At 94 years old, Clint Eastwood is still going strong in Hollywood as one of its leading filmmakers and actors. The veteran has won the Oscar for Best Director twice for Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven. But his legacy will be cemented by his roles in Dirty Harry and the Dollars trilogy.
Known for his signature and often imitated voice, Eastwood reportedly crafted it after the Dollars trilogy and only uses it in his acting, according to his co-star Morgan Freeman. The dual personality that he has crafted would make him the perfect Batman.
Morgan Freeman Reveals The Secret Behind Clint Eastwood’s Iconic Voice
Any fan of cinema can easily recognize the gruff and macho voice of Clint Eastwood going, ‘Do you feel, punk?’ from Dirty Harry. The actor’s squinted-eyes look and gnashed teeth voice have been imitated by actors as famous as Jim Carrey and the iconography of Eastwood has forever been cemented in pop culture.
The actor has a penchant for playing killers with a moral code and usually becomes a vehicle through which the common man can express their anger with moral violence. Be it pursuing the murderer Scorpio in Dirty Harry or collecting the bounty of an assaulter in Unforgiven, the actor does not shy away from violence no matter the cause.
While his signature voice brings out the anger of many people, it is reportedly not his usual voice when he is not on camera. His co-star Morgan Freeman, who featured in Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, mentioned that Eastwood had crafted it after the Dollars trilogy (via Esquire),
The voice he uses when he’s acting is not the voice he uses when he’s not. It’s because of the Man with No Name. He established that voice when he was doing spaghetti westerns with Sergio Leone, and he’s used it ever since. People use it when they imitate him because it’s the only voice they know. But it only comes out when you mic him up and he’s on the set and acting.
The actor’s mannerisms have often been imitated by many personalities, but no one can quite do it like him.
Clint Eastwood Was Considered For The Role Of Batman
Looking at Clint Eastwood’s iconic heroes with qualities like a tragic backstory, fight training, a penchant for justice through any means necessary, a moral code, and a dual personality, it is tough to imagine why he was not cast as Bruce Wayne a.k.a Batman. The actor’s look, especially in his heyday would have made him the perfect candidate.
Fans were not the only ones thinking about reportedly as comic book writers Paul Dini and Alan Burnette mentioned on the Fatman on Batman podcast that they considered Eastwood for Batman in an unproduced live-action Batman Beyond film. The duo were reportedly developing a film based on the iconic animated series (via The Illuminerdi),
It was set in Gotham’s future, but it didn’t quite have the fantastic, futuristic edge. It was sort of like an amalgam. There was a little bit of Dark Knight, there was a little bit of contemporary comics and there was Terry [McGinnis] and the suit and everything. It was old Bruce Wayne.
Eastwood was reportedly being considered for the role of an older Bruce Wayne who has passed on the mantel of Batman to a young Terry McGinnis. However, the film never came to fruition.