The Director Clint Eastwood Always Wanted To Collaborate With (But Never Did)

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Clint Eastwood has technically been one of the most in-demand movie stars of the last 60 years — "technically" because, throughout that long time span, he slowly ceased working with other directors. Starting in 1980, Eastwood almost exclusively made movies through his Malpaso Company shingle at Warner Bros., and that tendency functioned like a flashing "do not inquire" sign. Obviously, if filmmakers had any sense that Eastwood was on the market as an actor, a considerable number would've at least passed along a screenplay to gauge interest. But he seemed content to generate his own material and direct it himself.

It's intriguing to consider who would've had the best shot at getting Eastwood to take a break from the Malpaso ranch (I bet Tony Scott could've nabbed him in the 1990s), but the better question is who would Eastwood have worked with if he felt like being directed for a change. The one time he truly stepped outside of his Malpaso comfort zone, he made one of his best post-"Unforgiven" movies with Wolfgang Petersen's "In the Line of Fire." With that in mind, you have to figure Eastwood had a preference for accomplished directors with a modicum of style but not an overwhelming artistic imprint.

This wasn't the case at all. Not by a damn sight. Had the stars aligned, Eastwood would've happily teamed up with one of the most idiosyncratic craftspeople to ever stand behind a camera.

The Clint Eastwood and Quentin Tarantino connection that might've been

In a 2014 interview with the Toronto Star, Eastwood revealed that, had the timing and script been right, he would've gladly starred in a Quentin Tarantino film.

Granted, Eastwood was asked about Tarantino soon after the filmmaker had introduced a Cannes Film Festival screening of "A Fistful of Dollars" by calling him "one of the sexiest motherf***ers during his time who ever existed." That'll get one's engines revving.

"Well, I know he's a big admirer of those (Leone) films," said Eastwood, "Because you see it in some of the things he's done, but that was very nice." The appeal for Tarantino, aside from Clint Eastwood being Clint freaking Eastwood, would've been to follow in the shoes of another directing hero, Don Siegel, who helped the star segue from Westerns with the cop classic "Dirty Harry."

In 2014, Eastwood wasn't completely closing the door on a Tarantino collaboration. As he told the Star:

"Sure, if the right material comes along. I like him very much. I've talked with him over the years, I've run across him now and then, but I've never really had the opportunity. He's never had the right material for me and I've never had the right material for him."

Now that Eastwood is fully retired from acting (perhaps filmmaking as well after "Juror No. 2"), and Tarantino is trying to figure out what his directing swan song will be after he scuttled "The Movie Critic," we can only speculate as to what might've been. Maybe. Being a hopeless dreamer, I'm not throwing the towel in on these two getting together just yet. I don't think "The Movie Critic" is completely dead, and I figure the indefatigable Eastwood can muster up the energy for one last turn in front of the cameras. While we still have both men, I choose to believe anything is possible.