Clint Eastwood has managed to achieve what others can only dream of in their lifetime. A brilliant actor, an extraordinary director, and a producer as well, Eastwood has starred in and made some of the finest movies in the film industry, many of them now being heralded as timeless cult classics. Having experimented with countless genres, he has won several accolades, including the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and more.
However, it was his acclaimed Western Unforgiven, which brought him his first Oscar. A critical and commercial success, even the scriptwriter, David Peoples, reckons no one could have made it as good as Eastwood did even though it was Francis Ford Coppola who was slated to direct the film initially.
Francis Ford Coppola Was Supposed to Direct Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven
Unforgiven was released in 1992, but David Peoples wrote the script in 1976, and it was initially titled The Cut-Whore Killings. While the name did eventually change, the script remained unchanged and was originally slated to be directed by The Godfather director, Francis Ford Coppola. However, as fate would have it, the script ended up in Clint Eastwood‘s hand as an example of Peoples’ writing.
While he did not read it when it first came to him after some ill advice, Eastwood ended up reading it years after and was completely awestruck by it. And so he brought the rights from Coppola, only to keep it dormant for some years (via Cinephilia & Beyond). In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1992, Peoples recalled how the script ended up in Eastwood’s hands,
Francis Ford Coppola optioned it in ’84. He took it around, but couldn’t get financing. Clint picked up the option in 1985 and said he was making it “next year” a couple of times. The year before last, my wife was at the Telluride Film Festival and Clint walked on stage. He was overwhelmed by the scenery, he told the audience, and figured it was probably time to make his Western. I was thrilled.
While it is shocking to imagine anyone else making Unforgiven, it is certainly an exciting what-if to imagine how the film would have looked like had The Godfather filmmaker gotten around to making it.
David Peoples Reckons No One Could Have Made Unforgiven as Well as Clint Eastwood
Unforgiven is one of Clint Eastwood’s best movies to date. With a career spanning more than 60 years, the acclaimed filmmaker-actor has made several brilliant movies, but Unforgiven remains among the top. Starring as the lead as well as directing the film, Eastwood went on to win two Academy Awards (Best Picture and Best Director) and was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award.
So, to have somebody else like Francis Ford Coppola direct the film now seems unnatural to imagine. When David Peoples was asked by the Los Angeles Times how the film would have looked like had The Godfather director directed it, he remarked,
Francis would have done it brilliantly as he does everything else, but it’s hard to imagine anyone making it as straightforwardly and uncompromisingly as Clint. No studio would have made it that way–dark, moody. With a lot of voices, things generally end up becoming blander and more accessible. ‘Unforgiven’ was Clint Eastwood saying, ‘This is what I’m going to do . . . get out of my way.’
And the acclaimed screenwriter is not wrong, for other than a minor change, the original script of the film was completely adapted into the film. A rare feat for any movie, perhaps it was Eastwood’s persistence and justice to the original screenplay that the movie ended up becoming such a timeless classic.