Trivia / Cry Macho

• Creator Backlash: Like many creators of films of the 2021 theatrical slate of Warner Bros. that ended up released same-day on HBO Max during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Clint Eastwood wasn't happy that the film got this treatment, even if he has been financially compensated for by WB for this release format. About it, he said "Not my favorite thing in the world. How's that going to work out at all? I still don't know."
• Directed by Cast Member: Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.
• Posthumous Credit: N. Richard Nash is co-credited for the screenplay. He died in 2000 while the film released in 2021.
• Recursive Adaptation: N. Richard Nash wrote a script first, and after not being able to find a studio to adapt it, made it into a novel. Which was eventually adapted into a film.
• Saved from Development Hell: N. Richard Nash's original script got repeatedly rejected by several big studios since 1975. He died in 2000, and it took twenty-one more years for it to be adapted.
• What Could Have Been: Attempts to adapt the novel into a feature film began as soon as it was first published in 1975, but they didn't go anywhere.
  • For the role of Mike, several actors were in negotiation such as Roy Scheider, Burt Lancaster and Pierce Brosnan.
  • Eastwood was approached to act in an adaptation of the story as soon as 1988, but he didn't feel he was old enough back then (he seemed to already have a big Age Lift in mind for the role back then considering Mike is 38 in the novel).
  • In 2003, an adaptation was announced with Albert S. Ruddy producing and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role. After filming was postponed because of Schwarzenegger's term as Governor of California, production was canceled in 2011 following revelations of a scandal.

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