Clint Eastwood wants to get one thing straight: He did not threaten to kill Michael Moore.
"It isn't a bad idea," Eastwood laughed Wednesday during a tribute luncheon for the veteran actor and director at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
The "American Sniper" director was responding to comments from Moore on social media and in interviews criticizing the movie "American Sniper" and a reported confrontation between the two back in 2005.
"I said, 'hey, he's probably right'," Eastwood said. "He was just expressing an opinion."
In front of a large audience of theater owners at the annual conference, Eastwood discussed subjects as varied as the most impactful film he saw as a child ("Seargant York"), his early struggles in the business, and the highs and lows of directing.
Eastwood said projects consume his life and thoughts completely.
When it's over?
"There's sort of a postpartum thing that comes over you," he said.
But it was the box office success of "American Sniper" that most interested the audience. Eastwood attributed the appeal of the film to the fact that Afghanistan and Iraq are on people's minds.
"Everyone has opinions on it, but nobody's really thought about it from the point of view of the families of the people over there and the people who go over there … and donate their time for a belief that some of us think is a great idea and some of us don't think is a great idea," he said.
"It opens a lot of questions that are fun to broach," he added.
The 84-year-old Eastwood said he "ain't stopping" when it comes to making movies. But there is one genre he probably won't be dabbling in: superhero movies.
"I read comic books when I was a kid," he said. "I don't read them now."
