Clint Eastwood's latest movie, about a security guard wrongly accused of planting a bomb during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, is a cautinary tale for our times, he tells Michele Manelis
What was it
about this story of Richard Jewell that struck a chord with you?
The story was fascinating because it was a great American tragedy. For someone to have his life taken away from him after he did a heroic deed and then get the penalty of being accused of the actual crime, it just seemed like a unique situation and it seemed like it could make for a really great movie. I just couldn't resist. For some reason it plagued my mind. I guess you'd call it instinct. You get an idea, it sticks and keeps coming back to you and you feel compelled to do it.
What's your take on real news and fake news? Your film touches on that subject.
You know, I grew up idolising the FBI as an organisation. It had the purest people in the world working there. Nowadays we see that there are some mistakes being made and they've done some leaking to the press and things that are not good. It's scary. The situation that happened with Richard Jewell is an example of when things can go wrong if the truth isn't there all the way down the line. And this could be a horrible society if that became the norm.
What's your opinion of streaming platforms and how we watch movies these days?
I'm old-school and all the new stuff is a little bit ahead of me. To me, streaming and screaming are too close together. I'll eventually catch up but it's not an easy thing for me.
You're one of Hollywood's most enduring stars. To what do you attribute your career longevity?
I think it's luck. There's an old saying in golf, "I'd rather be lucky than good." It's the same thing in the movies. But there are so many things that go into it. The producing, the directing, setting it all up and each time it's like a different game. Just when you think that you've got it captured, it can drop you like a hot potato.