French president lauds Eastwood

Now that he’s directed a Japanese-language film, could French be next for Clint Eastwood?

The 76-year-old American raised that possibility over the weekend after French President Jacques Chirac inducted the actor-director into the French Legion of Honor, saying he represents “the best of Hollywood.”

“You show the complexity of America, in all its grandeur and fragility, with its enthusiastic dreams and its worried questioning,” Chirac said during the ceremony in Paris.

“I’ve just finished being a Japanese director on a film, and my great ambition one day is to do a French film, become a French director,” said Eastwood, whose “Letters From Iwo Jima” earned him an Academy Award nomination.