Clint Eastwood is one of the best actor-turned-directors in cinematic history, evident from his four Oscar wins for his directorial ventures, Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. Just a few years after his Oscar win for Unforgiven, the Gran Torino actor directed and starred in the romantic drama The Bridges of Madison County.
The 1995 movie was a departure from his usual heroic masculine characters, offering a new directorial and acting experience for Eastwood. The movie explored the love affair between Eastwood’s Robert Kincaid and Meryl Streep’s Francesca Johnson.
Clint Eastwood Took A Different Approach For This Movie
Clint Eastwood’s The Bridges of Madison County drew inspiration from Robert James Waller’s novel of the same. Waller’s novel was a critical disaster but sold like hotcakes. However, the movie was a great cinematic take on Waller’s novel, with a script drafted by Richard LaGravenese, and went on to rake $182 million from the box office.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Eastwood revealed that the filmmaking style of this romantic drama was entirely different from the popular trends at the time. According to the True Crimes actor, the film took its time to unfold the story of the relationship between the lead characters. The film resembled an art-house cinema, focusing on the interaction between two individuals, conveyed through dialogues and meaningful silences.
Clint Eastwood’s Inspiration Was Two Western Filmmakers
Eastwood made the film for a more mature audience, people who had the patience to enjoy the film rather than rush through a quickly-cut movie. The Space Cowboys actor revealed his directorial inspiration to be legendary Western directors, John Ford and Howard Hawks. The Mule actor reflected on his approach:
“As a director you have to be careful with a story like this not to try to be razzle-dazzle. I tried to be more in the Ford or Hawks tradition of allowing things to happen on the screen. Otherwise it can get like you’re shooting a commercial or something, with the camera sliding all over the place.”
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Eastwood’s artistic endeavors paid off as the movie turned out to be an evergreen romantic gem. Notably, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly actor swooped in to save the project after multiple directors and writers dropped out of the movie.
Clint Eastwood Saved The Movie From Getting Scrapped
The Clint Eastwood-led movie was nominated for a Golden Globe, and Meryl Streep was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her performance. However, the acclaimed film almost got scrapped due to directors leaving the project.
The rights to Waller’s novel were bought by Steven Spielberg even before the novel was released. The Dirty Harry actor was the first one to join the project with Spielberg intending to helm the movie himself. However, due to the production of Schindler’s List, Spielberg had to drop out as the director. Spielberg then brought in Sydney Pollack as the director, and he too stepped down.
Out of the scripts drafted by Kurt Luedtke, Ronald Bass, and Richard LaGravenese, Eastwood liked the lattermost’s script. But, Bruce Beresford, who was hired as the new director brought in Alfred Uhry to draft a new script. However, Eastwood and Spielberg preferred LaGravenese’s draft and consequently, Beresford dropped out leaving the entire project’s fate hanging in the balance.