Clint Eastwood is a well-known and popular actor, who particularly drew attention through his appearances in Western-films. However, he had previously been more negatively perceived and had upset his director with a small role.
When thinking of Clint Eastwood, some of his most famous films likely come to mind. A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Unforgiven, Gran Torino or Million Dollar Baby for example. As a director, he also celebrated successes and even received praise from historians.
However, very few people are likely to know the monster film The Return of the Monster. Yet this film from 1955 is a sequel to the cult classic The Terror from the Amazon.
In it, the then 25-year-old Clint Eastwood played his first significant role. However, it was so small and insignificant to the director that it led to severe conflicts during the filming. The young Clint even briefly thought his director would despise him.
A Terrible Start
What happened on set? In The Return of the Monster, Eastwood was cast for the role of a lab technician. In one scene, he encounters the protagonist Professor Clete Ferguson and shows him some rats that are being experimented on.
Here you can see a clip, Eastwood’s appearance starts at second 01:11:
Overall, the aspiring actor’s appearance lasts only about 20 seconds. Not a big deal, but even before filming had started, a conflict arose.
In the book “Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson’s Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983”, Eastwood recalls how he, together with producer William Alland, approached the film’s director, Jack Arnold, after the casting.
There were disagreements. The director had different plans for the scene and reacted correspondingly irritable.
I entered the set and the director said: “What the hell is this? I told you I don’t want to shoot this damn scene! Who is this guy?”
I thought I was going to get punched. [Arnold] yelled and screamed.
Clint Eastwood
In the end, the producer won the argument and the scene was shot. Clint Eastwood was allowed to play the role, but a bitter aftertaste remained. The producer reassured the insecure actor:
“[Alland] made it clear to me that it wasn’t against me. The director simply didn’t want the scene in the film, so he saw no reason to shoot it, and said it should be cut out. It was a damn tough start to my acting career. You step onto the set and immediately know the director hates the scene. And with that, you know he hates you.
Clint Eastwood
However, the relationship between Eastwood and the director did not seem to be as dramatic. Although the latter had no liking for the scene and thus Eastwood’s role, the actor was on board again for Arnold’s next film, Tarantula.
And by then, after Eastwood’s breakthrough with A Fistful of Dollars in 1964, the director must have been grateful that the newborn star celebrated his debut in one of his films. However, there were also problems with this now legendary Western: “Had to make him rich”: A legendary Western with Clint Eastwood caused a lawsuit because the film is actually just a remake
