'Entirely phony': Clint Eastwood calls viral interview a fabrication

The actor and director claims that an Austrian newspaper invented a recent interview with him

Clint Eastwood, who turned 95 over the weekend, had been originally quoted as saying he was in pre-production on his new movie and had rallied against 'an era of remakes and franchises'. File photo: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP

Clint Eastwood has claimed that a recent interview with him which went viral is a fabrication.

Quotes from an alleged interview with the Oscar-winning actor and director had gone viral over the weekend and were picked up by a number of sites. Yet Mr Eastwood has now said that he never spoke to anyone from German-language Austrian newspaper Kurier.

“A couple of items about me have recently shown up in the news,” Eastwood said in a statement released to Deadline. “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.” 

Mr Eastwood, who turned 95 over the weekend, had been originally quoted as saying he was in pre-production on his new movie and had rallied against “an era of remakes and franchises”.

Kurier is based in Vienna and has a circulation of approximately 100,000 copies. There is no official statement from Kurier or any details on how the interview was assembled.

Mr Eastwood’s most recent film Juror #2, which starred Nicholas Hoult, was released at the end of last year with no confirmed word on what his next film will be. 

In an interview to support the film with the Metrograph magazine, he addressed his legacy as a film-maker.

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“That would be up to them, to the audiences, to answer,” he said. “Up to the people on the outside. I just kind of go along. I consider this, again, emotional. It comes upon you. You have a story, you make a movie of it. You have to just go for it. 

"If you think too much about how it happened you might ruin it. I go back and look at films I’ve made, and I could easily ask, ‘Why the heck did I make this?’ I don’t remember! It might have been a long time ago.” 

Mr Eastwood had recently paid tribute to co-star Gene Hackman after Hackman’s death in February. “There was no finer actor than Gene,” he said. “Intense and instinctive. Never a false note.” 

He added: “He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much.”

- The Guardian