Clint Eastwood

As a filmmaker, Clint Eastwood is neither precious nor patient. Though the movies he directs tend to unfold at an unhurried pace, he zips through production ...

Of Eastwood's post-"Unforgiven" output, "The Bridges of Madison County" stands alongside "A Perfect World" as his most underrated achievement. This film was getting made one way or the other, and he likely knew Semel couldn't bear the thought of chasing off one of his studio's biggest names. "The Bridges of Madison County" ambled into theaters on June 2, 1995, and opened to a respectable $10.5 million at the U.S. box office. Oscar-winning "Rain Man" scenarist Ron Bass was the next man up, and he failed to deliver as well. He also insisted on Meryl Streep for the lead role of love-lorn Italian war bride Francesca Johnson (the author wanted Isabella Rosselini, while the studio had been advocating for the likes of Susan Sarandon, Anjelica Huston, Jessica Lange, Cher and Mary McDonnell). Eastwood got everything he wanted, and plunged into production. The project was on the brink of consignment to development hell. Eastwood was connecting to something shifting in the world and himself. The project was stalled until Richard LaGravenese, a hot Hollywood commodity on the strength of "The Fisher King" and "The Ref," turned in a draft that hit the right, heartbreaking notes. Though he'd been examining his iconography since 1985's "Pale Rider," the films on which he was riffing (Leone's "Dollars" Trilogy and the "Dirty Harry" series) were too fresh in memory. But after missing the mark creatively and commercially on his next four features ("Bird," "Pink Cadillac," "White Hunter, Black Heart" and "The Rookie"), Eastwood had to cut the BS and level with himself as a man and an artist. Though the movies he directs tend to unfold at an unhurried pace, he zips through production, bringing them in ahead of schedule and under budget. After the mean-spirited disaster of 1991's "The Rookie," he'd gone back to basics as a storyteller and turned his focus inward.