George Clooney interview in 'Sweeten Your Words' Nov 2011

GEORGE CLOONEY
THE DESCENDANTS

The one and only speaks frankly to Sweeten Your World.

Regardless of gender or demographic, it’s impossible not to love George Clooney. His fan-base extends beyond any other Hollywood A-lister, and at age 50 (and without any apparent plastic surgery), his level of physical appeal eclipses many movie stars half his age.

Aside from his obvious superficial endowments and effortless charm, there’s a fierce intelligence and natural humour that endears him to all walks of life – from the crew members on a movie set to President Obama and former Vice President Al Gore.

There’s no denying this Kentucky-born actor and humanitarian sits atop the glittering heap. Thankfully, he doesn’t act like it. There are no temper tantrums on set, obnoxious behaviour with lesser known cast members, or indulgence in unreasonable demands.

An enviable lifestyle, he resides between a mansion in Los Angeles and a compound in Italy’s Lake Como, where he hosts glamorous dinner parties for the likes of his fellow movie stars, as well as political figures. Appreciative of the road his life has taken him, it’s impressive he’s remained so clearly sane, a fact he attributes to his family.

“I had a pretty good childhood, I come from fairly well-adjusted parents, and also, I’d grown up and been around show business so I was in a way better prepared for some of the trappings of fame. It helps being 33 when you get famous, which I did with ER, because you don't really buy all of the things people tell you that you might do if you’re younger,” he says. His father, Nick Clooney, was a talk show host, and his late aunt was the singer and actress Rosemary Clooney.

When he’s not acting, he spends his time working for various humanitarian causes, especially helping the victims of Darfur. He’s also donated money to the 2004 tsunami victims, and the Haiti earthquake. Among many honours for his philanthropic endeavours, in 2007 he received the Peace Summit Award given at the eighth World summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, and in 2008, he was designated a U.N. Messenger of Peace.

His much discussed love life is an area which is often under scrutiny. Currently in a relationship with former WWE wrestler, Stacy Keibler, 32, Clooney’s image as the elusive and most desirable bachelor in Hollywood makes him cringe. Rolling his eyes, he said a few years earlier at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills,“Look, I did an interview with Barbara Walters about a year after I got divorced (he was married to actress Talia Balsam from 1989 - 1992) and I’ve been paying for it ever since. I told her that I would never get married again and that comment has trailed me. But that was early on and I hadn’t been famous long enough to realise what I was saying. I should have just cried like everyone else does in her interviews. It would have been a lot easier,” he laughs. “And as far as being ‘The Bachelor,’ what can I say? I can only see it as though, I’m just ‘not married.’ That’s all.”

Here in Mexico’s resort-town of Cancun to promote his film, Ides of March, his latest political thriller, he pulls triple-duty as co-writer, director and star (opposite Ryan Gosling and Evan Rachel Wood). So convincing is he in this role, it’s not a big leap to imagine Clooney going into politics in real life.

Q: You looked so authentic as a political figure in this movie. What about taking that role on in real life?

Absolutely not. I think I can do more from the sidelines raising certain issues. I don’t have any interest in being a politician at all and I think I would make a horrible one, although I like the world.

Q: Weren’t you president of your class at school?

I was not. I was president of the Science Club. I went to a school where we had twenty-three people in my high school class so it wasn’t all that hard to be president of something (laughs)

Q: Which politicians did you look at in order to construct the characters in this movie?

I didn’t really look at any politicians specifically. A lot of the speeches written were based on some of the things that my father used to write and talk about twenty, thirty years ago that still seem pretty relevant. I found those to be interesting.

Q: You were compared recently to Paul Newman in terms of status, fame, career choices, humanitarian work and social stances on issues. Why is it important to you not to be ‘just another movie star’?

Well, any comparison to Paul Newman is a very nice thing to say, but it’s way, wildly off-base. He did it all. He was really, truly that movie star who did it all. For me, I feel like there’s a lot of things to do in life. I want to write and direct and as I get older I want less and less to see myself on screen. I find it much more creative to do the behind the camera stuff. And then in terms of doing things for others, I find that I’ve had a lot of luck in my life and I think luck is only good if you spread it around. You want to try and look out for other people along the way. Success requires an element of luck and I feel that should be shared whenever you can.

Q: Why did you cast Ryan Gosling for the role? And at age 50, were you a little intimidated by his youth?

(laughs). I’m going to take my time on this. (pauses) Yes, he’s very handsome and he’s very young. I am, fifty. Thanks for that. There’s a generation of really interesting young actors out there and I think Ryan’s among the finest of that generation. It’s fun to work with young actors, actually, because they have such a different take on things, you know? They have a completely different outlook than I do. I think I’m hip until I someone says, “Stop listening to that music. You’re an idiot.” But it’s fun to work with people who have new and interesting ideas. And it’s also fun to watch them work with old pros. Ryan’s a really, really smart actor, but so is Jeffrey Wright and Marisa Tomei and Paul Giamatti and Philip Hoffman. So it’s really fun to watch that whole process. It’s fun to mash them together. But yes, I am a little intimidated by his youth.

Q: Your next movie, The Descendants, at the crux of the film is about forgiveness. Are there certain things in life that are so awful that they can’t be forgiven?

I think we all go through those experiences of understanding that the older you get, the more forgiving that you are of other people’s mistakes. When you are young, you find that anything that stands against something that you believe in, is just plain wrong. I remember there were relatives of mine who would say something, and I would be like, ‘Well, he’s a bigot.’ And then I would come to find out later, that I was way too judgmental of those sorts of things. I was making the issue much bigger than it was. And I think as we all get older, we get a little bit more forgiving of everything.

Q: What are you passionate about away from work?

I am most passionate about my friends and my friendships. I work very hard at keeping this group of friends together - we have been so close for many years - we travel together. They are all successful people in their own lives. It may be important to me because I sort of need that grounding.

Q: What scares you in your personal life?

I suppose complacency is probably the scariest thing. The idea of stagnating – that is scary to me.

Q: What was that the worst job you ever had? You worked in a tobacco field at one point?

Yeah, I worked in a tobacco field but that wasn’t the worst job. Actually, that one felt good. I must say, there's a sense of accomplishment about looking back over a field and seeing rows of tobacco sticks that you've chopped and housed. That's OK. There were other ones like being a door-to-door insurance salesman. That was hard. Cold-calling insurance is brutal. "Hey have you guys considered..."

Q: What about Facts of Life tv show?

(laughs). The "Facts of Life" was OK. Those girls were nice, so I didn't have a tough time.

Q: So much fuss is always made about how you look. How do you think you’ll be as you grow older?

Well, I look at my father and since I look exactly like him, I pretty much know how I’m going to look. That’s good. Nothing wrong with that.