In such a precarious line of work, Clint Eastwood‘s stability in Hollywood is remarkable. Major stars like him experience turbulent peaks and valleys, but thanks to his career-long relationship with Warner Bros, consistent box office track record, artistic evolution, and enduring cultural staying power, Eastwood has made being an A-lister look easy. It helps that, for over 50 years, he has controlled all facets of production as an actor, producer, and director. Throughout his career, other directors who worked with him learned that even if he’s only hired as a star, Eastwood will have input in the creative vision.
Philip Kaufman developed an impressive filmography for himself in the ’70s and ’80s, but as the initial director for one of Eastwood’s finest films, The Outlaw Josey Wales, he didn’t cut it, forcing the titular star to relieve him of his duties. While Eastwood is known for his badass, take-no-prisoners persona, he took no pride in firing Kaufman, calling it “the worst moment in my life.”
Clint Eastwood Fired Philip Kaufman as Director of ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’
It’s impossible to imagine anyone other than Clint Eastwood directing The Outlaw Josey Wales, based on the novel by Asa Earl Carter about a Mississippi farmer embarking on a revenge tour against the Union soldiers who murdered his family and his subsequent involvement in various land disputes between Native American tribes at the end of the Civil War. Before Unforgiven, it was The Outlaw Josey Wales that darkened the glossy mythos of outlaws and the supposed virtuous history of American history.
Produced by Eastwood’s production company, Malpaso Productions, the 1976 film was a prized opportunity for Philip Kaufman, who also wrote the adaptation. Best known for the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Right Stuff, and his screenwriting credit on Raiders of the Lost Ark, Kaufman had only directed three small genre pictures at the time, and he encountered the woes of studio filmmaking and managing a big star like Eastwood while directing Josey Wales.
The actor-director discussed Kaufman’s brief involvement in Josey Wales in an interview collected in Clint Eastwood: Interviews. He shot a week’s worth of footage, and Eastwood credits him with “marvelous” work on the script, which is still credited to him. Behind the camera, however, Kaufman wasn’t cutting it, with his vision leading to a creative dispute that landed Eastwood in the director’s chair, who took the visual language in a new direction. “I hated it; it was the worst moment of my life,” Eastwood said of firing Kaufman, revealing he had never fired anyone at that point. Ultimately, he blames himself for this fiasco, as Kaufman was too inexperienced for such a mammoth production, and the only reason he didn’t initially sign on to direct was due to feeling burned out by directing The Eiger Sanction.
Clint Eastwood Has Always Had Complete Control of His Films
From Eastwood’s account, he comes off as incredibly humble. In the biography, Clint: The Life and Legend by Patrick McGilligan, the contentiousness between Eastwood and Kaufman may have stemmed from a competition to win the affection of one of the stars, Sondra Locke, who would enter a long-term relationship with Eastwood after filming wrapped. From Eastwood’s disobeying Kaufman’s directions to his hostile behavior, this was not the friendly parting-of-ways he made it out to seem like in his interview.
Kaufman’s firing led to a new Director’s Guild of America clause, informally known as the “Clint Eastwood rule,” which prevents producers from firing a director and replacing themselves in the director’s chair. He expresses deep remorse for what transpired during production, but like any major movie star, his hubris and demand for creative control outmatched the rookie director.
His deliberate control and care of his body of work is a vital reason behind Clint Eastwood’s legendary 60-year career, but it also made him nearly incompatible with collaborators outside the Malpaso circle. As his career progressed, after learning the craft from his mentors, Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, he gradually stopped working with directors other than himself. Similar to what unfolded in Josey Wales, it’s widely believed that Eastwood took over filmmaking duties on the 1984 neo-noir Tightrope from credited director Richard Tuggle.
Away from the behind-the-scenes drama, The Outlaw Josey Wales is an undisputed modern Western classic and a quintessential film by Clint Eastwood. The text’s personal ties to Eastwood’s oeuvre, a lone ranger set on his own path amid a conflict tearing the nation apart, needed the full grasp of his authorial vision. Aided by a grainy, worn-down visual aesthetic, Josey Wales presents the West at its most fatalistic, less of a scenic view of the American frontier and more of a battlefield for soldiers fighting for a militaristic cause. Philip Kaufman went on to a stellar career, but he was never destined to direct a film so ingrained with the DNA of Eastwood.
The Outlaw Josey Wales
- Release Date
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July 14, 1976
- Runtime
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135 minutes
- Writers
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Forrest Carter, Philip Kaufman, Sonia Chernus