Clint Eastwood To Direct & Star In Drug Drama 'The Mule'

While Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg got heaps of praise for churning out “All The Money In The World” and “The Post” getting them quickly released in time for the awards season, those same laurels aren’t being tossed to Clint Eastwood. On a similar time crunch, the 87 year-old filmmaker knocked out the upcoming “15:17 To Paris,” with non-actors in the lead roles to boot. Never one to waste much time, the actor/director is already eyeing his next project.

Eastwood is kicking the tires on “The Mule” over at his usual stomping grounds, Warner Bros. The twist here is that in addition to producing and directing, Eastwood would star as well, marking his first leading role since 2012’s baseball drama “Trouble With The Curve.”

The project is based on a New York Times Magazine story from June 2014 about 90-year-old WWII veteran and horticulturist Leo Sharp who became a drug courier for Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. He was arrested in Michigan by the DEA carrying $3 million worth of cocaine in his truck, and was sentenced to three years in place, after his defence lawyer claimed Sharp suffered from dementia.

There’s already a script in place by Nick Schenk (“Gran Torino“), with a rewrite by Dave Holstein (“Weeds“). And if Eastwood does sign on, who knows, maybe given his pace, it’ll be out by this summer…. [The Tracking Board]