George Clooney reveals biggest movie regrets and why his infamous rubber Batsuit has left his kids ‘needing therapy’
HE may be growing old very, very gracefully, but George Clooney is worried about ageing too fast – and forgetting his lines.
The Hollywood heartthrob, 64, was taken on a surprise walk down memory lane after shooting his latest film Jay Kelly, in which he plays a fictional famous actor.
Unknown to him, director Noah Baumbach had added snippets of George’s previous movies at the end of the Netflix release.
And watching the years roll by on screen was an eye-opener for the silver fox, not least when he was met with milestones he would rather forget.
His dodgy Eighties haircut in sitcom The Facts Of Life was one, as well as just how young he was when he starred in hospital drama ER in the Nineties.
George, whose hits include Ocean’s Eleven and Gravity, says: “It was really fascinating, because you go through all the things we all go through, which is you watch yourself age, which you have to make peace with.
“You also look at some f***ing horrible mullets. And you have to kind of get through all that.
“And you do get this thing of, ‘God, that was just yesterday, wasn’t it?’. That I was on ER or something. It really does go by fast. And the older you get, the faster it seems to go.”
It is hard to imagine now, but there was a time when George was a struggling actor.
Having dropped out of university, where he was studying journalism, he sold insurance and shoes while also trying his luck as an extra on TV.
Sequels cancelled George recalls: “I came from Augusta, Kentucky, where I was a tobacco farmer. And you go on all these auditions and you go, ‘Well, I took a shot’. And if it doesn’t work out, it’s easy when you get older to go, ‘Yeah, I gave it a shot. It didn’t work out’, which happens.
“But you can’t do it when you’re old and you didn’t try. That’s regret.”
Back when opportunities were thin on the ground, George did take some roles he now recalls ruefully.
That includes the first movie he was cast in, called Grizzly II: Revenge, which suffered financial problems.
Backers pulled out of the 1983 low-budget horror flick, which also featured Charlie Sheen and Laura Dern, so the cast were stuck in Hungary for weeks while the funding was sorted out.
George reveals: “It was funded by these Hungarians. And then they lost the money.
“And so we got stuck there for, like, two months. And it was Laura, Charlie Sheen and me. It was all our first films.
“And we’re stuck there for two months. And we can’t get home. We don’t know what to do.
In Grizzly II, we get eaten by a bear in the first scene. It never comes out, thank Christ. Then some schmuck finds it. Now it’s ‘starring George Clooney’ and I get worst reviews of my life
George Clooney
“And literally, we get eaten by a bear in the first scene and so it never comes out. Thank Christ.”
Although the movie was not completed at the time, it was finally finished and released in 2020, with George given a top billing, even though he only appeared briefly.
He continues: “Some schmuck finds it and he gets a bunch of old footage of s**. And he puts it together.
“And now it’s like, ‘Starring George Clooney’. And it comes out. And after 40 years, I’m getting the worst reviews of my life.”
George’s screen breakthrough came in 1994 when he began playing paediatric doctor Doug Ross in ER, which was a global success.
It led to major movies including From Dusk Till Dawn two years later, and Batman & Robin in 1997.
The star is able to laugh off his much-panned version of the caped crusader, which was such a flop that the sequels were cancelled.
And he jokes that his eight-year-old twins Alexander and Ella will be left traumatised by the Batman outfit he wore.
The actor says: “We know they’re going to be in therapy no matter what, just from Batman & Robin. ‘My dad had rubber f***ing nipples’. Disaster.”
George, who was married to actress Talia Balsam, 66, for four years until 1993, dated a string of beautiful women, including Renee Zellweger and British TV presenter Lisa Snowdon, before settling down with lawyer Amal Alamuddin.
She is the mother of his children and the couple have been married for 11 years.
They have homes near Reading, Berks and in Kentucky, US.
It is clear that George is very content, unlike his latest character.
He says of the fictional Jay Kelly: “He regrets his relationship with his father. He regrets the relationship with his kids. “He regrets the relationship with the women in his life and not spending enough time with people you love. I don’t have much of that. I mean, I have kids that still like me.”
Even so, fans might have some difficulty separating fiction from reality when they see George in his latest role.
He is, after all, playing a Hollywood star who has experienced plenty of ups and downs.
When Noah Baumbach, who is married to Barbie director Greta Gerwig, wrote the script, he thought George was the natural choice for the lead role.
But the actor hopes he did not see any of Kelly’s nasty streak in him.
People will be like, ‘Oh, you’re just playing yourself in this’. And I go, ‘Well, I hope not, because the guy’s a d***’
George Clooney
He jokes: “People will be like, ‘Oh, you’re just playing yourself in this’. And I go, ‘Well, I hope not, because the guy’s a d***’.
‘I was scared’
“But, you know, maybe they’re telling me something. When he said, ‘I wrote this with you in mind,’ I was like, ‘F*** you’.”
This will only be George’s seventh movie in the past ten years. He has not received many scripts that interested him — and some of the roles he did take failed to “challenge” him.
That includes the 2024 Apple+ action comedy Wolfs that he made with Brad Pitt and the romcom Ticket To Paradise with Julia Roberts in 2022.
George says: “For the last ten years or so, for the most part, I was directing because I was more interested in telling stories and I wanted to continue to be a storyteller. But the parts I was getting offered weren’t all that interesting.
“And so I hadn’t really been in a film. I did a couple of movies. I did a movie with Julia Roberts and I did a movie with Brad, which were fun and they’re fun to work with and people that I know. But it’s not challenging yourself.
“We know what the audience wants delivered for those films.”
Neither of those movies were well received by reviewers and George hasn’t had a critically-acclaimed film since 2016’s Hail, Caesar!
Out of the nine movies he has directed, Good Night, And Good Luck was the biggest success, picking up Best Picture and Best Director Oscar nominations at the 2006 awards.
And while 2014’s The Monuments Men was a box-office hit, other offerings such as Leatherheads in 2008 lost money.
George is sanguine about any setbacks he has faced. “I was friends with Gregory Peck and I was friends with Paul Newman. Even those guys, and they were the biggest movie stars in the world, even their careers don’t just go like that,” he explains pointing upwards.
Making a rollercoaster motion, he continues: “Their careers do this, that’s how they ride. And my career has had many of those, many failures and many things that I wish I’d done better.”
I was friends with Gregory Peck and Paul Newman. Even those guys, and they were the biggest movie stars in the world, even their careers don’t just go upwards. My career has had many failures
George has taken risks by getting up on stage on Broadway, recreating Good Night, And Good Luck as a play earlier this year.
It received five Tony nominations, including best actor for the star himself.
Not bad for a man who struggled to remember the script.
He admits: “I hadn’t done a play in 40 years. And so I was nervous. And every night, you know, I was worried because as you get older, it’s hard to remember your lines.
“And it’s hard to remember s***. And so I was scared. And it’s good to be 64 years old and not sure you can pull it off.”
- Jay Kelly is in cinemas now and will be on Netflix from December 5.