Actor Clint Eastwood will be a legend in 100 years

Imagine if Clint Eastwood, A movie star and icon in his own rightwas to tell you which actor he thinks will be an absolute legend within a century. got it? good. Now, let me tell you how this actually happened in real life. The great writer-director Cameron Crowe – maker of such classics as “Say Anything,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Vanilla Sky” — The New York Times recently conducted an interview And tell a wonderful little tale.

Crowe was invited to a dinner party by his lawyer (who also represents Eastwood) and sat next to him Dirty Harry. He was as nervous as any of us, especially since Eastwood is not the type who likes chit-chat and small talk – just ask his son: Scott Eastwood, who’ll tell you? Obtaining knowledge and wisdom from his father is a very delicate process. Crowe said he was sitting shyly next to Eastwood when he leaned over to him and suddenly said:

“‘Tom Cruise.’ And I say, ‘Man, Tom Cruise. I love working with Tom Cruise.’ And he says, ‘In a hundred years, they’ll look back, ‘This is the career, Tom Cruise’s career.'”

True story.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist (or a fortune teller) to guess why Eastwood said that. Cruise is in his 60s, and is probably talked about more now than he was when acting meant more to him than performing the craziest, life-threatening stunts as an action man. Don’t get me wrong, he’s one of the best at keeping the big, gritty action movie alive, but the road that led to this point in his career was paved with cold, modern cinema classics. He’s been such an adrenaline chaser of the past 15 years that it’s somewhat easy to forget that he made films like “Rain Man,” “Interview with the Vampire,” or “Magnolia.”

But now that the “Mission: Impossible” series has sung its swan song with “The Final Reckoning” (see Our review is here), there may be another new phase approaching late in the actor’s career. Crowe, who has worked with the star on two occasions in the past, seems to be feeling the big shift. He said:

“I see a time coming, and it may have already begun, where he will transition into character roles with the same force as he transitioned into doing action films of the highest quality. This Paul Newman phase is just around the corner and it will burn people’s minds.”

As a long-time fan, I certainly hope Crowe is right, and I can’t wait for Cruise to get back to intellectually challenging (he’s maxed out the physical) and more dramatic roles because we know he’s good at that too.