Clint Eastwood has proven time and time again throughout his almost seven-decade-old and counting career that he is not just an incredible actor, but one of the most exceptionally remarkable filmmakers as well. His big-screen works like Dirty Harry and Gran Torino are the living proof of his legendary legacy that he is currently carrying forward.
But the true potential of his spectacular works wasn’t always visible to the production companies and studios, a major reason behind this was the ‘over-cooked formulaic’ blockbusters that most of the major studios were in favor of. In fact, two of Eastwood’s super famous and Oscar-winning films to date, Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, were almost engulfed in these flames and never made!
Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River Were Almost Never Made
Although Clint Eastwood has given the entertainment industry some of the best works of all time, many in the industry once failed to recognize his true filmmaking potential – something that put the existence of two of his blockbusters, Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, in danger.
As revealed by him in an interview shared by The Clint Eastwood Archive, the actor shared how initially major studios failed to realize the true potential of Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River. He said:
“I liked the Million Dollar Baby script a lot,” he said. “Warner Bros. said the project had been submitted to them and they’d passed on it. I said, ‘But I like it.’ They said, ‘Well, it’s a boxing movie.’ And I said, ‘It’s not a boxing movie in my opinion. It’s a father-daughter love story, and it’s a lot of other things besides a boxing movie.’”
Continuing, he let out how little the studios were willing to help him financially for the film.
“They hemmed and hawed and finally said that if I wanted to take it, maybe they’d pay for the domestic rights only. After that, I’d be on my own.”
Since that obviously wasn’t a good enough price, Eastwood found himself out on search once again.
“We took it to a couple of other studios, and they turned it down, much like Mystic River was turned down — the exact same pattern. People who kept calling and saying, ‘Come on, work with us on stuff.’ I’d give it to them, and they’d go, ‘Uh, we were thinking more in terms of Dirty Harry coming out of retirement.’ And who knows? Maybe when it comes out they’ll be proven right.”
Just like that, because of over-cooked formulaic blockbusters like Dirty Harry, two of Clint Eastwood’s most famous Oscar-winning movies were turned down by major studios.
How Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River Came To Be
In another interview (via East Bay Times), Clint Eastwood shared insights into his decisions for making the “bleak and the bleaker”: Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, and how the films came to be.
“At this particular time in my life, I’m not doing anything as a moneymaker,” Eastwood said. “It’s like I’m pushing the envelope the other way to see how far we can go to be noncommercial.”
The filmmaker then let out what helped him get away with making both of the movies:
“I didn’t know if ‘Mystic River’ would go over at all… But I just told Warners the same thing I did with ‘Million Dollar Baby’: ‘I don’t know if this is going to make any money. But I think I can make a picture that you’d be proud to have in your library.’”
That statement most certainly seemed to work as both Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River earned the approval of the studios and went on to do wonders on the big screens as well as on the audience’s hearts—even ending up garnering numerous Oscar nominations and wins to add up to Clint Eastwood‘s star-studded collection!
