White Hunter, Black Heart

Synopsis
When John Huston left for Africa to shoot THE AFRICAN QUEEN, he asked his friend, writer Peter Viertel, to come along with him, ostensibly to help him polish James Agee's script. Eventually, Viertel wrote a fictionalized account of his experience with Huston in Africa, WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART. Almost 30 years later, Clint Eastwood made a film of that novel. Eastwood plays director John Wilson, a man clearly modeled after Huston. Wilson is a gregarious and tremendously engaging character, very different from the strong, silent image of Eastwood his fans have grown to know. At the same time, like many of Clint's characters, Wilson is a man who lives by his own rules. He goes to Africa, far more interested in shooting an elephant on safari than in shooting his movie. His real obsession seems to be his image of himself as a man of action. Wilson is a rascal, somewhat admirable in his ideals, but he's also selfish, stubborn, and irresponsible. Eventually, his pursuit leads to tragedy in Eastwood's most scathing and powerful critique of the macho image he himself has built a career on. It's perhaps the most complex and compelling work Eastwood has done as an actor.

Production Notes
The film was shot on location in London and Zimbabwe.

According to Peter Viertel's book DANGEROUS FRIENDS: AT LARGE WITH HEMINGWAY AND HUSTON IN THE FIFTIES, Viertel showed Huston his unpublished manuscript for WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART while Huston was on set in Paris, shooting MOULIN ROUGE. Huston read the manuscript overnight and called Viertel to the set again the next day. He told the nervous writer it was the best work he'd ever done and suggested a critical change to the ending, making it an even harsher condemnation of the behavior of the character based on him, John Wilson.

Eastwood rode the original boat from THE AFRICAN QUEEN down a river in Zimbabwe while preparing for the film.

Actress Anjelica Huston, John Huston's daughter, was on the jury at Cannes the year the film was shown there.

The script was put together from earlier drafts written by Viertel, James Bridges (THE CHINA SYNDROME, URBAN COWBOY), and Burt Kennedy (SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF).

The characters played by Marisa Berenson, Richard Vanstone, and Jamie Koss are modeled after Katherine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and Lauren Bacall, respectively.
Marisa Berenson (Kay Gibson) began public life as a socialite. She also played Natalia Landauer in Bob Fosse's film version of CABARET and Lady Lyndon in Stanley Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON.

Costume designer John Mollo also did costumes for STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and ALIEN.

Jeff Fahey (Pete Verrill) starred in Sondra Locke's IMPULSE just prior to making WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART. Eastwood ended his romantic involvement with Locke between the production of these two films.

Reviews
"...[A] provocative and entertaining film..." (Rolling Stone)

"...A gutsy, fascinating departure for [Eastwood]....A film as brave as it is improbable..." (New York Times)

"...Eastwood is an implosive actor....[He] is a genial gent who radiates easy charisma..." (Film Comment)

"...It's well acted....The last scene has withering power. And it's a movie that's about something....It's a fine film in many ways..." (Los Angeles Times)