Clint Eastwood marvels at the artists bringing his iconic characters to life for Sideshow Collectibles line

Some of the most iconic characters brought to life by now-92-year-old Oscar winner Clint Eastwood are being celebrated by the high-end manufacturer Sideshow Collectibles.

The company shared a behind-the-scenes peek of the legendary actor and director consulting on the artists’ work, as they meticulously recreated his characters from his classic films including Dirty Harry, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and Pale Rider.

In the video, the company shows the creation of so-called Premium Format statues of Clint’s The Man With No Name and “Dirty” Harry Callahan, as well as Eastwood interacting with the artists, who are shown recreating by hand the characters’ costumes and environments in painstaking detail — from the leather and wool of his iconic Western heroes to the fabric of Harry’s suit.

Eastwood is shown getting a kick out of seeing his face recreated in doll form, asking an artist if he can keep the head of one of the casts. “It’s exciting because it’s new to me,” Eastwood enthuses of the process. “When you see the amount of work and effort, and the thought that has gone into it, I’m amazed that it’s as accurate as it is.”

The artists in the video explain it’s not a matter of copying Eastwood’s face, but of bringing out the “nuances and personality” of each character.

Sideshow’s Anna Van Slee notes, “What we created — with him — has to do justice to those characters the global fan community holds in such high regard.”

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