Actor Clint Eastwood attends the premiere of Jersey Boys in New York June 9, 2014.[Photo/Agencies]

Watchmaker takes time to restore film classics

Chinese stories, Hollywood thrills

Eastwood, a piano player and jazz fan, has long been known for his passion for music. He made a film about Charlie Parker (Bird), sung in Paint Your Wagon and Gran Torino, produced a documentary on Thelonious Monk (Straight No Chaser) and has composed most of his scores over the last decade.

But the falsetto-rich pop confections of Valli (played by John Lloyd Young, who originated the role on Broadway) and the Four Seasons would seem a higher register than Eastwood's natural pitch.

"So many times you'd look off to the wings or even between shots and see him standing there trying to figure it out for himself, going (in a high voice) 'Ooooo'," says Michael Lomenda, who plays the Four Seasons' Nick Massi in the film.

"We knew there was no chance in hell it would be turned into fluff," Young says of hearing that Eastwood would direct Jersey Boys.

Instead, Eastwood's film, which opened in the US last week, has more melancholy than your average musical and gravitates toward the group's tumultuous offstage personal lives. Eastwood's famously efficient style of filmmaking -

usually just one or two takes, always on time and under budget - was an education for the actors.

He recently finished shooting the Navy SEAL drama American Sniper, with Bradley Cooper, which he calls "a love story and a military story about a guy who's very talented at shooting people". It's two films in one year for Eastwood in what he notes is his 60th year in movies.

"It's fashionable to pigeonhole everybody," he says. "You're 60, you're a senior. At 60, I felt like I was about 40. At 40, I felt like I was about 18. It's just all mental attitude."