Life on the set with Clint Eastwood, by Welsh actor
WELSH actor Julian Lewis Jones currently filming the Nelson Mandela-rugby movie The Human Factor in South Africa, has paid tribute to the "coolness" of the film's iconic director Clint Eastwood.
Robin Turner
He said the veteran double Oscar- winner was nothing like his famous "Dirty Harry" screen persona.
He said: "He's a lovely man. He's gentle and quiet on set and yet everything goes like clockwork.
"He's so slick, everything goes so fast but he's still very relaxed, but he's in charge and he's very hands on. A lot of people call him 'Boss' on set and understandably so. He's such a cool guy. He expects everyone on set to be prepared and that is really refreshing.
"Everyone takes the view that 'if the boss is happy I'm happy'."
Scarlets fan Julian, 40, who has appeared in Welsh dramas like Pobol y Cwm, Caerdydd and Belonging, was handpicked by screen legend Eastwood, 78, to play the head of Nelson Mandela's Afrikaans bodyguard.
The film is based on the unifying effect of South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup victory.
The image of then-president Mandela clad in a Springboks jersey presenting the Webb Ellis trophy to Pienaar became a symbol of new-found unity in the so-called Rainbow Nation, given rugby's long association with the country's white minority.
Veteran Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman, 71, (who plays Mandela) bought the film rights of British journalist John Carlin's book about the World Cup victory entitled Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. Eastwood, fresh from his success as the director/star of Gran Torino, agreed to produce.
And Bourne Identity star Matt Damon is playing Francois Pienaar (now a rugby pundit) and has dyed his hair an uncharacteristic blond for the role.
The film, which has the working title The Human Factor, is thought to be the only major movie with rugby union as its theme. Eastwood and Freeman have been at Cape Town's famous Newlands rugby stadium to watch the testosterone filled Super-14 match between the South African based Stormers and the Aussie Queensland Reds.
And Matt Damon has been getting a feel for the game by training with a provincial team in Cape Town.
Anglesey-born Lewis Jones, 40, who lives in Llanarthne, Carmarthen, has been working on the film for a fortnight. He auditioned for his part in front of Clint Eastwood at Twickenham Film Studios in London last November... wearing his Scarlets tie.
He heard he had the part after watching Wales beat Scotland at Murrayfield last month.
He said: "What a weekend, I saw Wales win, I carried off the sweepstake at my local pub in Carmarthen for guessing the correct final score then I was given a part in a Clint Eastwood film."
He said his wife Kim, who was driving when the took the call from his agent, almost crashed from excitement. Julian and his wife (they met in the Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff) have three children Ieuan, eight, Mared, six and two-year-old Sion.
Speaking from Cape Town, he said he believed the secret of Clint Eastwood's long-term success as a director was the star's Malpaso Productions Company.
He said: "Malpaso is a legend in the film industry and some of the guys working with Clint Eastwood have been with him for 25 years so they all know exactly what they are doing. It's great to be involved with them."
Malpaso Productions, originally called The Malpaso Company, is Clint Eastwood's film production vehicle.
The name is derived from a creek south of Carmel, in California, where Eastwood was once mayor and where he has spent much of his life.
Malpaso is the Spanish word for "bad step" or "misstep". When he agreed to take the role of the Man with No Name in the now classic "Dollars trilogy" his agent told him that it would be a "bad step" for his career.
But the three movies (A Fistful of Dollars, 1964, For a Few Dollars More, 1965, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 1966) struck box office gold.
Eastwood decided to run his own production company and thought "Malpaso" would be an appropriately ironic choice of name.
The Human Factor covers the turbulent period in South Africa between 1985 and 1995. After filming is completed in May this year it is expected to be released just before Christmas.
Wales Rugby Union Team
Mohammed Asghar
Lewis Jones
Wales football team