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Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon must have enjoyed themselves when they worked together on Invictus, the true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain (Damon) of South Africa’s underdog rugby team to help unite their country.  The reason I mention this is because Damon and Eastwood are set to work on Hereafter for Warner Bros.  Eastwood is directing Damon, again. This time it’s not a true story, a supernatural thriller, leaning toward a plot like The Sixth Sense. Warner Bros. is keeping the storyline under lock and key.

I can tell you that some very talented people are working on this movie behind the scenes such as Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall are on the list of executive producers.

Invictus opens December 2009 and no word yet on the production start date for Hereafter.

Variety reports that Clint Eastwood’s Nelson Mandela film has gotten itself a new look and an official release date.

The film has now been christened Invictus (Latin for ‘invincible’) from its previous title The Human Factor. It is taken from the famed poem by William Ernest Henley that Mandela often recited. Also, mark your calendars: it’s getting a wide release on December 11, directly setting itself up for heavy Oscan consideration.

Based on John Carlin’s novel “Playing the Enemy”, the film stars Morgan Freeman as Mandela as he attempted to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup to help heal the wounds of his nation as he was released from prison.

Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman star in Clint Eastwood’s The Human Factor, about the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Damon plays rugby star Francois Pienaar, as captain of the all-white South African rugby team led them to a victory at the world cup and gave the country’s whites and blacks a common cause to rally around as they healed from years of apartheid.  Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela in the film. Damon looks pretty good as a blond.

First Showing  posted this picture of Damon and Eastwood on location.

*millions

Gran Torino scored big time this week as number one at the box office.   Bride Wars, The Unborn and Marley and Me followed.  You’d think Slumdog Millionaire would be higher than ninth place after winning the Golden Globe.

Weekend estimate for the box office is here. Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino arrived on top, out scoring them all.  That says plenty about Eastwood’s credibility and talent. Bride Wars came in second with The Unborn third.

Clint Eastwood looks bad. He looks tough in the Gran Torino poster. The movie opens December 17th.

If you ever wanted to know what Dirty Harry was up to after retiring from the SFPD, check out this trailer. It should give you a good idea. 

Talk about aging well… Clint Eastwood has directed on average a film a year this decade, and there’s no sign of stopping. And he has managed to pick up the occasional award on his way. This week sees the release of the trailer for his latest film, Gran Torino, which is due out December 17th.

At a first glance, this film seems a whole lot more appealing than the dull, drab tired story that Changeling seems to be (I mean police corruption, lost children and their desperate mothers, and unfair mental institutions have been done to death in cinema already. Clint must be too busy making movies to watch any of the dozens that cover those issues). For one, it stars Clint himself as a craggy old bastard at odds with his family and even the local wet-behind-the-ears priest. Already it feels more honest than Jolie wailing away with a glimmer of an Oscar in her eyes.

However, there’s somethign potentially subious about the premise. This old war vet bemoans the inclusion of “Chinese” into his neighbourhood, only to unwillingly intervene in some Asian gang terrorising. He bonds with the honest Hmong family and plans to stop the gang that’s hassling them. A simple idea, but does it suggest that Asians, or even immigrants, into the USA are weak and pathetic, and need the help of a good ol’ hard-as-nails white American to save them? The trailer does suggest so. Nevertheless, it looks a lot more engaging than Clint’s last few films, and may get audiences debating as to whether it’s an honest look at inter-racial tensions in the Land of the Free, or whether it’s just Dirty Harry Takes on the Asians.

Entertainment Weekly has posted an exclusive clip of Angelina Jolie in this month’s Clint Eastwood drama Changeling on EW.com.  Though she’s the proud owner of an Academy Award, Jolie hasn’t been nominated since winning Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted in 2000. But her forceful performance in Changeling could change that. 

In this scene, Jolie is helped along by Tony winner Denis O’Hare (Michael Clayton), who plays a menacing doctor at a mental ward where she’s been wrongly placed.