George Clooney is 54 years old. Many actors – male actors – have flourishing careers in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. Just today, I was thinking about how much 78-year-old Morgan Freeman works. I mean, do you ever think about that? Morgan Freeman works SO MUCH. He works like he’s paying off Kanye West’s debt. But George Clooney hasn’t been working that much over the past few years. I didn’t think much about it before now, because I assumed it was his choice. I’m sure he gets sent lots of scripts, and of those scripts, Clooney has not had the best taste… recently. His current film, Hail Caesar, has made about $40 million (it had a $22 million budget). Last year’s Tomorrowland – which was written off as a total bomb – ended up making more than $200 million, domestically and internationally, although considering the production costs ($190 million-plus) & promotional costs (who knows?), the film didn’t even break even. And that’s all we’ve gotten from Clooney in two years. So Clooney says he’s thinking about retiring… because he’s old and he doesn’t want to look old on-screen. Here are some assorted words from George Clooney:
No one wants to see you age: “I think nobody really wants to see anybody really age. You know, it’s a very unforgiving thing, the camera is, and so aging becomes something that you know, you try to do less and less onscreen. You try to pick the films that work best for you and as you age they become less and less…[the situation is] obviously a lot worse for women.”
But he loves directing: “It is my great love. I enjoy it a lot. I’ve had really great success, and I’ve had some not-so-successful films, and that’s also part of the experience. But what I’ll say is it’s really fun. As you age on screen you get to that point where you really understand that, you know, you can’t stay in front of the camera your whole life. It’s much more fun, and it’s infinitely more creative, to be directing.”
Where he’s putting his money this election year: “I am a Hillary supporter. I am doing a fundraiser for her… I really love Bernie Sanders, and am really glad he is in the debate. He is forcing the conversation to things that never get talked about in US politics: disparity between the rich and the poor, which is getting worse and worse every day.”
On Donald Trump: “He’s just an opportunist. Now he’s a fascist; a xenophobic fascist… Let’s put things into perspective. You know, the truth of the matter is, in election season, things go crazy, and the loudest voices are the furthest and most extreme. So you hear a massively stupid idea, like we’re going to ban Muslims from the country. Now, we’re not ever going to do that. It says in the Statue of Liberty, bring us your huddled masses. It’s not what’s going to happen.”
He should have been thinking about diversity before: “One film I did, The Ides of March, where the lead was Ryan Gosling. And yes, that’s one I didn’t think to, and should have probably thought to, look for a young African American actor to do it.”
[From The Guardian & E! News]
I suspect he won’t retire really, but he’s already hitting the brakes on his on-screen work, and in the future, we’ll probably be seeing him less and less in leading roles especially. Must be nice to have that option when you’re a man, right? At least he acknowledges that it’s harder for women, although more and more, it does seem like actors are going through the same ageism bulls—t that actresses go through. And I bet he will direct more, and I hope he’s serious about keeping diversity in mind.
As for the Trump stuff… yeah, he’s right. I like that he’s learned how to provide a good, solid political soundbyte and just leave it at that. There’s no reason to waste the energy and time on taking down Donald Trump point by point. Just call him a fascist and walk away. And I didn’t know he was a Hillary supporter, for some reason I thought he would be more for Bernie.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
President Clooney will see you now…
No. Being the unofficial Mayor of Hollywood is enough for him, I think.
That’s my immediate thought. He’s probably got some political plans he’s thinking of putting into action. What Amal does for a living probably has him questioning whether he should be doing more concrete good in the world than just acting.
And good for him, if he does. He’s very smart and articulate, and I think he’d be good at it.
Please no – George is a whiner and I have no time for those. A whiner cannot be seen as a leader.
Maybe he and Amal are realizing how hard it is to maintain both of their careers. Or maybe they had a deal going in that she’d take a bit of a step back to attend red carpets and go on vacations for a while, then he would eventually retire and she can go full throttle with her lawyering.
P.S. – I loved Tomorrowland!
Me, too! I just don’t understand why it wasn’t more successful in theatres.
I liked it too, and I also liked Monuments Men a lot. I thought it told an important story, and maybe we are just far enough now from WWII that people have stopped caring as much (or it doesn’t resonate anymore) but it did for me.
+1. Also, many stars feel comfortable with the move from acting to directing/producing (see Angelina Jolie).
Besides, his back. I have chronic back pain initiated by a horseback riding injury and every time I think of his “Syriana” injury I just cringe. When I was still standing up all day as a pharmacist I had good days and bad days. I suspect that is the same for him.
It might be getting difficult to hide his back pain on camera too?? It’s pretty obvious when he’s walking the red carpet sometimes
It’s probably because he’s had some flops at the box office lately, time to hang up his acting shoes.
This just confirms what I’ve long thought about Clooney – he’s incredibly vain and egotistic. He is not a great actor, but due to his looks and (supposed) charm has been able to coast by basically playing George Clooney for the past 20 years. Now that his looks are fading, nobody wants to see him act – his last three films have all flopped.
And I think he is revealing his own superficiality with his ‘nobody wants to see people age on screen’ nonsense. Personally, I love seeing actresses about my own age – like Cate Blanchett or Helena Bonham Carter – and watching how they’ve aged along with me. What kind of person wants to see only 22 year olds on screen? The kind of person who only ‘dates’ women at least a decade his junior, I suppose.
Vain? He is one of the few that doesn’t do anything to his face. He has always said he looks older than his age and accepted it. He said you have to stick to certain roles as you age. He’s right. He’s now going to have to move on to a different phase of his career regarding roles, which will be supporting roles, I imagine, here and there, and do mostly directing.
Vain?
Let’s talk Brad Pit, Tom Cruise, and Ben Affleck for the biggest laughs I’ve had all year for three men that so blatantly messed with their faces. And they all look younger than George to begin with. Well, Ben is younger. But they looked ridiculous when they came out with their “fresh” faces.
At least George accepts his aging face.
Yes. Vain.
@Jayna he had (famously) his eyes done. and those chipmunk cheeks don’t belong to a human… same for his crazy denture.
I can’t believe the eye thing still has traction in 2016…. during an interview with Julia Roberts for an Oprah special way back in the day, he made his eyes comically wide and bugged out and joked that he had gotten them done. It was a very obvious joke. The video can be found on youtube. Someone must have taken the soundbite and ran with it, hence…
I think the difference for Clooney is that he has gotten ahead basically by his looks. Morgan Freeman is a character actor and that voice! I could listen to him read the telephone book. I have liked a few Clooney films, disliked many others but I was a fan long ago, I will admit, mostly because I thought he was good looking.
I think he can be charming onscreen in the right vehicle, but I think his downfall (especially as a director) is that he doesn’t have very good taste. His movies are all made for guys like him – middle aged white men. I certainly understand that he feels that he takes on important subject matter, but there’s just a feeling of staleness to him as a filmmaker.
Or maybe it’s just me.
I agree. I was quite a fan of Clooney in the early 2000s. I thought he picked some really interesting projects, both as director and actor. Now, as you say, it’s all gone a bit stale and I don’t think he has any new ideas. Even the biggest stars have flops, but three in a row is a bit of a red flag. Not that films should only be judged by their box office success, of course, but these were all big budget films that were expected to make a lot of money. It seems that Brand Clooney is just a bit last decade.
He’s got the same problem that a lot of directors of that age/stardom level do: they’re making movies that no one was asking for. The Heart Of The Ocean, Bridge Of Spies, Monument Men – these are the movies that happen when everyone at the table is a middle aged white man. I’m sure that each of them thought the story they were telling was important, but it turns out they were the only ones clamoring to see these movies made. Clooney’s problem isn’t that he needs to add more diversity to casting his main parts (though that would be nice) it’s that he’s only stories that are specifically aimed at him as the audience. Isn’t there some sort of happy medium where he can find something different that he still enjoys working on?
Hail Cesar is hilarious though, the dance routine alone was spectacular.
I’m personally not much of a Coen Brothers fan, so I’ve skipped that one so far. And I’m not trying to say that Clooney hasn’t made ANY good movies, but that for the most part his choices tend to be stale.
“they’re making movies that no one was asking for. ”
That’s an excellent way to put it. Nothing to do with Clooney, but I would place ”Steve Jobs” in the same category. Jobs may be an object of fascination for Hollywood hipsters, but in the real world, nobody much cares about him, and they certainly don’t want to shell out their hard-earned cash to go to see a film about him. Let alone TWO films about him.
Word. People are crying out for diversity not because of some sort of PC guilt, but because we’re tired of seeing the same types stories over and over again. Steve Jobs was always going to flop, no matter who starred in it (and I think that was why DiCaprio declined it) because outside of a tiny circle of people no one was clamoring for that story.
@Ethelreda – couldn’t agree more. The vanity and self-absorption is tangible and his massive ego is so completely at puzzling odds with, and in such indirect proportion to, his very mediocre talent, both as an actor and a director.
Additionally, and far more importantly, what he’s saying is extremely damaging. He knows how vapid and ‘youth-centric’ Hollywood is and how difficult it is for older actors – women in particular – to continue to be cast in meaningful roles – which he’s SO quick to grandstand about when it suits him – and yet here he is playing completely into and providing fodder for! that vapid, empty Hollywood ‘youth-centric’ stance with his claim that ageing on screen is just something that no one wants to see.
He really is an insufferable, self-serving fool and the sooner he ‘retires’, the better.
Guesto, I completly agree, he knows his time is up, he got by for years on his looks and charm, because his acting is mediocre at best, and to be honest I dont think he is a very talented director either. All great actors like Dustin Hoffman, Pacino, Deniro and Morgan Freeman can act well into there 70,s even 80s because they are gifted at acting, he is not and he knows it. Lets hope he rides off into the sunset and takes Amal with him, they wont be missed, not by me anyway.
Nicole, Pacino and De Niro have been doing drivel for a decade or two. It’s sad. They are offered crap roles in crap movies and take it for the MONEY. It’s talked about all the time how the two greatest actors of their generation are destroying their own legacy with crap. But they will do anything for a buck. De Niro is finally doing a decent movie with Scorcese coming up and The Intern was the first decent thing by him for me in a while.
@Guesto and @Ethelreda
I couldn’t agree more with both of you. I find his self-aggrandizing pathetic, and frankly, a bit sad.
@Jayna
They’ll do anything for a buck? Like shilling for Nestle?
As you say, they are offered crap roles because of people like you and, as is now seems, George. You don’t find that true in other countries where how someone looks is the be all and end all of an actor’s worth, male or female.
So, George is all for more diversity in film roles unless you’re over the hill, especially if you’re a woman.
Got it.
His overinflated ego is remarkable in the above quotes and anyone who doesn’t think so is either working on his behalf, in one capacity or another, or simply delusional.
He started talking about how he didn’t want to be some old guy still playing the standard leading man roles when he was in his thirties. This isn’t a sudden ‘oh god I look old, better hide away’ realisation, it’s a career path he decided on decades ago. Move into directing more, act in ensemble films.
I enjoy seeing “older” women on screen. I’m in early 20s but I’m sick of seeing girls my age with men nearly 35-40 years old! Makes me sick! So I appreciate seeing women in their 30s and 40s on screen and still portrayed as “beautiful”. Makes me feel like my expiration date is a little later than initially stated (30). It’s so depressing. I wouldn’t mind ageing so much if it were the same for men but it isn’t. I hope this changes at least a little in the next 10 years. I already feel sick seeing girls younger than myself with older men. Where does that leave women in their 30s? To date 50 year olds? Ugh
Care Blanchett does not age!
He swans off to direct. The women start up lifestyle businesses.
Honestly, what is a lifestyle business? Alba has a diaper company, Goop and Simpson do retail. Barrymore sells flowers. Anniston and Lopez and Longoria have production companies…How do you define lifestyle. Do you mean leisure, something they do in their time off?
Im not trolling, I just dont get this new buzzword. I dont understand what a lifestyle book is verses a midlife biography either.
Do you really think that Drew Barrymore is selling flowers?
The problem with your analysis is that you’ve reduced what these people do to only one component of their businesses.
Alba doesn’t just “have a diaper company”-the Honest company is a brand catering to young mothers and all of their needs. They do not just sell diapers. Lifestyle=young mothers.
Goop has a website that just happens to have a retain component, but even she’ll tell you her website is about her lifestyle, as are her multiple cookbooks that show you “her way” to cook and eat. Lifestyle=vain ass rich bitches.
Barrymore has her hands in lots of things including cosmetics at Walmart that are organic. Lifestyle=hippie organic ladies who still want to wear makeup.
Anniston and Lopez and Longoria are not part of the equation because as you said, they have production companies. You cant compare them to the others.
If he were a great actor not a “movie star” he would continue to work because he enjoys working. GC is just a h-wood narcissist who can now get press with/from his wife. She is his attention insurance policy.
Supposedly the acting is one of the least interesting parts of the movie making process, especially in the kind of fare Clooney specializes in (studio movies).
Candy, completly agree, he uses her for pr.
And vice versa. Good deal for both. I’m also quite sure he will get ‘inspiration’ for new stories from her work, as well as money for producing and/or directing via her family’s connections.
George Clooney has been directing since his ER days as I recall. He has been focused on directing and producing for a long time. If you look at his activist activities and physical issues he has faced for years I’m not surprised he is pulling away from acting. As far as aging I think it’s more likely what he sees in the mirror versus what anyone else sees. I don’t see him letting himself go but he does not strike me as a person who will start dyeing his hair and undergoing plastic surgery to retain his youth.
I’m looking at his ‘activist’ activities and his ongoing Nestlé association which, when (inconveniently) raised, always results in foot-stamping petulance from ‘activist’ George.
He should retire because his movies are terrible and he adds nothing to them. Great actors do it because of the craft not because of how they look on screen. Bye. Hollywood will not miss you.
They looks good together and Amal is an amazing woman all around… but, is it a real marriage, in the sense that it’s not a legal contract?
Amal is nothing special, you’re believing the hype they tried to sell her as, and yes this marriage is a complete contract from start to finish.
Surely the way to combat ageism is not to avoid the problem, but to exemplify the value of having mature actors and actresses play a diverse body of age appropriate roles? People don’t stop watching movies when they get old, either, so maybe he might want to think about aligning himself with his changing demographic.
Now I know why he married Amal. It’s not in their culture to divorce. I am sure Amal will stay with him forever.
Well that’s not a generalization at all…
Huh? On a couple levels.
I agree now they are PR brand even they are miserable in their marriage they will stay together in the name of PR
The divorce rate in Lebanon is 17%. Nowhere as high as the US or UK, but it’s not exactly a rare occurrence either. Besides which, divorce rates amongst Muslims not living in Muslim country’s rise hugely.
Another word he is not getting good part anymore after his movies keep bombing at the box office, even as director for his next movie Sony (which he has contract with) is not financing this one as Sony lost lot of money because his movies so paramount is financing but not international
Long before high definition, Cary Grant announced his (first) retirement around age 50 for a similar reason. But he was lured or begged to return by Hitchcock, and kept going another decade-plus (to age 62).
Not sure that would occur for GC, so good that he has directing and other pursuits.
I guess I have to keep away from the ID channel. He has certainly aged, it can be that the drink and/or the stress of his box office failures getting to him. But I always look at his fingers and wonder if he’s being poisoned by something (ID channel, always the slow arsenic cases). The aging on him has been too rapid. His decline from Oceans Thirteen to now, wow. But he should be glad he’s not a woman, if he were he would not have a choice of retirement or keep working in Hollywood. I call it Stacie’s revenge.
What about his fingers? I only notice he bites his nails…
Hillary is the candidate of the corporations, she is completely owned by them. She convinced Obama to fund terrorists in Libya and Syria, she convinced Obama to bomb Libya allowing Al qaeda to take over the country. Libya now has hundreds of thousands dead, 2 million people as refugees in neighbouring countries and the remainder of the population lives under the hell of death squads. As for the tragedy of Syria….. the only good thing Obama did was ignore Hillary and McCain and refuse to finish off the government there because there wouldn’t be any Syrians left. There has already been genocide and sex slavery thanks to Saudi/US sponsored mercenaries, most of which are foreign by the way.
How dare Clooney try to claim moral authority over anybody else when he’s supporting that. He was also in Germany supporting Merkel and congratulating her on her catastrophic handling of the migrant crisis. Rather than do the humane thing and welcome genuine refugees from camps, she invited a free for all of illegal human trafficking across the Mediterranean which has destabilised Europe. The majority of migrants are military age young men from various Arabic and North African countries. Over a million young men from deeply misogynistic cultures!!!! She’s ordered the police not to arrest the large mobs who chase and sexually assault women and young girls, gang rape has become epidemic,journalists have been arrested and are facing prosecution for reporting on what’s happening, the media is banned from reporting anything, people who protest the attacks on women are labelled fascists and racists, shes trying to ban political parties and opinions that challenge her handling of the crisis and demand an end to the mass immigration of more men until these problems can be dealt with, shes trying to ban people from discussing what’s going on in there communities over social media, intimidating victims into silence (yes really)……. I have family and friends living there and the terror in affected areas is very real, formerly bleeding heart liberals they are no more.
I don’t like Trump but he’s not owned by corporations and war profiteers like those Clooney supports. He claims he won’t fund terrorists, will be friendly and work with Putin, supports healthcare and social security, opposes TTIP (very important!!!), he won’t be able to deport illegals except for the criminals, it’s logistically impossible and the only Muslims he’ll keep out are those who haven’t passed security checks. There’s a chance he may not be too bad (can only hope!), Hillary is guaranteed to be terrible for world security.
I have to disagree with you. If that’s the case why are world leaders from all over coming out to make public statements about how bad Trump would be for international relations? Why is England trying to ban him completely? Why is no one doing the same for Hilary?
Oh, because you’re 100% wrong. Ok.
@Zaytabogota
Fox channel is not your friend.
Retire? I didn’t know he still did movies.
His last three have bombed…
He is box office poison now.
He’s not box office poison. Hail Caesar is a niche arthouse film that’s made money. Monuments Men made money despite being mediocre. Tomorrowland is his only recent bomb, and it bombed because it was poorly made. It’s not like it was a great film but everyone decided not to watch because of Clooney.
I’ve always felt box office poison is a ridiculous phrase anyway, always employed when someone wants to deflect from a bad film. Hey it’s not the writers fault for writing a sucky script, or the directors fault for making a crappy film, or the studio’s for green lighting it in the first place, it’s all the actors fault!
Why do actors think they can direct? Yet not not one director then becomes an actor?
GC is marginally talented as actor, he is no longer a box office draw. And as director…meh.
He is directing is not going to push the medium film forward like Cuaron, Inaratu, or Kathyrn Bigelow.
He is has lived in bubble for most of his life. He is not well educated. His has no formal higher education which a prerequisite for high level politics these days. He is aware of this, so he married a highly educated woman to compensate.
He often times comes across as smug not articulate. Not intelligent enough to be professorial, so his lecturing of the issues seem condescending.
He is touchy, and comes across as petty at times.
And now super vain.
IF you want to promote inclusion to Hollywood – why not advocate for older actors and actresses? But all of his movies are male driven. His track record does not show diversity. He is all talk. A hypocrite.
Not a fan. I would not vote for him for city council.
It’s quite self-regarding and self-absorbed to argue with “Nobody wants to see you aging on screen.”. Not only is it not true for talented folks, and the list is looong, but it gives in to ageism, and basically promotes it. But he isn’t intelligent enough to understand that. He could have just stated that for him, having acted for…years, he just wanted to change focus. Would have been that easy. But I do not believe this is the real reason behind his ‘announcement’ anyway.
I’ve always liked George, and he’s directed some really terrific films (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Good Night and Good Luck are wonderful). I think his more recent efforts haven’t worked as well because it seems like he has a very insular process. He writes, directs, produces, and acts in the film, so there aren’t enough other sets of eyes to say, “Hey, this scene/line/plot point doesn’t really work.” As an actor, its been awhile since he’s had a big hit, but his upcoming Money Monster with Jodie Foster looks great. Maybe slowing down and only doing one movie every couple of years, rather than the two films a year pace he was working at, will help. Quality over quantity. I’ll say this much for him: He’s the only big star I’ve heard say, in regards to #OscarsSoWhite, “I personally can do better, and here’s an example of where I could have in the past.”
Maybe some big stars haven’t come out because they are actually doing something tangible to make a difference. Everyone doesn’t have to make a public statement. Actions speak louder than words. And we have see a lot of celebs speaking words.. but no action.
As an aside, I’m so glad I downloaded the Drumpfinator extension. It provides me with endless entertainment to see the Drumpf in every single article to the point where I don’t know if the authors put it there or John Oliver’s people did.
My family and I loved tomorrow land. I don’t know why it didn’t do well. I really like watching George on screen, but surprised he’s a Hilary supporter.
My sister and her family saw Tomorrowland loved it also. While not a great movie, it sounds like it’s a good movie. I read it did poorly because the promotion was handled badly. The studio not giving away the plot, being vague as it’s hard to explain the type of movie it is, so it left people not interested to see it because of that strategy, for instance the trailers, etc.
We saw Hail, Caesar! We loved it. George was great. And I think he chose wisely with this movie. He isn’t afraid to make fun of himself to be in a role like that. It may not have been a huge success box office-wise, but critically it got strong reviews. Audiencewise, you have to be a Coen brothers fan to enjoy the movie, I think.
The movie had a lot of good actors in it. I love Ralph Fiennes and Scarlett Johansson and Josh Brolin and Tilda Swinton in it and Channing Tatum and Frances McDormand. And Jonah Hill was good. What’s not to love with that group?
He’s only 54?!!! I thought he was in his 60s. Gosh, he’s lucky he’s not a woman or they would have kicked him to the curb the second he turned 30. With all that money you would think he would look a little better. Karma at its finest. For someone who only dates women 15+ years younger.
I don’t think for a second him aging is the reason for stopping being infront of a camera. I’m also not surprised about his remarks, I expected this move. In my understanding, he wants to do projects where the story ideas come from his wife’s work, and since I don’t think HW will be highly interested in those, he will have them funded by people from outside the usual HW circles. Besides that, good actors are highly successful and in demand until way above their mid 50s. George’s success was always defined by his image as a supposedly charming, eloquent, self-depreciating guy. That all came to an end when he pulled that marriage stunt, and with the release of the Sony e-mails- and he can’t help but notice. I also think that at least one of them wants to get their hands on an ambassador job/UN function. Personally, I won’t miss the actor Clooney, although I doubt he will completely stop acting. He’s far too vain for that. Besides, his biggest acting job so far seems to be that of a loving husband, and humanitarian.
I have enjoyed his acting over the years, but will not miss it when and if he gives it up.
I’m sure I’m not alone – I prefer the older gentlemen. And lady, for that matter.