Clint Eastwood says he put his career into "third gear" when he won an Oscar.
The 86-year-old actor 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?"
Clint Eastwood’s career turning point
