Is George more like his image than we thought?

I have always thought that at his core George was still the kid from Kentucky who caught the brass ring and knew it. He has said so many times and I believed him. Now I'm not so sure. He is starting to seem more and more like the jet-setting superstar his detractors call him.

Maybe it's just that he's getting older and his priorities have changed. Maybe it's just recent circmstances in his life that make it seem like he's changed. I don't know. I just wonder if it's the engagement that bothers me, or the thought that he may not be the man I thought he was.(Or maybe the miserable weather is just getting me depressed.   )

LizzyNY wrote:I have always thought that at his core George was still the kid from Kentucky who caught the brass ring and knew it. He has said so many times and I believed him. Now I'm not so sure.  He is starting to seem more and more like the jet-setting superstar his detractors call him.

Maybe it's just that he's getting older and his priorities have changed. Maybe it's just recent circmstances in his life that make it seem like he's changed. I don't know. I just wonder if it's the engagement that bothers me, or the thought that he may not be the man I thought he was.(Or maybe the miserable weather is just getting me depressed.   )

I also think like you, this rapid change that belies what he has always said I am perplexed especially at his age. ' When a person has lived so long according to certain principles which also confirmed last interview makes me think he's hiding something that is the cause of this change is not to have found true love. The greatest love you can meet at any age but just to a certain age and 'difficult to change opinion on marriage so quickly!

I really believe he is deep down that guy from Kentucky who knows he hit the jackpot.  Of course, I'm a girl from Kentucky, (living in NJ) so I'm biased. 

Mr. Clooney, like anyone else knows that in a blink of an eye something can change your life. Look at Tom Cruise who was a superstar and then some bad media came along and he's not really on the radar. That can happen to anyone in any career.   

He says loves doing what he does and to me, it shows.  You can't "act" that. 

The way I see how respectful he is of his parents - that is something that is in the blood.  His life went into superstar legend status and he has been handling it with class.  

The engagement was a surprise and the timing was just bizarre with Stacey Kiebler getting married and pregnant.  But that happens to regular people too.  Still, it has people wondering what changed?  Is it true love?  

I haven't seen Mr. Clooney really changing significantly in the way he handles himself publically.  But there are some stories out there that are just outrageous and he's commenting.  I think the response to the Daily Mail was appropriate - afterall, if you start talking about sterotypes and people joking about what happens when you marry outside a religion that can be dangerous - so I get that he responded.

Seems that he is in new territory here.  Generally, I don't see that he's changing.  I see the stories changing about him and he's responded.  Now why he's responding, it interesting because some say he's running for office (which I don't see - but you never know).  Or if this is true love then yes, you are going to fight for your family.

And still, like Lizzy, I'm here in NJ and the weather is crummy... so maybe that has me in a "cloud"   But something is odd about the engagement.  

I can't put my finger on it, but it could be as simple as what so many people go through and I'm complicating this.  

He afterall is human.  His image is superhuman and not even George Clooney can live up to George Clooney's image.  

So he could be going through a stage that happens to many in their 50's.  Although it's usually the other way around.  Someone has children early and starts to buy sports cars and date younger women    

Again, I repeat what I said yesterday... I want to be a fly on the wall!

Lelacorb - Actually, I'm not questioning why he got engaged to Amal. I think he found the woman he wants to marry.

What bothers me is this: Has the George Clooney I've been following for so long - thinking he's a guy who got lucky doing the thing he loves - really been working his ass off to become a member of international power-society - that group of uber-rich businessmen and world policy makers who really run the world . It makes his choice of Amal more understandable, since she is a product of that world and can open doors for him that might otherwise be closed to him.

I may be rambling here. Not sure I'm making sense (even to myself). Or, like I said before, maybe it's just the weather.

@Lelacorb - I'm not questioning his basic character. I still think he's a good guy - especially in his personal life. I guess I'm just beginning to believe he's more calculating than I thought he was, and I find that uncomfortable.

What happened to Tom Cruise? He is still a superstar!
Actually he is and will be way more popular than George here in Asia. I have been a little jealous of Tom. He's got so many fans but most people don't recognize George here as he's got fewer international blockbusters. Well Gravity was his first film getting released here in years.

More calculating...I don't know Lizzy, but if I'm looking for someone to marry, I'll have some certain standards in mind. His family, educational background,character,career,financial levels...those things should be appropriate to each other at least. Then we'll get along to see if there's love between us.That would make life much easier.
George has a long dating history over the years, maybe he's tried, but in the end the real-time George Clooney just makes choices like most ordinary guys. He picked someone "reasonable" rather than some "fantasy" woman to marry. Same for Amal, that she must have never fantasized about marrying George.
So you can call this calculating as well as realistic.

lelacorb wrote:

LizzyNY wrote:I have always thought that at his core George was still the kid from Kentucky who caught the brass ring and knew it. He has said so many times and I believed him. Now I'm not so sure.  He is starting to seem more and more like the jet-setting superstar his detractors call him.

Maybe it's just that he's getting older and his priorities have changed. Maybe it's just recent circmstances in his life that make it seem like he's changed. I don't know. I just wonder if it's the engagement that bothers me, or the thought that he may not be the man I thought he was.(Or maybe the miserable weather is just getting me depressed.   )

I also think like you, this rapid change that belies what he has always said I am perplexed especially at his age. ' When a person has lived so long according to certain principles which also confirmed last interview makes me think he's hiding something that is the cause of this change is not to have found true love. The greatest love you can meet at any age but just to a certain age and 'difficult to change opinion on marriage so quickly!

IMO, and this is just my opinion.. I've always believed and do to this day, that the public George that is photographed, be it posed or "casual and unaware(?) of the paps,  is completely different from the private George.  Maybe in the beginning of his career he really was the fun loving prankster, etc, who never made demands on a set, drove himself to interviews and all that.

 Over time, as his power increased.. his power not his talent, he morphed into the STAR.  Not sure how that happened.  The power part of it, that is.  But none the less, the man has clout, no doubt about it.  And with that comes demands.  On the set, he requires his own security. The  Dependents set, he needed his own security ( it's in the credits).  Did any other cast member have that?  No. He's gotten used to not hearing the word "no", as everyone in Hollywood feels they are entitled to.  Sorry for the rant, but I really don't believe his is this over the top person everyone else says he is.  Needy?  you bet.  Watch the special features on the DVD of his more recent films ( Dependents, Men Who Stare at Goats, IOM), everyone has to sing the praises of George, even when the topic was the director of the Dependents.

One more thing to get off my chest... respect for his parents---lacking  lacking lacking.  Esp his mom.  Hate to bring up Stacey at this point in the game, but does everyone recall the photo of his parents, him and Stacy, and she is wearing a pink gown with a neckline cut down to her navel- boobs on display.  Thank goodness the double sided tape held.  Now, if he has so much respect for his parents, when he saw her in that dress before they left the house, don't you think he should have told her that was  completely inappropriate to be wearing to dine with his parents.  Been holding that bitch comment inside for a long time.  Long dissertation , long bitch session.  Sorry.  Am I still a fan, yes.  Do I think he's his public image- not a chance.

Dependents?

Mr. Clooney, like anyone else knows that in a blink of an eye something can change your life



no
I think he thinks
he can manage that too

IMO I think he has become arrogant, no one and I mean NO ONE will ever say anything against him, and that includes the choices he makes.  I think this is sad.

absolutely

LizzyNY wrote:I have always thought that at his core George was still the kid from Kentucky who caught the brass ring and knew it. He has said so many times and I believed him. Now I'm not so sure.  He is starting to seem more and more like the jet-setting superstar his detractors call him.

Maybe it's just that he's getting older and his priorities have changed. Maybe it's just recent circmstances in his life that make it seem like he's changed. I don't know. I just wonder if it's the engagement that bothers me, or the thought that he may not be the man I thought he was.(Or maybe the miserable weather is just getting me depressed.   )

LizzyNY wrote:...........

@Lelacorb - I'm not questioning his basic character. I still think he's a good guy - especially in his personal life. I guess I'm just beginning to believe he's more calculating than I thought he was, and I find that uncomfortable.

I think it is not him who changed much. Yes maybe a bit due to the age and his career. But I think (if I understand you correctly) the whole jet set thing is more in the press as the media changed...10 years ago the media was different and we had no smart phones. So now we get more details then in the past and the media makes it look like he hast this jet set life. But I'm sure he is still half the kid from Kentucky  

Cece42 wrote:IMO I think he has become arrogant, no one and I mean NO ONE will ever say anything against him, and that includes the choices he makes.  I think this is sad.

mmmhh I would not call it arrogant maybe more self confident over time. With more experience in life you feel stronger and more secure and that what he shows through his body language and the way he talks.

And there were many people in the past who said something against him. Remember the Vegas fight with "Wynn"...

Yes but Wynn is an a##hole

I tend to think he does not take criticism very well--especially in person as it may not happen if term.  He is used to everyone kissing his butt.  Even if they don't like his movies or his politics they are mostly excited to meet a star of his stature.  So he seems to get unnecessarily defensive when someone does not like his activities (like nespresso) or his movies and take a F you attitude.

only when he doesn't have a pronto rep

fava wrote:I tend to think he does not take criticism very well--especially in person as it may not happen if term.  He is used to everyone kissing his butt.  Even if they don't like his movies or his politics they are mostly excited to meet a star of his stature.  So he seems to get unnecessarily defensive when someone does not like his activities (like nespresso) or his movies and take a F you attitude.

Yes that's true. Agree about that. He gets very quick defensive.....(I'm the same as a Capricorn hehe). You want everything perfect and want to make everything right and if people don't see it the same way like you, you get defensive and hope you can convince the other person    Difficult for some people to accept critics....

I used to think that his puclic self and his private self was very much the same. But lately I have started to think that he is not the man I used to think he was.

Pigpen said he had morphed into the STAR. Maybee I didn't want to see that because I liked the boy from Kentucky?

I'm a Capricorn too Nicky.  But George is a Taurus. Not a good match for a Capricorn.  

I take that back. Capricorn is an Earth sign which works best with other Earth signs( other Capricorns, Taurus and Virgos).

              

I fell so sorry for his parents..Im sure they never expected George to turn out to be an evil power monger who uses his own parents like puppets to futher his own agenda..

WTF??? Where did that come from? Sheesh!!!

 

It came from the Twilight zone Lizzy

I agree with a lot that Lizzy posted so wont repeat it, I think George has always had a good heart though and a lot of his choices in life professional or otherwise come from that.  Hes not infallible, he has weaknesses just like us all, his temper seems to be one, in that he gets quite defensive and I agree that he doesn't like criticism, some people can handle that, others not so well. 

I think that George is a planner though and plans well into the future, he's goofy too at times, but essentially I think he is quite calculated when he needs to be.  He is at that age where a lot of people contemplate their past and present situation and start working out what they really want to achieve from life that they have otherwise not given any attention too, maybe that's what we are seeing.

I agree with a lot of what has already been posted, but I do think that he's always been working this balancing act between the good guy with his heart in the right place, and the calculating businessman who plays the Hollywood game better than almost anyone.  Do I think he really and truly wants to use his celebrity to help the people of Sudan? Sure.  Do I also think he could have made his first trip there at some time other than when he was campaigning for his first Oscar? Yep. That same back and forth goes for a lot of things he's done over his career.  

I do often feel bad for people who work on films he's associated with, because as someone else mentioned, discussion in interviews and press junkets and on the DVD extras always turns to George, no matter how little he was involved in the actual day-to-day operations.  Rather than his own neediness though, I think that comes from the journalists; he's the biggest star involved in most projects, and he's so buddy-buddy with entertainment reporters that I really don't think they can help themselves.

The inability to take criticism really annoys me, though.  I think that's where we see the guy who hasn't been told "no" in 25 years.  And I feel like that's where a lot of his "pranks" come in, like with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.  To me, it's not a guy having a good time playing a joke on a friend, it's "How dare you make me the butt of a joke!" revenge.  Like, dude, they told jokes about Matt Damon and Leonardo too, and you don't see them getting huffy.  Take it like a man.

Nicky made a good point about the change really being in the media and the way we consume it. Updates and information are constant and about every part of his life.  I wonder sometimes if that's why he clings so much to the People spreads as his go to for PR; it's like a return to a simpler time when he had almost complete control over what got out there.

Theminis -l have given up (at least for today) trying to figure George out. I'm too confused about what I'm thinking and why. I've been trolling around in a Twilight Zone of my own today (though definitely NOT the one where phys major lives!).

I'm still a fan and probably always will be, but for now I'm going to sit back and just see what happens. Probably won't keep my mouth shut, though, about other topics.  

BTW - When he was on Inside the Actor's Studio he said he hates criticism. At the time I thought he meant professionally, but I guess he doesn't like it in his personal life either. Who does?

Just struck me - How can he be as needy, narcisstic, controlling, insecure, arrogant, etc. as some people say and still have the kind of friendships he has? Someone here said that everyone says nice things about him because he has power in Hollywood. But how much power does he really have? He still has to hunt for financing for his projects and he's not a studio head or anything like that. The people who say nice things about him don't depend on him for work or anything else, so they must truly like him. So now I've come full circle and I'm back where I started from!

I said I was going to stop thinking about this. I guess I lied. Now I really will shut up! Sorry for posting what probably should be a therapy session. 

PS - Missa - I don't think nobody ever says "no" to him. That's what the Boys are for.

LizzyNY wrote:Theminis -l have given up (at least for today) trying to figure George out. I'm too confused about what I'm thinking and why. I've been trolling around in a Twilight Zone of my own today (though definitely NOT the one where phys major lives!).

I'm still a fan and probably always will be, but for now I'm going to sit back and just see what happens. Probably won't keep my mouth shut, though, about other topics.  

BTW - When he was on Inside the Actor's Studio he said he hates criticism. At the time I thought he meant professionally, but I guess he doesn't like it in his personal life either. Who does?

Just struck me - How can he be as needy, narcisstic, controlling, insecure, arrogant, etc. as some people say and still have the kind of friendships he has? Someone here said that everyone says nice things about him because he has power in Hollywood. But how much power does he really have? He still has to hunt for financing for his projects and he's not a studio head or anything like that. The people who say nice things about him don't depend on him for work or anything else, so they must truly like him. So now I've come full circle and I'm back where I started from!

I said I was going to stop thinking about this. I guess I lied. Now I really will shut up! Sorry for posting what probably should be a therapy session. 

PS - Missa - I don't think nobody ever says "no" to him. That's what the Boys are for.

I thought that too, as I was writing it.  I just think they may be the only ones allowed to, and really, how often do they?  A couple of them are on his payroll, after all. No way to know, really.

Interesting, isn't it, that it appears that the lady he wants to be with for the rest of his life, does say no to him?

Missa - I keep coming back to the same point - Unless he's got blackmail-quality dirt on half of Hollywood, there's no reason forso many people to keep saying nice things about him. Most of them will never work with him, many don't even want to, and the people who do work with him are successful in their own right - they don't need to suck up to him to work. So how much of a jerk could he really be?

I think George said himself about this:
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My reaction to criticism.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

As far as his lady saying no to him, was when she was playing hard to get, and lucky her, it worked.  It seems like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were right, he likes his young little chickies!!!!!

Cece42 - 36 is hardly a young chickie - just younger than he is.

LizzyNY wrote:Cece42 - 36 is hardly a young chickie - just younger than he is.

A lot younger, maybe he should try someone closer to his age, and I will gladly volunteer my services OH YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

get in line baby

Is George like we thought.....yes and no, imo.


I have only been a Clooney fan little over a year, and it has been a roller coster....Let me explain......

I fell madly in love with a gray haired man, I heard speak at a impromptu press conference a couple of years back......He was Nick Clooney.....

I stopped in my tracks and listened!...... he was talking about Sudan, the press were all over him, and his son.......  I thought they don't make them like that anymore, he was one F***** powerful dude, then the son, aka George started to talk, and well I stopped listening, I moved on....

It's well documented here that until a year ago George crossed my tracks several times, not literally, but I paid him no attention, vaguely remembering that he was the actor son of the "compelling cool older dude."

Then I had the "moment" watching a movie .... where suddenly the cool older dudes son, knocked me for six, in a way  I have not experienced often. George became my celebrity crush x 100.

So here is the thing, as he would say himself.....

The George we have grown to love imo is only half the story.....
George Clooney has stood on the shoulders of Giants, his Mum and Dad.....
I know I have read in a few Places, in times of crisis George turns to Nick, no better man imo..... and Nick and Nina make everything OK......

There is a saying....
"A son is a son, until he takes a wife, a daughter is a daughter for the rest of your life" 


Think about it.....

There has been a changing of the guards, George will soon have a wife, and a smart one, to seek solace and advice from.....

I always think of George as being like a Duck, I said D uck,  gliding gracefully over the water, but the feet going like the clappers........
Maybe Nick was the Duck feet, the engine room, the stabilisers ........So the change has started......the future will be different.... The George we thought we knew, is changing.....


I have written about it before, but I will state again as I see a lot of new people here.....
My eye witness account, I saw George in Venice (loved it so much, I'm going again this year, to scream and shout)....He was everything I expected and so much more, handsome, gracious, funny, sexy, and vulnerable...
I saw George again in London, at the MM premier, He was not the same man, he was irritable, almost ratty, he was getting NO joy out of it, unlike Venice where he beamed, I wrote that on the night here on COH..... Then I started to note the smiles were less and less and not real, they were "grins" during the press junket.......
When Amal, came along I put the blame at her feet, I wanted the wonderful miles of smiles back, and they simply were not coming......Now I have changed my opinion.....the smiles are not there but I can't blame a woman I have never met (that was just a bad timing issue)......

so what then?  Could it be pain, we know he gets severe back pain, 
or could it be he is just growing up.....growing pains...knowing that he has 
made a decision and that the banter in the engine room will never be the same....
different, but not the same.......jmo

I would love the old George back, but we all have to grow up......even me.

Wwhsay.....you we're you actually in the crowd in
London weren't you ? How did you pick up that he was grumpy etc ? I'm interested not criticising.

Big welcome back btw....missed you here !

I was watching the live stream of the London premiere
the whole time it was on, including the interview with the blonde presenter, can't remember her name now.
Watched him in the background doing his usual meeting & greeting of the fans. He seemed affable and on his usual form to me.
Of course the weather was unpleasant and chilly and it may have been affecting his back & neck problems, but I wasn't aware of it, watching only online of course.
I've got videos on my MacBook so I may indulge myself watching again, with this fresh information. LOL

Hi Darling.... I was right up close, close enough to hand Gio one of my crack pot fundraising ideas, and he was behind George,  (Now he is one sexy dude, with a great smile, he flashed me a fab smile, I flashed one back   ) I saw George as he got out of the car and over to the barrier..... It was the kind of face that shouted don't bother me, .... I read him....and in that situation obeyed without question......It was powerful feeling I got from him.  Irritable, I think I said on the night. I was putting it mildly....

Let's put it this way... I was close enough, if I had wanted to I could have moved forward and slung my arms around him and given his a big smakerooney........As luck would have it and in hindsight just as well I didn't.... otherwise a certain Mother and Daughter combo would have bolted over the barrier on top of me..... Oh the shame !!!

On a serious note, yes it was very cold, and cold really exasperates pain, and his scarf was a all a kilter....and not doing the job of keeping him warm, which didn't help the over all look and feel I got from him.....

Well weren't  Venice and London separated by a long busy  fall of monuments men publicity and filming tomorrowland ? He might have been different because he was exhausted.

I was thinking about the Tina Fey /Amy Poehler joke.  I don't think he suddenly decided to latch onto the current woman because of it, but it may have influenced him to proceed differently when he fell in love and to shake up the common conception by doing the unexpected.  I do think the joke might indicate a turning point in people 's perception of him, particularly women. He was heading from playboy/ eligible bachelor to dirty old man territory. It seemed like suddenly people were laughing at him instead of with him.   He might not mind generating the laughter, but I think he likes to be in on the joke.

"As luck would have it and in hindsight just as well I didn't.... otherwise a certain Mother and Daughter combo would have bolted over the barrier on top of me.....

**Oh the shame !!!"

**...... Oh the Major Scoop !!

"Hold the Front Page" would have been heard
all across London !

You let us all down there young lady....just imagine what could have been revealed.
  

@Fava...... believe me in the FLESH....on each occasion that Dude is nothing like, or anywhere near "dirty old man material"....... Some men, you just know have got it....and will have it 'till they go six feet under.

@Jo.... I know, I can be a tad slow at times....

I just want to say....In the FLESH again....it makes me tingle  
George Clooney flesh George Clooney George Clooney George Clooney George Clooney George Clooney flesh 

The main question what Lizzy is asking in this thread is if George changed over the years. It is more about his image.....(Not referring to Amal)  

I have a friend who met him at the Berlinale in February, saying he was affable and smiling all the time, autographing for everyone waiting there...but it was during the daytime so it couldn't be that cold. He said that morning he waited randomly in line, suddenly it was George coming out from a back door of a resaurant! A total surprise.
In fact he wasnt even supposed to stop because it wasnt any official event, but he stayed and autographed and greeted the crowd there with great patience before he finally got in the car and left.

Yep I was there too. He was happy for sure...And very down to earth....Is this Kentucky behavior LOL  

Lizzy - I didn't mean to give the impression that I disagree he's overall a good guy.  I just think that he is a human being with flaws like anyone else. I wonder how much of the praise from colleagues comes because people just assume a star of his stature will be a complete jerk, and when he turns out to be a decent guy it knocks their socks off.  The celebrities who don't completely disappoint in person seem to be few and far between, so just by virtue of being his usual funny and charming self, everyone's probably like "He's amazing!"

Missa - I understand what you're saying, and in general I agree - but not where George is concerned. What I find amazing is that, with the schedule he keeps and the amount of work he does, the pressure on him from the media and all the public attention he gets he still manages to be basically a good guy.

He spends half his life on planes or in hotel rooms, isolated from the rest of the world and catered to by many of the people around him yet he seems still to value kindness, friendship and integrity more than most.

He is a member of the world's elite, but up til now it seemed to be more by circumstance than by design. I think his marriage to Amal signals a change in this, and I think that's what bothers me about their engagement.

A change for the better I believe....he has confessed to feeling lonely deep inside in the past.

If you have the right partner in your soul,
you never feel that.
IMO anyway.

Well, put it this way. I don't think His Nibs  would be likely to marry - yep, marry!! - a person who wasn't a good person and believe in all the things he believes in.

Jo - It isn't the personal aspect of the engagement that bothers me. If he loves her and she makes him happy, that's great. I'm just sensing that it's more than that - that marrying her is also his entree into circles he had only limited access to before - and that rather than being included because of circumstance, now the inclusion comes because he wants it - and she can help him get it.

Sorry, I know I'm rambling. Not really awake yet.