Clint Eastwood has stayed behind the camera since Million Dollar Baby in 2004, but a mysterious new project announced by Warner Bros. finds the 77-year-old back in the driver's seat. Eastwood will direct and star in Gran Torino, due to hit theaters not long after his next directorial effort, Changeling starring Angelina Jolie, is released on November 7th.
Since no additional details about the movie have been released, it's a prime candidate for speculation, both informed and nonsensical. Take this from The Guardian: "If the title is any clue, Gran Torino is the name of a 1970s Ford car model — the same one Starsky and Hutch drove in the TV series." Hmm. . . fascinating stuff, but I think we can rule out another Starsky and Hutch remake at this point, particularly one starring the AARP poster boy.
A slightly more intriguing theory comes courtesy of "Kurt" from North Hollywood, who emailed Harry Knowles at Ain't It Cool News, claiming that a representative of Village Roadshow Pictures had expressed interest in a Gran Torino he was selling. "He told me they were looking for the right car for a new Clint Eastwood movie. He said it was a thriller about a killer that drives a certain torino. His 1972 Ford Gran Torino is the only thing the police have on him. A retired police lieutenant, one Harry Callahan, makes it his mission to track down the culprit when two young police officers, one Callahan's grandson, are shot and killed by the guy."
Harry Callahan is better known, of course, as Dirty Harry, the rule-bending cop Eastwood played in five movies, most recently 1988's The Dead Pool. Sure, it would be a little odd to see Serious Respected Filmmaker Eastwood go back to chasing bad guys with a big gun, but maybe he figures Sylvester Stallone shouldn't have all the fun. Somewhere Burt Reynolds is out looking for a black TransAm.