Clint Eastwood's Kindness on Set of 'Flags of Our Fathers'

Clint Eastwood has the undying gratitude of his "Flags of Our Fathers" cast member Neal McDonough. The actor tells us that after he arrived in Iceland for shooting of Iwo Jima action scenes in the WWII movie that opens today (10/20), the director "came up to me and told me he'd heard my wife was having a difficult time with her pregnancy. And he said, 'How would you like to shoot all your stuff in one day and then go back?'
 
"I said, 'Can you do that? It would be great.'
 
"He said, 'We'll do stuff here and then figure out what we have to get in L.A.'
 
"The set is massive. I looked around and there were hundreds and hundreds of guys in military outfits, and no one makes a peep. And then he says, 'All right, Neal. Let's go ahead.' I was there one day."
 
McDonough adds, "Clint Eastwood has such sensitivity as a human being. He knows that there are other things in life besides filmmaking, that love and family are first and foremost. He's my man."
 
McDonough's acted in seven major features since his "Medical Investigation" series was cancelled last year. He's currently making the thriller "88 Minutes" with Al Pacino. Still, he took five months off to savor his role as the devoted dad of happy, healthy son Morgan, now 11 months old. And he and wife Ruve are looking forward to the birth of their second child next summer.
 
Having befriended his real-life counterpart, Captain Dave Severence, in "Flags of Our Fathers" -- as he previously befriended Normandy invasion hero Lt. Lynn "Buck" Compton, whom he played in "Band of Brothers" -- McDonough says, "If I spent the rest of my career playing these WWII guys, and telling about the sacrifices they made so we can have freedom and democracy, that would be fine with me."
 
THE BIG SCREEN SCENE:

"One Night With the King" opened last week to box-office numbers hailed as "surprising" and "remarkable" in the Hollywood trade papers, put the Biblical story starring Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif and newcomer Tiffany Dupont in ninth place on the charts -- and did it with a comparatively low budget and advertising expenditure. With that kind of success, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the company responsible for "One Night With the King" is now "in negotiations with three studios to provide them two, or a slate of three, pictures a year."
 
That's the news from Generation Entertainment chieftain Matthew Crouch, whose firm has also been responsible for such fare as "The Omega Code" and "Megiddo."
 
Crouch, whose parents are Paul and Jan Crouch, founders of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which is behind the movies, is quick to stress that the burgeoning field of what he terms "faith and family-based films" is "a trend, not a fad."
 
As far as casting stars in his projects, he says, "There isn't that bias that might have existed a few years ago. There's an openness to be part of a rejuvenation of that old C.B. DeMille type of movie based on a story from the Bible." In the case of "One Night With the King" -- which is the story of Esther, who rose from poor orphan Jewish girl to queen and savior of her people in Persia 2,500 years ago -- Crouch and company sought out O'Toole and Sharif. "They hadn't made a movie together since 'Lawrence of Arabia' 43 years ago, and if anyone uses the name of our movie along with the term 'epic' and 'Lawrence of Arabia' … Yes, we get the idea.
 
PITTER-DIDDY OF LITTLE FEET:

A late November production start in Toronto has been set for the ABC-TV version of the 2004 Broadway hit "A Raisin in the Sun" -- which will have Audra McDonald and Phylicia Rashad reprising their Tony-winning performances, along with Sanaa Lathan and Sean "Diddy" Combs, the latter of whom is also producing. Now they're down to the business of filling a few subsidiary roles for this rendering of the Lorraine Hansberry classic. Among those, the 10-year-old son of Diddy's and McDonald's characters.
 
THE BIG SCREEN SCENE:

Casting is also underway for the key role of an 18-year-old who has a heart condition that gets thrown into overdrive when he's around Salma Hayek -- or, rather, sexy Salma's character in "Keep Coming Back." The film that marks William H. Macy's big screen directorial debut, and in which Macy will play a doctor, is set to roll mid-January. Hayek's character is a former stripper with lots of baggage including drug and alcohol problems, a violent ex, and a teenaged son.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)