Film & TV
Clint Eastwood
born 1930 · actor, film director, producer
Director and star of Gran Torino (2008), shot entirely in metro Detroit, from Highland Park to Grosse Pointe Park and Royal Oak.
- Born
San Francisco, California
age 96- Birth name
- Clinton Eastwood Jr.
- Detroit years
- 2008
- Field
- Film & TV
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Eastwood's Detroit film is Gran Torino (2008), which he produced, directed and starred in as Walt Kowalski, a widowed Korean War veteran and retired Ford worker guarding his 1972 Ford Gran Torino in a declining neighborhood. The script was first set in Minnesota; the producers moved it to Michigan because Kowalski was an autoworker, and the crew spent more than ten million dollars filming in metro Detroit with the help of a state incentive package. Locations included a house on Rhode Island Street in Highland Park for Walt's home, St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Grosse Pointe Park for the funerals, Pointe Hardware, and Widgren's Barber Shop on 11 Mile Road in Royal Oak, chosen from sixty candidates. Casting calls in Detroit and a Hmong soccer tournament in Macomb County produced much of the Hmong American cast, a first for a mainstream Hollywood film. The movie grossed $270 million worldwide.
Highlights
- Produced, directed and starred in Gran Torino (2008)
- Filmed in Highland Park, Grosse Pointe Park, Royal Oak, Center Line and Warren
- Cast Hmong American actors found partly through metro Detroit casting calls
- Gran Torino grossed about $270 million worldwide
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 2008
St. Ambrose Catholic Church
The parish church used for the funeral scenes at the start and end of Gran Torino.
Related place · 2008
Widgren's Barber Shop
Status being checked
The Royal Oak barbershop where Walt trades insults with his barber, picked from sixty metro Detroit shops.
Related place · 2008
Walt Kowalski's house (film location)
Status being checked
The private house on Rhode Island Street used as Walt's home; view only from the street.