The mule : Clint Eastwood, the friend of drug traffickers
Six years later A new possibilityClint Eastwood returns in front of the camera in 2019 for The mule, for which he also directed. As in Gran Torino, the actor here plays a Korean War veteran developed by screenwriter Nick Schenk. Renowned horticulturist, Earl Stone is much more affable than Walt Kowalski. But like the old veteran determined to keep young Thao away from a gang, the old man has completely missed his family life.
Separated for many years from his partner Mary (Dianne Wiest), estranged from his daughter Iris (Alison Eastwood), Earl nevertheless remains close to his granddaughter Ginny (Taissa Farmiga). While Earl attends Ginny’s wedding rehearsal, a cartel member makes him an offer. Seeing that the octogenarian could be useful to him given the slim chances of getting arrested, he offers to transport cocaine in his pickup truck to Illinois for a good salary.
Deep in debt, Earl agrees to become a mule. He delights drug traffickers by transporting astronomical quantities of drugs. Things get complicated when he finds himself in the sights of DEA agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper). Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Andy Garcia and Clifton Collins Jr. round out the cast of The mulea dramatic comedy with which Clint Eastwood proposes a new poignant redemption.
Leo Sharp, the real Earl Stone
The mule was born thanks to an article by Sam Dolnick published on New York Times in 2014, titled The Sinaloa Cartel’s ninety-year-old drug mule. In this story, the reporter tells the story of Leo Sharp. World War II veteran decorated with the Bronze Star Medal, this former soldier was nicknamed “El Tata” (“the grandfather”) by drug traffickers. Of the discovery of this extraordinary personality and his desire to embody it, says Clint Eastwood, quoted by Assigned :
I read the article by New York Times which is about the real boy Earl’s character is based on. I thought it would be fun to play someone that age… I mean, actually, my age. I like to think I’m always observing and learning, and Earl is like that too. The older we get, the more we realize we know nothing. So let’s keep moving forward.
Leo Sharp was one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s biggest mules hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Mexico to Michigan. Like Earl Stone, he is a horticulturist. A work that surprises the actor and director:
His passion for daylilies (perennials) surprised me, but I made the connection to my grandfather’s work raising chickens. In a way, I modeled Earl’s character after him and his physique, especially his elderly gait.
Despite months of investigating Leo Sharp, Sam Dolnick did not he never understood his true motivations. She explains it herself, always in the New York Times :
Even with all my research, I couldn’t say what motivated Mr. Sharp. I don’t think anyone could do it, not even Leo Sharp himself.
A sentence for his 90 yearsAnd birthday
In 2010, Leo Sharp allegedly transported 200 to 250 kilos of drugs per month. Unprecedented figures at the time for the Chicago-based DEA team. That year he would have pocketed a million dollars.
After ten years as a mule, Leo Sharp was arrested on a Michigan highway in October 2011 by DEA agent Jeff Moore’s men. More than 100 kilos would then have been hidden in his pick-up.
During his trial, pleads guilty. He offers to pay $500,000 in damages by growing papaya trees for the state. May 7, 2014, his 90th birthdayAnd anniversary, American justice condemns him three years in prison. Second NBChe would have told a judge:
All I can tell you, Your Honor, is that I am truly heartbroken that I did what I did. But it’s done.
Due to his declining health, Leo Sharp is released after a year behind bars. He died on December 12, 2016 at the age of 92 and is buried in a cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Source: Cine Serie
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