Clint Eastwood sets ‘the record straight,’ slams newspaper for ‘entirely phony’ interview

Clint Eastwood stands on the 18th green of the Pebble Beach Golf Links during the awards presentation of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament in Pebble Beach, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

An Austrian newspaper came under fire Tuesday after Hollywood star Clint Eastwood said an alleged interview with him published by the paper to mark his 95th birthday was “entirely phony”.

The row was sparked by a purported interview with the Oscar-winning actor and director carried by the German-language Kurier newspaper Friday.

In the interview, which was picked up widely by American media over the weekend, Eastwood criticises a lack of fresh ideas in the current film industry as “we live in an era of remakes and franchises”.

“I long for the good old days when screenwriters wrote films like ‘Casablanca’ in small bungalows on the studio lot. When everyone had a new idea,” he was quoted as saying.

“My philosophy is, do something new or stay at home,” it adds.

In a statement to Deadline magazine published Monday, Eastwood said “I thought I would set the record straight”.

“I can confirm I’ve turned 95. I can also confirm that I never gave an interview to an Austrian publication called Kurier, or any other writer in recent weeks, and that the interview is entirely phony,” he added.

On Tuesday evening, the editorial team of the Vienna-based Kurier said its freelancer Elisabeth Sereda had compiled the interview by citing from “a total of 18” round table conversations with Eastwood.

But since the article was published as an interview and not as a profile, the daily said it would cut ties with the author.

“Even though no quotes have been fabricated, the interviews are documented and the allegations of falsification can be refuted, we will not be working with the author in the future because transparency and our strict editorial standards are paramount to us,” Kurier said in a statement published on its website.

The newspaper had recently published interviews by Sereda with celebrities such as Jude Law and Elton John.

Agence France-Presse