clint eastwood still experimenting at 80 . . .

“I could have been satisfied to stick with the genres I have been doing for years but, the last decade, I’ve been doing a lot of films that were certainly different for me, experimenting with new issues and subjects.”  (Clint Eastwood)


At age 80, Clint Eastwood exemplifies what it means to be a "third ager."Not content to withdraw and retire from life, Clint has directed a newly-released film, Hereafter, a provocative meditation on fate and mortality, life and the afterlife.


And in the past six years, Clint's prolific creative endeavors have included seven films, each different from the others in theme, narrative and visual style. Since 2004, he has directed Million Dollar Baby, which won the best picture and director Oscars, the back-to-back second world war movies Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, Gran Torino, his most commercial picture to date, Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie, and Invictus, about South African rugby, in which Nelson Mandela is played by Morgan Freeman.


Clint is now hard at work on his next project, a biopic about J. Edgar Hoover.


Eastwood is quick to point out that for him, the emphasis is on the here and now. “I don’t think much about the hereafter, because I feel you’re given one opportunity to live in this world, and you have to take advantage of that and do the best you can. That’s the hand you’re dealt and you have to play it out. If you’re worrying too much about the end of it all, you can’t really live the present of it all.”

Clint's life is an inspiration to all of us who are finding purpose and joy in an active and engaged life as we grow older.

An insight into his perspective on life is found in his comments about what keeps him going.  “I just enjoy working,” he says, “I thrive on it. For me, a good script is usually the inspiration, and I’m always looking for new subject matters because every film is a new challenge for me.  I could have been satisfied to stick with the genres I have been doing for years but, the last decade, I’ve been doing a lot of films that were certainly different for me, experimenting with new issues and subjects.”

More of us are joining Clint in his un-retiring approach to life and say, hooray for him!