Being the Clint Eastwood fan that I am (I regularly supplicate myself before the grim altar of Unforgiven, writhing in earnest petition for its goodness), I was recently on IMDb checking out his upcoming films. I was directed to a trailer for a moving coming out this December called Gran Torino, where he stars as a cranky, racist old man in a neighborhood facing the issues of Hmong immigration and gang violence.

Looks pretty sweet, so far as I can tell. Midway through the trailer, however, I stopped the video player in disbelief. One of my old students is featured in the film! A quick check of the credits revealed that a student of mine who graduated in 2005 is indeed in the movie, playing the role of “Spider”. I assume that is some sort of gang-related moniker, rather than an actual human-sized, volcano-dwelling spider-beast that Eastwood’s character sets out to kill, though I could be wrong.

Here’s hoping that he stops the movie cold to tell one of his gang friends about the legal traditions and systems we in the West have inherited from the Byzantine Empire, like I told him about when he was a student. There could be a piano playing single, low tones in the background. Maybe it could last for 12 minutes. That would be a really interesting scene, I bet.

Congratulations, Doua! Don’t forget me in your Oscar speech!