STACK#127 May 2016

EXTRAS

FEATURE

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GEORGE CLOONEY The world’s most charming movie star.

“I did not attend a private boys’ school, I worked in tobacco fields and in stock rooms, and construction sites.” George Timothy Clooney needs no introduction. This suave, devilishly handsome actor, director, producer and screenwriter has been a regular on TV, movie screens and GQ magazine covers for over two decades now. Since his big screen debut in 1996 in From Dusk Till Dawn , Clooney has assembled an extensive and diverse body of work both before and behind the camera, winning Oscars for acting and producing. But what’s interesting when evaluating his filmography as a whole is the discovery that Clooney’s movies – with the exception of the Ocean’s trilogy and Gravity – don’t make loads of money at the box office, a fact he readily acknowledges. “It’s not about an opening weekend. It’s about a career, building a set of films you’re proud of. Period.” Clooney admits to being a “hybrid”, as comfortable in the occasional blockbuster as he is in small, indie and arthouse films directed by Steven Soderbergh, the Coen Brothers, and sometimes himself. “If the movie makes money, I make money,” he says. “If I don’t, I’ve still made the movie I wanted to make.”

The ‘80s “See, the first thing about actors is, you’re just trying to get a job; and you audition and audition and you finally get them.” Clooney was busy with regular television gigs during the ‘80s when he began to land bit parts in horror B-movies like Return to Horror High (1987), in which he played an actor who learns he’s landed a role in a big TV series (!) prior to being killed off, Grizzly II:The Predator (1987) and Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988). During this period he also scored a leading role in the LA-set thriller Red Surf (1989), which went straight to video. The ‘90s “I know what my limitations are as an actor, but my strength is putting myself into a well-written part.” Clooney was already a regular on ER when Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez cast him as bank robber and vampire slayer Seth Gecko in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a character far removed from his TV persona Dr. Doug Ross. QT appreciated the irony that Clooney was now sending people to the ER! His movie star qualities were immediately apparent, ensuring he got noticed amongst all the bloody mayhem. “George Clooney, making his big screen debut, shows admirable restraint in going along with the craziness without seeming overwhelmed by it,” noted critic Roger Ebert. His potential as a romantic lead saw him cast as a divorced dad alongside Michelle Pfeiffer (as a divorced mum) in One Fine Day (1996), where he drew upon his TV sitcom experience to make the most of a predictable and formulaic plot. Clooney’s first big blockbuster was also his biggest turkey. As the Dark Knight in Joel Schumacher’s franchise-killing Batman & Robin (1997), Clooney remained admirably straight-faced and square-jawed throughout the whole debacle. “I watch Batman & Robin from time to time,” he admits. “It’s the worst movie I ever made, so it’s a good lesson in humility.” The fact that he reportedly peed in the batsuit because it was too difficult to take off says it all really! Next he was chasing stolen nuclear weapons with Nicole Kidman in The Peacemaker (1997), a competent but forgettable action-thriller that’s notable as being the first release from then newly-formed studio DreamWorks. One of Clooney’s best roles and best movies is

undoubtedly Out of Sight (1998), his first of many collaborations with director Steven Soderbergh. “Clooney has never been better, “ agreed Roger Ebert, “at last [he] looks like a big screen star.” The film is also one of the actor’s personal favourites: “It was the first time where I had a say, and it was the first good screenplay I’d read where I just went, ‘That’s it!’ And I realised from that point on that it was strictly screenplay first.” A who’s-who of Hollywood actors were lining up to work with legendary filmmaker Terrence Malick on TheThin Red Line (1998), and Clooney was lucky enough to land a glorified cameo in the World War II epic. Then it was off to war again – this time in Iraq – in Three Kings (1999), the film that has since achieved notoriety for the very physical clash that occurred between Clooney and director David O. Russell on the set. “I would not stand for him humiliating and screaming at crew members, who weren’t allowed to defend themselves,” Clooney explained to Vanity Fair in a 2003 interview. “I don’t believe in it and it makes me crazy.” A big supporter of South Park from its very beginning, Clooney rounded out the decade with a vocal contribution to the feature-length South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999). He had previously voiced gay dog Sparky in a season one episode. The ‘00s “Directing is really exciting. In the end, it’s more fun to be the painter than the paint.” In O Brother,Where ArtThou? (2000), the first of three films he would make with the Coen Brothers, Clooney was the Ulysses of Joel and Ethan’s comic Odyssey. As for the musical numbers, the scenes requiring his character to break into song were dubbed by country blues singer Dan Tyminski. He next played real-life Captain Billy Tyne, who went down with his boat, the Andrea Gail , during The Perfect Storm (2000). Clooney’s single-scene cameo in Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids (2001) was filmed at the actor’s home, whilst he was still clad in pyjama bottoms – and shot from the waist up. His Spy boss, Devlin, would return – equally briefly – in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003). As the suave Danny Ocean, Clooney would lead a modern day Rat Pack through a trilogy of blockbuster heist movies: Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Ocean’sTwelve (2004), and Ocean’sThirteen

George Clooney: filmmaker

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