Clint Eastwood has dismissed a widely shared interview said to have appeared in Vienna’s Kurier newspaper, calling it “entirely phony” in a message relayed to Deadline and first reported by The Guardian.
The text, dated 30 May—one day before the actor-director turned 95—quoted him as railing against “an era of remakes and franchises” and hinting at an imminent project, assertions repeated by outlets from People to regional broadcasters. Within hours of the interview’s viral spread, Eastwood insisted he had spoken to no Kurier journalists “or any other writer in recent weeks,” puncturing the story’s credibility.
The denial prompted corrections or takedowns across entertainment media: the AV Club, IMDb’s newswire and The Independent each appended notes clarifying the quotes were unverified after Eastwood’s statement. Austrian sites have yet to explain how the piece appeared; Kurier did not respond to multiple requests for comment from international reporters on Monday night.
False celebrity interviews are hardly new, yet researchers tracking “synthetic media” say the volume is rising as AI-assisted text generators make counterfeit Q&As cheap and convincing. Financial Times commentator Martin Wolf recently warned that deep-fake endorsements are spreading faster than platforms can police them, leaving readers to sift authentic statements from fabrications.
Eastwood, whose most recent feature Juror #2 opened last autumn, has kept a low promotional profile since wrapping that film, heightening the appeal of any purported exclusive. Publicists for the Oscar winner said he remains focused on personal projects and will share news “when there is something real to discuss,” a line seemingly aimed at quashing further speculation seeded by the phantom Kurier piece.