Kyle Eastwood was the guest culture of Franceinfo on Saturday, March 28, 2026 to present the event “Eastwood Symphonic,” which is a tribute to the film music of his father: Clint Eastwood.
“Eastwood Symphonic” is an event that will take place at the Châtelet on April 10. It is a tribute to your father’s film music. But it all started for you with an album dedicated to your father’s film music. What gave you the idea to make this album?
Kyle Eastwood: I want to pay tribute to my father and his career, but also to all the great musicians and composers who created the music for these films.
In addition, these films and this music have accompanied you throughout your life since you grew up with them.
Yes, I grew up with film music and the music of Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, John Williams, and we will play the music of these musicians and the music that I have written with my father as well.
You play with the Facette symphony orchestra. You play bass, double bass. The first time you played this music with a symphony orchestra, what did you feel?
Yes, it’s grandiose. It’s very different from playing jazz music with musicians in a quintet. A lot of emotions? Yes, a lot of emotions, a lot of sounds. The project is a blend of music, cinema, and jazz, an interpretation of jazz.
So, Kyle, did your father Clint Eastwood attend one of his concerts?
Yes, just once in California. I did the concert, the program at the Monterey Jazz Festival, not far from where I grew up. He likes music and the concert, the project.
Your father, essentially, wanted you to be an actor. In fact, he had you play in different films, including Honky Tonk Man, when you were 14. Well, in the end, you’re not really an actor, you’re a musician, but he must have been very happy as well since jazz, and you’re a jazzman, it’s a passion you share, so it must have pleased him that you chose it.
Yes, I appreciated my mother’s and father’s music. And my two passions are cinema and music. When I discovered the double bass and the electric bass, I decided to be a musician.
You also participate in your father’s films in the music, often at least, on nine films. Among them, Gran Torino, which we will obviously find in the concert. How is it during work? Is he tough or… What is it like to work with your dad?
No, he is a good boss. He is a good boss. It is a great pleasure for me and I am very proud of the music I wrote with him for Gran Torino.
Does he treat you like the others or is there still a little father-son relationship or not at all when you work together?
He likes the same type of music as me. It’s a pleasure to work with him. It’s smooth, in fact. It’s easy.
So in the concert we will obviously find the westerns: For a Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. And then there is also The Bridges of Madison County, a mythical film. So we hear it in the concert, but you did not participate in the music of The Bridges of Madison County. On the other hand, you are in the film, in a small scene where you play in a band.
Yes. I played with a jazz band in just a small scene. It’s very short.
You talk about your career together. What does he say? What does he think of your career?
Yes, he is proud. He loves music and especially jazz and blues. Yes, it’s a pleasure for him.
You live between France and the United States, you obviously travel around the world, but you just told me that when you are together, sometimes, you play music.
Yes, normally I do a lot of concerts in Europe and especially here in France. I do the concert for two times, two or three months, and then I will come back.
