Podcast | Dirty Harry (1971) and Anita And Me (2002)

How Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel fashioned an American classic, and how Meera Syal’s 1996 novel Anita And Me fought its way to the screen.

It’s fairly well known that the role of Detective Harry Callahan was originally set to be played by Frank Sinatra, before he had to pull out as production neared. Yet when Clint Eastwood decided to accept, he had several versions of a script to choose from – and decided to put a call into someone he trusted: Don Siegel. The pair would go on to fashion a cinema classic.

The journey to 2002’s Anita And Me meanwhile began with the publication of Meera Syal’s semi-autobiographical novel in 1996. Work began to then turn it into a film – but the challenge of making an independent film in the UK, with two young, unknown leads? That’d be quite the test.

Stories of both are told in this episode.