Clint Eastwood Only Had One Note For Kevin Bacon In Mystic River

To quote Roger Ebert, even if Clint Eastwood had never acted a day in his life, he'd still be a Hollywood legend. As a director, Eastwood is one of the industry's more prolific, having made 40 feature films since his debut, "Play Misty for Me" in 1971. His most recent film, "Juror #2," was released in 2024, meaning he was 93 when he completed work on it. 

On screen, Eastwood's films tend to be mellow and slow-moving. He prefers a naturalistic aesthetic, paired with cloudy, ethereal photography. He works in all genres, from cop dramas to Westerns to romances to musicals (although few enjoyed his film adaptation of "Jersey Boys"). As an actor, Eastwood is best known for playing gun-toting badasses like The Man With No Name and Dirty Harry. As a director, his films tend to be mellower and more sensitive. In many cases, his films don't so much climax as gently crest. He also wears his politics on his sleeve, often repping a "good old days" style of Conservatism. That said, many of his films are progressive in their messaging. 

 Five of his movies — "Unforgiven," "Mystic River," "Million Dollar Baby," "Letters from Iwo Jima," and "American Sniper" — have been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with "Unforgiven" and "Baby" winning. He also won Best Director for both of those movies. 

As a director, by all accounts, Eastwood is very swift and hands-off. He wants to put the camera down, get the shot, and move on. He's not one to take control of a production and micromanage. Indeed, according to "Mystic River" star Kevin Bacon, he barely gives any direction to his actors at all. Back in 2003, Bacon spoke with IGN about "Mystic River" and realized that Eastwood only ever gave him one piece of direction throughout the entire filming process. That direction? Speak more quickly. 

In "Mystic River," Bacon plays a police detective named Sean Devine, a cop raised in the streets of Boston. His best friends were once Jimmy (Sean Penn) and Dave (Tim Robbins), but they have grown apart in adulthood. Dave was abused and assaulted as a child, leaving him deeply traumatized. The three men have grown, married, and are still vaguely connected through their spouses. They start interacting more directly when Jimmy's teenage daughter is murdered; Sean has to investigate, and Dave is a suspect. "Mystic River" is, as you can tell by the description, a downbeat, difficult movie. 

Bacon said in the IGN interview that he wanted to work with Eastwood for years, and was able to tell him so after the release of "Space Cowboys" in 2000. Eastwood listened and cast Bacon in "Mystic River," giving the actor nothing more than a start date. Bacon said:

"He casts you for a part, and that call that he makes is his vote of confidence that you are the actor he wants. You will play the part, and you do the homework on your own. Normally, you go up at least a couple of weeks for a movie like this on rehearsals and camera tests. Nothing.

It was up to Bacon to do all the research required. He went to Boston on his own, learned Bostonian dialects on his own, and delved into the character all on his own. It wasn't until Bacon was left entirely on his own as an actor that he realized how much he missed having someone overseeing him. "After so many years," he continued, "it's embarrassing to admit that I don't honestly know how much I want to be directed."

Working with Eastwood challenged Bacon's view of what a director does, and he wasn't used to that level of actorly independence. He still feels that Eastwood is a great director, though, as his hands-off, no-nonsense approach allowed everyone to affect a more professional stance. This ended up helping Bacon. And, he recalls, the brief, single piece of direction Eastwood gave him. He said: 

"I used to think when I was a kid that the director was someone who came in and made you better and brought out this amazing performance. A good director creates an environment which gives the actor the encouragement to fly. He keeps a very, very friendly, quiet stress-free set. The days are short. He does one or two takes. I do better on the first three takes. I just do [it], because I've done my stuff and I'm ready to do it. I won't be better at 20 takes. And Clint, the only thing he ever told me was to talk faster."

That's it. Talk faster. 

Bacon and Eastwood didn't work together on any other movies, but Eastwood doesn't have too many "favorite actors" that he tends to cast in picture after picture, so it's no slight to Bacon. Indeed, Bacon has continually improved as an actor over the years, leaving him one of the best actors of his generation. He is certainly underrated. He certainly had enough wherewithal to create Detective Devine all on his own, and he did an exemplary job.