Longtime fans know that Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is no stranger to pop culture references and modeling characters after celebrity icons, including western actor Clint Eastwood, the inspiration for Jotaro Kujo.
Created by Araki Hirohiko in 1987, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure follows the Joestar family and their bizarre adventures fighting evil forces brought on by the evil Dio Brando. Each new arc or Part of the manga follows a new descendant (nicknamed Jojo) of Johnathon Joestar, the original "Jojo" of Part 1 Phantom Blood. The Joestars are known to have supernatural powers called Stands. However, Jotaro Kujo, the great-grandson of Johnathon Joestar, was the first to develop his Stand power in Part 3: Star Dust Crusaders, a transition from Part: 1 Phantom Blood and Part 2: Battle Tendency's original Hamon abilities. Then, with the help of his grandfather Joseph Joestar (Part 2: Battle Tendency), Jotaro learns how to control his Grade A Stand: Star Platinum.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure characters and Stands often references pop culture icons like The Beetles, David Bowie, Prince, and Micheal Jackson. So to celebrate the manga's 25th Anniversary in 2012, mangaka Araki Hirohiko met with American actor and director Clint Eastwood, the inspiration for Jotaro Kujo. Japanese site Akiba Blogs provided pictures from the interview in the official 25th-anniversary JOJOmenon magazine/book.
In the interview, Araki reveals Jotaro's fighting pose and famous "Yare Yare Daze" catchphrase was inspired by Clint Eastwood films Dirty Harry, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Rider and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The Jojo's Bizarre Adventure creator also gifted the Acadamy Award Winning actor an official framed illustration of Jotaro and Iggy from the JOJOmenon book cover. In addition, as a form of good gesture, Clint Eastwood posed as Jotaro Kujo in a side-by-side panel of the magazine's illustration cover.
Jotaro's lone wolf and passionate personality resemble Clint Eastwood's characters in his earlier acting career, many of which are western films that play into Part 3's Stand battle setting. Part 3 would also play an essential role in developing Stand powers as it introduces Grade rankings, with Star Platinum ranking the highest. A perfect segway into Part 6 Stone Ocean with Jolyne Cujoh, Jotaro's daughter, whose Stand Stone Free is also ranked high amongst Grading. Whether he's your favorite Jojo or not, Jotaro's overbearing demeanor and Stand power were the only Joestar able to defeat Dio, and for that, Clint Eastwood is to thank.
Source: Akiba Blog