Old Former Cowboy Continues to Film His Death

Like time-lapse photography of an ox's corpse, slowly drying in the hot midday sun, the leathery death of Clint Eastwood (above, happily recharging) will be chronicled at regular intervals until we can no longer stand to look. Despite the withering actor's claims he had retired from acting after Million Dollar Baby, Variety reports he will direct and star in Warner's Gran Torino. The studio is remaining tight-lipped with details (Variety calls it "tantalizingly tight wraps"!), so I can't tell you anything about the film. But I can tell you about the Gran Torino car, a Ford model manufactured from 1972-1976. From Wikipedia:

For 1972, the Torino was completely redesigned from the ground up. The Torino's all new styling had many traits carried over from the previous generation. The 1972 Torino styling emphasized the "long hood short deck" look as well as "coke bottle" styling more than ever before. The most radical change was a large eggcrate grille in an oval opening on Gran Torinos. Tom McCahill, stated "the gaping grille looks a little like it was patterned after Namu, the killer whale," but also stated that the Torino had "kind of pleasing, no-nonsense styling."

Hmm. Will Eastwood's Gran Torino carry on the legacy of looking like it's patterned after Namu the killer whale (god, I loved that whale)? Hard to say. At least we have a title, so the Academy can start engraving the awards.

Clint to drive 'Gran Torino' [Variety]