Eastwood Talks His Way Into Change of Pace Role

The usually taciturn Clint Eastwood’s acting career takes a new turn in “White Hunter, Black Heart,” which received its world premiere in Cannes today.

Eastwood sprang to fame as the near-silent hero of “spaghetti” westerns and pared his script down to little more than a husky “Make my day” as detective Dirty Harry.

But he waxes positively wordy in his role as devil-may-care director John Wilson, a closely modeled portrait of the legendary John Huston.

“You can’t do this kind of film without being wordy,” Eastwood said. “Certainly, it’s different to anything else I’ve played before, though I’ve played a wide variety of roles in the past.”

Eastwood, who has been coming to Cannes for the last three years, acts and directs in this production. The film is based on a story by screenwriter Peter Viertel, who went to Africa with Huston in the 1950s to shoot the star-studded classic “The African Queen.”

But Viertel soon discovered Huston was obsessed with quite another kind of shooting--of an African elephant--a fixation which led Huston virtually to abandon his staff and come close to wrecking the entire project.

“I think this film has a big message about responsibility,” said Eastwood. “The character at the end becomes a tragic figure because he has allowed his obsession to kill someone he respected and has lost a bit of himself in the process.”

Eastwood depicts Wilson as “a violent man given to violent action”--cruel to those he loves, sarcastic, unpredictable, but redeemed by his rejection of racism, defense of the underdog and determination to value art over box-office receipts.

“To write a movie you must forget that anyone’s ever going to see it,” says the Wilson character when he is reproached for choosing an ending the public will not like.

“White Hunter, Black Heart,” is regarded as a strong entry among the 19 works competing for the palm at the 43rd Cannes film festival. The 60-year-old director’s performance is also being tipped for a possible Best Actor award.