George at Producers Guild screening on Saturday evening.

Our secret insider - aka New Kid - was at the Producers Guild screening at the Pacific Design Center, Saturday 1 Oct where George and Grant presented Ides of March.

Here's a quick recount of how the evening went:

The evening began with a screening of the film followed by about 45 minute Q&A.

Note about the film: Gosling OWNS THIS FILM. Clooney's character is the catalyst (very very different from the play, btw, his character wasn't in the play and the reason Gosling flips from earnest to dead in the eyes is different than the play.) Clooney should get a best director nom, Gosling should WIN the Best Actor award.

After the viewing of the film, George, Grant Heslov and "another producer" [whose name our anonymous tipster couldn't remember] came on stage to answer questions. The audience was told no photos. George in saggy baggy-in-the-ass jeans, navy t-shirt, leather jacket and lug sole boots. Grant in black t-shirt. No sign of Stan, Lysa or Stacy.

G comes out with the microphone and blesses the crowd - waving it like a priest sprinkling holy water, Grant next to him. If George is taller than 5'9 or 5'10 then I am one of the seven dwarves. There is even a line in the film that Gosling has "are there risers on the podium, he's only 5'8, he's a midget."

A woman, (remember this is a professional group of producers) yells out "marry me George." He declines and jokes 'this is a professional group right, well I guess she is producing'.

He has a plethora of one liners. Questions are asked about the film, he repeats the questions with "if you didn't hear her/him, he/she said I look younger/better in person." Grant is holding the microphone across his forehead probably praying George grow up and then Grant starts joking around, they are a good pair - I can see why it works. Both are crazy funny, but Grant is excellent at turning Clooney back to the serious path

Discussion of the business end of the film, how it got made, financing. And how the film must be sold, that the film is an independent sold territory by territory and the studio (now Columbia) has domestic rights. And it wasnt expected to be a huge money maker, when asked if they have any feedback or worries, both George and Grant comment that the studio was "gently" trying to persuade them to not make the film...Grant chimed 'and your wife' suggesting that sometimes the wife wants him to make money making films.

George is very gracious in the questions, handing a lot of them to Grant, but still gnawing on those cuticles. Nervous habit?

They talked about how the project started at Warner Bros and the studio offered it to both Clooney and diCaprio and both accepted it. That is why Leo's company has an executive producing credit on the film, that Ryan Gosling was always their first choice for the role, Chris Pine (who did the play) was never considered a top contender.

Someone asks about how they found the time to do the film since Clooney did 14 films last year and Grant says they found a slot. Cue the next round of stupid slot jokes, loosen the slot, wagging the eyebrows, yup, were all 10 again. George is making funny faces as a compliment to Grant's discussion and Grant just gives George the best blank, straight face seen since Abbot and Costello.

Discussion of George's directing technique he says he steals from Pakula, that he must be spinning in his grave.

Final question was whether the film would make G run for office. He said no. He discussed knowing the President personally, saying how many people could say that - seemingly in awe. He questioned why he would run because he would be muzzled and that by not being in office he can speak freely and not have to answer to either party in power or wanting to make policy. Then he said why trade down in houses? The crowed oooooohed, then George pointed out he lives in the Valley (which he does.)

Cool! It's a pity she couldn't take photies ...she was sitting in the front row...

"Grant is excellent at turning Clooney back to the serious path"

poor Grant
G need a leash


so at least he will end @ gnawing on those DAMN cuticles!

So cool that New Kid was able to go and be front and center, and to share with us through you Katie!

Great post, New Kid. Must have been a fun time.

Sounds like she had fun pity that they wouldn't allow pictures. NK said he looked good just tired. With all the work he seems to be doing it's no wonder. What is funny is that even in a crowd of professionals someone asked if he would marry her. LOL Not NK! George is supposed to be on Letterman this week as well so it looks like we will have a nice Clooney week.

and Charlie Rose on Tuesday night!

Also if anyone is interested, Michael Clayton is on TV Guide Channel on Mon. 8:00 pm and 10:30 PM.

George O V E R L O A D!!!????? NEVER!!!!!

melbert wrote:and Charlie Rose on Tuesday night!

Where did you find it. I couldn't find on CR's website. Thanks!

Sisieq from the other thread where this was posted.

From cincinnati.com

Watch For George Clooney Interview Sunday

Oct 1, 2011 | Written by jkiesewetter

Two more things: Watch for George on PBS’ “Charlie Rose” Tuesday, which should be mostly about the movie (Charlie Rose appears in the film, along with CNN’s John King and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow)…. and watch for George on “David Letterman” Wednesday. The film opens Friday.

When they post my stories online, I’ll add the links to this blog.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

George Clooney Gets Politically Dirty

Oscar-Winning Actor Discusses Directing The Ides of March
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
By Roger Durling

Though more known for being an Academy Award-winning actor, George Clooney also directs socially conscious and provocative films, and is able to use his star power to get challenging projects off the ground. His latest, The Ides of March, is an adaptation of Beau Williamson’s political play Farragut North, about an idealistic young staffer who gets a taste of dirty politics while working on a presidential campaign. In addition to Clooney, who casted himself in the scene-stealing role of a governor running for president, the all-star cast features Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Paul Giamatti. The movie’s immediacy and skill recalls the classic films of Sidney Lumet. I sat down with Clooney last weekend to discuss his latest directing job.

Why did you change the title from the original name, Farragut North, to the more Shakespearean-sounding Ides of March? Well, we thought that Farragut North felt a little too Washington, D.C.-specific. The Ides of March is actually the 15th of March when the primary takes place, and, obviously, there are some arguments about Cassius and Brutus, your best friend and your worst enemy, conspiring to kill you. The question you always sort of leave out there—you can decide who Caesar is, but we thought that there were bigger themes. The play was more specifically about the downfall of Stephen, and this we felt was much more of a morality play about what elements of your soul are you willing to sell and at what cost and if it’s worth it, and maybe it is. Maybe dirty campaigning, if the right guy gets in, is worth it. Those are conversations and discussions we wanted to have.

You added your character, Governor Mike Morris, and incorporated a scene that’s not in the play, which is the heart of the movie, where the two main characters face each other in the kitchen with their careers on the line. What inspired that? After we had gotten the play, that was the first scene that I wrote to adapt. I knew I wanted the governor in and I wanted to put him in jeopardy, so I wrote that scene, and then Grant Heslove and I wrote the screenplay backwards from that scene to sort of fill and get to that point. Once we knew we had that scene, we knew sort of what we wanted to do with the film.

Why was that scene so important for you? It brings together two characters who are really smart with their backs against the wall, both performing on all cylinders. You know both those guys are absolutely great at what they do, and neither of them is really backing down.

The other scene, too, that impressed me immensely was with Jennifer Ehle, who plays your wife, inside a car where the governor says he’s not going to compromise. Of course, later on, you seem him compromising, just like Obama. My father ran for Congress in Kentucky — it’s not fun being a Democrat running for Congress in Kentucky, as you can imagine, and it didn’t turn out very well. He lost pretty badly. But that scene is a reflection of a conversation that I had with my father about running. It’s an odd thing running for Congress — even in a small district, it still cost you a couple million dollars. By the time you’re elected, you have to try and start getting re-elected. And he was having a really difficult time. He wasn’t personally wealthy… so he was having a difficult time having to go and shake hands with people that he didn’t really particularly care for. When he first started, he couldn’t make any of those deals, and, as time went on, some of the lines were moved. Now, he didn’t give up his integrity along the way, and that’s probably the reason that he lost by the margin that he did, but somewhere along the way, there were certain things he did that he was really upset with himself about. He didn’t like the taste it left in his mouth, and I would suspect no politician can get through it without enjoying that taste.

The first half of the movie appeals to all the liberals and Democrats in us, where we have this very hopeful candidate bringing change, and then the second half is catnip for the Republicans, in which we have this Democrat who becomes corrupt. We like to sort of offend every side, you know. It’s funny—the very first time I talked about the movie, I said, “You know the Republicans will hate the first half, and the Democrats will hate the second half.” And then Amy Pascal, the Sony chief, goes, “Can you just say the Democrats will love the first half and the Republicans will love the second half? Phrase it a little differently.”

This movie raises many questions but doesn’t answer them. There’s so much ambiguity. Was that your intention? I like movies that get people to sit around and have discussions afterword. We didn’t want to make a polarizing film. I understand that, because of who I am, that sort of automatically happens, but we also knew that. We didn’t want to make a film about politics — I mean, I do say some fairly liberal things up there, but he’s a Democrat running in a Democratic primary, so you’re going to hear some liberal things. So that’s not inconsistent with what you would see in a Democratic primary. What we wanted to do was really focus on us and how we elect our officials and the processes that we go through and sort of pull it back to look at and understand the deals that we have to make and the plays we do to get there. And I thought that it was much more interesting to talk about a morality play than politics. I didn’t want it to be a civics lesson, since I’m not very good at it.

You were ready to film this movie a long time ago, before the Obama election, but you delayed it. Why? We had gotten the play in 2007 and adapted it, and we were in preproduction, and then President Obama was elected, and everyone was in such a good mood. It was 70 percent of the country, and the Republicans were like, “Ah, it’s okay.” Everyone was feeling so good that I was sitting with Grant at a restaurant in preproduction and we were working on the cast and we looked up and realized that we can’t make this movie now; everyone’s in too good of mood. And it took about a year. Bad for the country, but very good for filmmaking.

George Clooney directs and stars in The Ides of March, which comes to Santa Barbara theaters this weekend. See idesofmarch-movie.com.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]