Interesting stuff. I remember from earlier articles and stuff that Eastwood is a pretty spartan director, as few takes as are necessary, and tends to bring in projects on time and on (or under) budget. It's even more interesting to see his committment to a difficult project by agreeing to defer his own salary so the rest of the people, in particular actors, didn't have to get screwed financially -- not that he really needs any more money anyway, and his back-end deal is probably pretty good.
OT: as we now know Sofia did get nominated, making her the first American woman nominated for Best Director. Question (which might deserve a new thread): which American women have been shamefully overlooked for Best Director? And to expand, which women generally?
Unfortunately, I am embarrassed to say my knowledge on this is limited and I probably can't say anything constructive: the only ones I can think of are maybe Nora Ephron and Kathryn Bigelow, but I don't think any of their efforts were truly Oscar-worthy in the first place.
I believe the photographer asked him to remove his shoes for the shoot. I think he's being a pretty good sport about this bare feet thing, since it comes up in just about every interview.