Bumstead, who kept working until his death four years ago at 91, replied: "Oh, to be 80 again." "I thought, yeah, that's it," Eastwood said in an interview at the Warner Bros. office he has occupied since 1976. "When I'm 80, I'll be saying, `Oh, to be 70 again,' or something like that."

The prolific director, who entered a career peak in his 70s with such films as "Million Dollar Baby" and "Mystic River," said he aims to keep working as long as he's able and gives little thought to mortality, the subject of his new drama "Hereafter," which follows three characters searching for answers about life after death. Now that he is 80, how old does he feel? "Eighteen," Eastwood jokes, before dismissing the age issue with a shrug.

"I don't think too much about it. I don't feel any different than I did at 70," Eastwood said. "Whatever I feel internally, now is the best age for me, because I feel better now, I guess because I've lived a lot of life. I've been able to accomplish a certain amount of things, and I haven't beaten anybody up doing it. So I'm OK about it.

"Physically, I don't know if can run as hard as I could at 60 or 70. But I probably could. I probably could get close."