It’s hard to imagine cinema without Clint Eastwood. Born three years after the first “talkie”, the American actor and director has been alive almost as long as the medium itself. After finding rare success as a westerns actor – moulding an entire genre to his own hard-bitten image – Eastwood went on to become one of the most prolific and celebrated filmmakers around, directing everything from jazz biopics (Bird), to war dramas (Heartbreak Ridge), to romances (The Bridges of Madison County). Next year, Eastwood will be 95 years old. His latest film, Hitchcockian legal drama Juror #2, is his 40th. It’s a fittingly thoughtful capper to a truly remarkable career. So why, then, has this film been “buried”?
That’s the word being thrown around, at least. Juror #2, which stars Nicholas Hoult as an expectant father serving on a jury for a murder trial, is being released on just 50 screens across the US. In the UK, it’s also getting a limited release. It’s a sign, perhaps, of how Eastwood’s stock has fallen in recent years. It may be odd to suggest that a man who has won four Academy Awards doesn’t get the respect he deserves, but in Eastwood’s case, it may well be true.
