George Clooney: The Mind Behind The Eyes

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https://lebeauleblog.com/2021/10/20/...hind-the-eyes/

George Clooney doesn’t star in as many movies as he used to, but he is still unquestionably a movie star. He’s been a big movie star so long, it’s easy to take his status for granted. This cover story from the October 2000 issue of Movieline magazine reminds us that wasn’t always the case. In fact, for a long time it looked like Clooney would be a working actor who would never find a break out role. After “E/R” made him a TV star, there were questions about whether or not he had what it took to make it in movies. At the time of this interview, Clooney had recently laid those questions to rest with hits like Three Kings and The Perfect Storm. It’s a revealing look back at how Clooney achieved A-list status.

In Joel and Ethan Coen’s upcoming film O Brother, Where Art Thou? George Clooney plays a Depression-era, Deep-South version of Homer’s Ulysses. As the leader of a motley chain gang, his odyssey is foretold to him by a nameless, old blind man as follows: “You seek a great fortune … and you will find a fortune–though it will not be the fortune you seek… But first you must travel a long and difficult road, fraught with peril, pregnant with adventure… And though the road may wind and yea your hearts grow weary, still shall ye foller the way, even unto salvation.” The prophesy could easily apply to Clooney’s professional journey in Hollywood and to the salvation he seems now to finally have arrived at. With the big box office success of The Perfect Storm, the debate about Clooney’s movie-star status can at last be laid to rest. His “long and difficult road” has led from TV fame to membership in an elite group of leading screen idols.

When I meet Clooney, he looks–for an actor so handsome he gets away with not wearing makeup while working–like hell. Turns out he was up partying till around four a.m. While he may have matured as a leading man, at 39 Clooney is still famously Peter Pan-ish. But the world knows all of this already–the string of beautiful women, the bachelor pad, the pet pig, the life-of-the-party rep. What the world might not know is that Clooney has as savvy an understanding of show business as anyone in the business. He’s exercised the wisdom of sacrificing a big salary in order to get a film made. He’s had the nerve to deliberately keep his fees low in order to get the opportunities that the Travoltas and Fords of the world cost too much to get. He’s had the taste and the insight, especially lately, to select provocative, memorable material (think Out of Sight, Three Kings and O Brother) that he can shine in.

But as much as know-how has played a role in Clooney’s success, his tale is also one of sheer perseverance. Only after 15 other pilots failed did “ER” prove the charm. And only after meeting with mediocre results (The Peacemaker, Batman & Robin, One Fine Day) and ruinous marketing (Out of Sight) did Clooney fully succeed with his plan to leave behind the security of “ER.” Right up to the very weekend when The Perfect Storm hit like a, well, perfect storm, naysayers were openly wondering if Clooney could survive another disappointment. Now, though, George Clooney is looking just about as smart as he actually is.