Clint Eastwood's Critics Start to Root for His Next Film to Flop

If Clint Eastwood's "empty chair" speech last week at the Republican National Convention was so weak, pathetic, pitiful, ineffective, and worthless, why is far-left Hollywood not just leaving him alone? Instead, some are so upset that they're starting to take aim at the Academy Award winner's next movie and apparently rooting for it to be a flop (while using the passive-aggressive "will it hurt him?" technique).

At the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, entertainment writer Derrik J. Lang seems to have been enlisted to let everyone know that if "Trouble with the Curve" is a box-office flop, it may be because Eastwood had the gall to speak out against Dear Leader:

DID EASTWOOD'S RNC ACT CAUSE TROUBLE FOR 'CURVE'?

A week after Clint Eastwood's appearance before the Republican National Convention, mocking continues about the Hollywood veteran's peculiar, rambling conversation with an imaginary President Barack Obama in an empty chair, raising the question: Will his latest film also be playing to empty seats when it debuts later this month?

Eastwood's nearly 12-minute-long speech, partially directed to an invisible Obama, has fired up a social media meme that shows no signs of cooling. It includes the popular (hashtag)Eastwooding and the (at)InvisbleObama account on Twitter, as well as jokey videos of the infamous seat hosting a press conference and a montage of empty chairs plopped into Eastwood film scenes.

While such ridicule plays well online, it could prove disastrous at the box office when "Trouble With the Curve" opens nationwide Sept. 21. The film stars Eastwood as a past-his-prime baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves who's accompanied by his lawyer daughter, played by "The Fighter" actress Amy Adams, on a last-chance scouting trip to North Carolina.

"If you're a Clint Eastwood fan, my guess is you'll probably still go to see the movie," said S. Mark Young, co-author of "The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America" and professor at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. "If you're not, you might be very disappointed with what's become of Clint."

At a site called Indiewire, Jay Fernandez believes that "Eastwood may have just turned 'Unforgiven' from his crowning achievement as a director into the attitude that buries what may have been left of his career." Maybe the blacklist is next, eh Jay? Zheesh.

As to Lang's presumptive evaluation of Eastwood's RNC performance, Rush Limbaugh made a pretty good point on Tuesday, Day 5 after Eastwood's speech following a three-day holiday weekend: "The Clint Eastwood bit at the Republican National Convention is still being talked about, which is testimony alone to its effectiveness."

As to Eastwood's next movie (trailer here): Geez, Derrik and Jay, it may not do well because it may not be that good (but it looks promising to me). Who knows? Eastwood's films have grossed an inflation-adjusted $4.4 billion, and Hollywood hacks trying to harm him over what was, as Rush noted, an effective presentation certainly aren't going to diminish his legacy, and more than likely aren't going to harm his future endeavors, assuming he wishes to continue them. It seems just as likely that Eastwood picked up a number of new fans who will go out of their way to see "Curve."

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.