Eastwood says he won't be back as Dirty Harry

[May 21, 2008]  CANNES, France (AP) -- Clint Eastwood will not be back as Dirty Harry, but Angelina Jolie might want to give it a try. Eastwood was asked Tuesday at a news conference at the Cannes Film Festival if he would be reprising the role of Harry Callahan, the renegade cop of "Dirty Harry" and four sequels.

As he laid to rest the notion that he might revive Harry, Jolie chimed in: "I am."

"Dirty Harriet and the 'Tomb Raider' will play it," Eastwood joked about Jolie, whose screen credits include the "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" flicks.

Eastwood was at Cannes for the premiere of his missing-child drama, "Changeling," starring Jolie. The 32-year-old actress was in Cannes for both "Changeling" and her animated comedy, "Kung Fu Panda," which premiered at the festival last week.

Eastwood, who turns 78 on May 31, went on to add that "Dirty Harry would not be on the police department at my age, so we'll move on from that."

The Cannes lineup this year features a retrospective of Warner Bros. classics, including 1971's "Dirty Harry," which comes out in a new DVD edition with the other four films in the series on June 3.

The character has become an icon: a vigilante cop fighting bureaucracy on behalf of victims. For Eastwood, though, it was an exciting detective story first and foremost.

"Whatever reaction it had, it was great fun at that time," Eastwood said. "It was a fantasy role. You point a .44 Magnum at someone and say, `Do you feel lucky?'"

[Associated Press]

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