What Movie Did Clint Eastwood Call Steven Spielberg's "Leftovers"?

Hollywood is full of stories about movies that almost had one actor or director but found another along the way, and the same is true for American Sniper.

Originally, it was set to be a movie directed by Steven Spielberg.

There are lots of rumors and stories about Spielberg's version, which was said to be too pricey for Warner bros. His idea was to make the movie centered on the enemy sniper who was sent to hunt down Chris Kyle.

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In any case, Spielberg eventually exited the project, and Warner Bros. brought it to Clint Eastwood.

In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Eastwood talked about how the project eventually came to him.

Eastwood said, "Right. Steven Spielberg was going to direct it, Bradley Cooper and I read about it, and I didn’t think too much of it. And I did… I was reading the book, and then all of the sudden the studio calls me up and said, 'Would you direct American Sniper?' And I said, 'Somebody else, Steven’s doing that,' and I go, 'What are you talking about?' And they said, 'No, no, that fell out, but we’d all love it for you to come over there.' And so I said, 'Well, let me finish the next 30 pages of this book here and then I’ll give you a call.' So I read the rest of it and then I read the screenplay they had and had a few comments on that, but I said yeah, by and large, 'I’ll do it, so count me in."'

And when it came to talking to Spielberg about taking over the movie, Eastwood was his typical blunt self. He said, "By the way, and I told him — I said, 'I’m taking your leftovers again."'

This is such an Eastwood response and so funny to think of him talking to Steven Spielberg that way. But it also revealed something Eastwood went on to say that Spielberg was originally involved in Flags of Our Fathers, but Eastwood had taken over that one as well.

It's cool to see them trading ideas back and forth in the 2000s and to hear Eastwood joking with one of the greatest living filmmakers about it.

I love theorizing what these movies would have looked like if they had each directed different ones. Spielberg has such a specific touch, but then so does Eastwood. Hearing them collaborate and talk must be a real treat.

What's your take on all of these? Do you like Eastwood's version or would you have preferred to see Spielberg's?

Let me know in the comments.