When asked whom he makes films for, Mr. Eastwood said, “You’re looking at him.”

The title of this blog comes from a quote in a recent NY Times article on the film Gran Torino by Clint Eastwood.

It made me wonder, is this why he’s such a successful director? His films connect with audiences and critics alike. He’s a gifted actor/director who despite his politics makes films that manage to land themselves as Oscar contenders and do well at the box office (which must make his financiers happy).

He’s an actor’s dream. In Mystic River he directs Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, two actors that are pretty far from the Clint Eastwood political spectrum. In a town where someone can easily get blacklisted for their political/religious views, Clint Eastwood takes risks (his run in with Spike Lee) and even in the current film where he plays a bigot (I have not seen it, but from what I hear, he does not sugar coat the language to make things politically correct).

So he takes risks and makes movies for himself. Is that the key to being a good director? A respected director? A successful director?

When I wrote Love Song, I have to honestly say that I wrote it for me first, my sister second and never gave much thought to the audience. Of course we have a target audience but I was not thinking of the audience when I wrote and cast the film. It was easy for me to do that because at the end of the day, it was my own hard earned $$.

I wrote the film for myself and for my sister; for me - I wanted to see a film with commercial appeal where Latinos play the lead, where race is a fact not a plot point. For my sister – because while as an actress she has been extremely lucky to consistently work, the characters she plays tend to consistently focus on race and/or ethnicity. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing but I’ve seen enough of that to last a lifetime. I wanted a pretty film that felt like a slow paced music video and I wanted it to have heart. That’s exactly what I got. I made a film that I can watch time and time again and hopefully enough people will feel that way about it.

I poured my heart and soul into Love Song and dedicated a strong part of the last four years of my life to create the feature film Love 10 to 1. I hope that this is the first of many; I was recently told that “at your age, you are pursuing the dreams of a 20 year old” this was followed by a comment about family/kids not fitting into my directing life. OUCH! If I didn’t have to work full time (to pay for the film and to support myself) in conjunction with being a full time filmmaker, I would be able to make time for the kids.

No one ever said that following your dreams was easy. For me, the payoff would be to get paid to direct so that I can have my cake and eat it too. Some would say this is self indulgent but at least I’ve worked hard to indulge myself and pursue my dreams.

xoxo,
Lucy

PS
In case you are new to the blog, Onahoua Rodriguez is my sister and she plays Shane.

PPS
Read the NY Times article about Mr. Eastwood's new film - He Rocks
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/movies/14head.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink