But while both of these movies starred A-list actors, for his latest about the soldiers who saved a train full of passengers from a terrorist in 2015, Eastwood is conducting an experiment: The soldiers are playing themselves.
The four soldiers charged the gunman, saved the train, and made international headlines for their heroism.
But I kept looking at the faces of these young men — “boys,” I call them.
I looked at a lot of very good actors who could possibly have done the job.