Eastwood: Audiences enjoy his crankiness

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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Clint Eastwood, in an interview on his upcoming role in the baseball drama "Trouble With the Curve," said audiences "enjoy my unpleasantness."

The film features Eastwood as an aging baseball scout facing the demise of his career as his eyesight starts to fail. "Trouble With the Curve" marks the directorial debut of Robert Lorenz, who has worked with Eastwood since he served as assistant director on "Bridges of Madison County."

Eastwood was at one time the symbol of Old West Loner before becoming associated with urban crime thrillers like "Dirty Hairy," the Los Angeles Times reported. Now he has found a place in Hollywood in the role of the cranky old-timer like in 2008's "Gran Torino."

"There are certain things people enjoy seeing Clint do on the screen," Lorenz told the Times. "You can make the characters different -- and they are different -- but there is a quality to the character that people enjoy seeing up on the screen, of course, so you don't want to run from that."

"They enjoy my unpleasantness," Eastwood added.

"Trouble With the Curve" opens in theaters Friday.