Warner Preps Eastwood Collection

30 Nov, 2009 By: Chris Tribbey

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Clint Eastwood is one of a kind in Hollywood, and Warner Home Video will offer a DVD collection Feb. 16 that proves it.

Packed with 34 of his films and a brand new documentary, “Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros.” celebrates the actor-director’s long association with the studio, from when he first set up an office on the lot in 1975. The collection opens with two MGM films, Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Kelly’s Heroes (1970), and closes with 2008’s Gran Torino. In between are Eastwood’s best Westerns (The Outlaw Josey Wales), all the Dirty Harry films, Oscar winners (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby) and recent selections (Letters from Iwo Jima).

“I don’t believe there’s anyone like him,” said Jeff Baker, EVP and GM of Warner Home Video. “There are obviously a lot of prolific actors, but Clint is so unique in that his films have been so successful financially, and he’s been so successful as an actor and a director.

“It’s really hard to find a comp for this guy.”

The documentary, The Eastwood Factor, is a look at the man by Time magazine critic and film historian Richard Schickel.

“I’ve known Clint for most of the time he’s been at Warner Bros.,” Schickel said. “I was fortunate to be able to wander around the Warner lot with him and hear his reminiscences. To be able to show him in the places where he works and lives and feels most comfortable is, I think, a unique opportunity.”

The documentary follows Eastwood at film locations, on the lot and sound stages, and even into his home in Carmel, Calif.

“Documentaries are usually done when someone exits the business,” Baker added. “In this case, Clint felt he needed to talk about what he’s done up to now. He talks about the difficulty of being both an actor and a director, and switching off.”

Baker said the studio had a choice on whether to go “high brow” and put the SRP of the set in the $300-$500 range.

“But we wanted to make this available to a broader audience,” he said. “We tried to do it as economically as possible.”

 

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