Director Joe Russo recently got read the riot act online for claiming auteur filmmaking “was conceived in the ’70s” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. While there are plenty of reasons to take the mickey out of Russo (don’t worry, he can handle it), one can also see what he was trying to get at here. Contrary to Russo’s statement, “auteurism” is a thing that’s observed rather than practiced. Even so, there was a notable influx of directors in the 1970s who enjoyed great success making personal, idiosyncratic films, be they “Star Wars” or “Taxi Driver.”

Similarly, the ’70s saw Eastwood make the leap from actor to actor/director, starting with the 1971 thriller “Play Misty for Me.” More of a workman director than an auteur at first, Eastwood began to amass a group of creatives he would work with over and over, steadily promoting those who started out lower on the ladder to higher-ranked positions on his crew. Naturally, not everyone who got bumped up thrived in their new roles, but Eastwood never let that stop him. 

He explained his reasoning in a 2006 interview for DGA Quarterly: 

“If people want to progress to another division and they have the ambition, they should be allowed to fulfill their ambitions. Just like when I had the ambition to become a director. I work with a lot of people who started out as assistants. [Editor] Joel Cox started out in the mailroom. As you work with people over and over, you come to know what to expect. If you have a new person come on, that’s an unknown factor. Maybe it turns out to be a great surprise. Or you can get surprised the other way. But after a while, you get comfortable.”