Eastwood's 'Gran Torino' Also Debuting in 2008

Another year of Eastwood x 2

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Friday, June 13th 2008 at 4:14 PM

I wish I had liked either Flags of Our Fathers or Letters from Iwo Jima because any year with two Clint Eastwood directed films is a rather special year. As it turns out I pretty much hated them both, but that doesn't stop me from getting excited over news that 2008 may duplicate 2006 as a similar scenario looks like it will be playing out.

Universal recently bumped Eastwood's Angelina Jolie starrer Changeling from October 31 to October 24 and it may be due to the fact that Warner Bros. has plans to usher Eastwood's relatively secret project, Gran Torino around Christmas 2008. Peter Bart confirms industry speculation in his latest blog post.

Once speculated at being a possible sixth Dirty Harry feature, Gran Torino is about a Korean war vet's relationship with his immigrant neighbors. Outside of Eastwood starring and directing very little else is known about the project.

The similarity in dates sounds almost exactly like 2006 as Flags hit theaters on October 20 and Letters was released two months later on December 20 in a limited release. Depending on their goals this may be an attempt to usher in Gran Torino under the Oscar deadline and considering Changeling already received award buzz out of Cannes, Warner must have similar expectations for Torino.