When the actor appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention, no one knew it would be talked about for weeks thereafter. But will it also hurt his new movie, Trouble with the Curve, or will people want to see more of him?
It has been a whole week since Clint Eastwood’s bizarre speech at the Republican National Convention, but people are still talking about it. Besides the speech itself, people are wondering about Eastwood himself, which is not great in the weeks before a movie opening.
“While such ridicule plays well online, it could prove disastrous at the box office when Trouble with the Curve opens nationwide Sept. 21,” said the Boston Herald. “The film stars Eastwood as a past-his-prime baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves who’s accompanied by his lawyer daughter, played by The Fighter actress Amy Adams, on a last-chance scouting trip to North Carolina.” The film also stars Justin Timberlake.
Warner Bros. did not want to speak about the incident at the RNC and how it might affect the movie’s opening. But Eastwood is still expected to appear at all the promo events for the film, showing he doesn’t think the controversy is serious enough to have given him a bad reputation. But this one could go either way.
According to S. Mark Young, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and co-author of The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America, “If you’re a Clint Eastwood fan, my guess is you’ll probably still go to see the movie. If you’re not, you might be very disappointed with what’s become of Clint,” Young told the Boston Herald.
While many Hollywood actors promote their political beliefs, there are even more who keep their beliefs private. But unless actors make a point of expressing them, their fans don’t normally care. Eastwood’s decision to speak at the Republican National Convention came as a surprise to many because people just hadn’t thought too much about his beliefs.
“Although he’s been a Hollywood staple, Eastwood has never conformed to Hollywood standards,” said the Boston Herald. “He’s a flag-waving Republican [and] a fiscal conservative who takes left-leaning stands on social issues like gay marriage. He made waves with right-wingers earlier this year when he starred in a Super Bowl spot for Chrysler, a company that benefited from government support.”
Only time will tell if last week’s speech will help or hurt the movie at the box office. Trouble with the Curve will be released Sept. 21.
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