Fake Clint Eastwood Interview Goes Viral Bashing Remakes, Promising New Movie

Clint Eastwood is speaking out against an interview that went viral but is allegedly fake.

Eastwood, who just recently turned 95, has been working in Hollywood since the 1950s. He most recently directed Juror No. 2, a legal thriller drama movie starring Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, and more.

A German-language Australian newspaper titled Kurier recently published an alleged interview with Eastwood. The story went viral and was shared by many publications, as Eastwood was quoted slamming remakes, franchises, and sequels, while also saying his philosophy is “do something new or stay at home,” per Reuters. Kurier also said Eastwood was in the pre-production phase of a new film.

Eastwood, however, is setting the record straight, as he told Deadline that the interview was made up.

What did Clint Eastwood say about the fake interview?

“A couple of items about me have recently shown up in the news,” Eastwood said. “I thought I would set the record straight. I can confirm I’ve turned 95. I can also confirm that I never gave an interview to an Austrian publication called Kurier, or any other writer in recent weeks, and that the interview is entirely phony.”

Kurier has since released a statement about the matter. A portion of it reads (translated from German to English): “There was no immediate reason to doubt that [Elisabeth Sereda, the author of the Kurier] had interviewed Eastwood. And it’s not surprising that Eastwood doesn’t have the Kurier on hand. Foreign journalists often conduct interviews with stars in groups, so everyone can then use the conversation as an interview for their own publication or even sell it to multiple media outlets. It’s clear that big stars don’t have every media outlet and every journalist on hand.

“As she convincingly explained to the Kurier, Sereda spoke with Eastwood a total of 18 times at roundtables. Foreign journalists receive transcripts of these conversations, which are free to use. According to Sereda, she wrote the current article based on these conversations. This means that all of Eastwood’s statements were made exactly as they were, and this is documented. Using multiple interviews for a birthday portrait is common practice.

“The article was formatted as an interview, not a portrait. This was intended to create the impression that it was a new interview. The fact that this wasn’t the case is not in keeping with the quality standards the Kurier maintains. Even though no quote is fabricated, the interviews are documented, and the allegation of falsification can be refuted, we will no longer work with the author in the future because transparency and our strict editorial standards are paramount to us.”

Source: Comingsoon.net