you spotted an alleged McChoking victim speeding down the 101. More »

Overheard Celebrity Theater Reviews: Clint On Chekhov

A Defamer operative was on high alert during Sunday night's closing presentation of The Cherry Orchard at the Mark Taper Forum, a celebrity-target-rich environment begging for some low-grade eavesdropping: More »

Gossip roundup

· A friend of polo player Adam Lindemann on Lindemann's impending divorce (in that "how will this play at the yacht club?" vein) : "It is a shame...They have three beautiful daughters who will be the new Miller sisters. Everyone really likes them both—they are very popular on the social circuit—and we are all hoping for the best." [Page Six] More »