Clint Eastwood says he put his career into "third gear" when he won an Oscar.
Clint Eastwood
Eastwood was 62 when he picked up the accolade for 'Unforgiven' and admits he knew the film would be a "turning point" for him.
He said: "I put it in third gear at that point. That project was a turning point, and I knew it when I read the story. I believe in my gut. Most people intellectualise their instincts away, but when you feel something, you have to go for it.
"'A Fistful of Dollars' was a great instinct for me, because here I was, a guy who's doing Rawhide. I'm in the saddle every day playing a screwball. And then somebody comes along and says, 'How would you like to go to Italy and Spain and do an Italian/Spanish/German co-production with an Italian director who has only directed one movie?' It wasn't like I was going there to be with Fellini. But something was there, and I thought, Well, I loved this story when it was told by Akira Kurosawa; maybe this is a good idea. That's an instinctive moment."
And Clint also recalled the time he was "begged" not to do 'Every Which Way but Loose' but it ended up being a hit.
He added to Esquire magazine: "My agent begged me not to do 'Every Which Way but Loose'. And my lawyer begged me not to do it, 'This is a piece of s**t. It's not the kind of thing you do.' And I said, 'It's not the kind of thing that I've been doing - all these pictures where I'm shooting people. I want something you can take your kids to.'
"I said, 'I like this character. I think it's hip that the girl dumps the guy and it's not happy ever after.' And the public loved it. If you make a couple decisions where your instincts worked well, why would you abandon them?"
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