Interview with George from The Perfect Storm

June 2000

George Clooney-'The Perfect Storm'

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GEORGE CLOONEY gets his sea legs in his gripping new thriller 'The Perfect Storm.' Get onboard with JULIE MORAN for this revealing interview!

Julie Moran: This movie is going to be a huge hit, especially with all the intense media buzz. Does that make you anxious at all?

George Clooney: It always makes you anxious because I've been involved in films with a lot of intense buzz that haven't been received well. But you don't really put that kind of pressure on yourself, since it's really out of your hands.

George: This was just a really good script with a great director. Plus, I got to work with MARK [WAHLBERG] again. So there's no pressure for me in that. If you can work with people like that, you just show up. There's no question about that.

Julie: How do you handle pressure?

George: I was always pretty good at it. Even when I can tell that people know I'm nervous, it doesn't really show. I was always the guy who in the ninth inning with two men out wanted at least to be in the batter's box. I'd like to be in there taking a swing instead of letting someone else take a swing. I always sort of liked pressure -- I seem to perform better under it. Like when we did the live show, it was fun because you see who's really ready for it and who enjoys it. Most of the time actors are pretty good under pressure.

Julie: I think Mark owes you pretty big for this role.

George: Yeah, he does. I want some cash from him! Actually, the truth is that I'll be sapping off of Mark Wahlberg for years. He doesn't owe me anything, but let's let him think that. When WOLFGANG [PETERSEN, the director] asked me to be Billy Tyne, he was talking to a couple of actors, and Mark wasn't one of them...

George: It was because 'Three Kings' hadn't come out yet, and they didn't know if it was going to do really well, so they didn't really think that pairing us up again for a Warner Bros. picture was a good idea. I just called Wolfgang up and said, "Look, this is the best guy for the part, by far. He's great. You oughtta get him." He said, "Oh, I love him so much. He very good. He very good actor. I love him. That Mark Wahlberg is very good." So he looked at some film from 'Three Kings,' called him up and said, "Please, be in this movie."

Julie: Is Billy Tyne a darker, edgier role for you?

George: It's probably not much darker than 'Three Kings.' That was pretty dark, too. The truth is, he's just a guy trying to survive. He's not a bad guy at all. The only thing that's dark is the situation he finds himself in. He's just trying to survive and trying to get his crew to make a living. He's not a bad guy.

Julie: Do you identify with him, the loner captain?

George: I liked him. When you see people with their backs against the wall, it's always interesting. Like, I hate being tickled. It makes me crazy. I have this incredible, violent reaction to it. I can't even help it. I remember on the set of "ER" one time ABE [BENRUBI], who's like 6'7", grabs me and holds on to me and tickles me. I was kicking the hell out of people! I just think it's interesting to watch people when their back is against the wall. It's more fun.

Julie: You must have been soaking wet for six months on this shoot.

George: It was miserable. I've done jobs that were more miserable, though. I've sold insurance door-to-door. I've cut tobacco for a living. At least being an actor in a movie is just 12 hours of being wet, and then you go home to your nice house... But having said that, it was 12 hours a day for six months, just getting pummeled with water. Mark and I would just look at each other and laugh. Wolfgang would go, "Okay, lez do eet again."

Julie: He said you were intense. You did a lot of your own stunts, putting yourself at risk, especially on the outrigger.

George: I wouldn't have put myself at risk, but there wasn't any other way to get a shot. BRAD [MARTIN], who doubles me, did a couple of the shots, but I had to do the rest because in most of the shots you could see that it was me. I would have happily bailed out.

Julie: Were you in danger at any point?

George: No one was ever really in danger. The truth is that it's playing with big toys that can hurt you if you keep playing with them. Eventually something goes wrong. The outrigger broke at one point, and Brad, who was standing in while they set up the shot, fell down in the water. He was stuck on the outrigger, and it smacked him in the head. He was knocked out, bleeding. That was really scary because we thought he was dead! That wasn't even doing a stunt -- it was just sort of sitting around. Things go wrong every once and a while, and we got banged up, but that's what happens when you spend six months getting knocked around.

Julie: There's a very emotional moment in the film where Billy looks up at a picture of his wife and kids. Is that ever going to be a part of your life?

George: (chuckles) Looking up at pictures?

Julie: No! A wife and kids. The real deal, George.

George: Who knows? I can't predict anything anymore in my life. I don't know. But it was a nice moment in the movie

Julie: Why are so many people obsessed with your love life?

George: I think when you're in the position that I'm in, and you're not married, that becomes sort of an obsession. It's not very interesting when you are, because they know what you're doing.

Julie: TOM CRUISE and NICOLE KIDMAN.

George: Unless you're Tom and Nicole. That's sort of a different world, but other than that, I don't think it's all that exciting for them. They want to see you do something dumb along the way. It's probably just interesting to see what you end up doing.

Julie: Is it true that both Nicole and MICHELLE [PFEIFFER] bet you $10,000 that you would have kids by forty?

George: I'm 39 now. I'm making money while I sit here.

Julie: I think you're collecting the bet.

George: I'm collecting cash right now. (laughs)

Julie: When people walk out of this film, what do you want them to take away with them?

George: Well, there's an enormous responsibility to a number of people. SEBASTIAN JUNGER, who wrote the best-selling book, had an incredible amount of responsibility to this town, as do we. We a have a responsibility towards the families, as well as to Sebastian, who wrote a really wonderful book. We were stuck with a lot of delicate things...
George: This is a summer movie, but it's not a popcorn film. The action doesn't start in the first scene. It takes a while to develop the characters. It's old storytelling -- old filmmaking, which is what I think is so great about it. The reason why they did it -- and Wolfgang was very careful about it -- is because they wanted to make sure that we understood these people before we put them in jeopardy. Our job was to make sure that we didn't make their decisions look like stupidity or meanness, but as the best decisions you could make at the time. The truth is, the decision that Billy Tyne makes 999 times out of 1000 would be the right one. Even though they would get knocked around, they'd make it home. That's sort of the tragedy of all this -- what happened to them was very freaky.

Julie: Was meeting the families emotional for you?

George: It was especially emotional for them. Billy Tyne's sister came down here while we were shooting. It was very tough because this boat was a mock-up of the original, so it looked exactly like it. It had a blanket over the name so you couldn't see it, but the blanket blew off in the middle of the night. People from the town came down, and it was very eerie. Anyhow, when she came down, she would meet us up at the trailers and wouldn't come down to the boat. She didn't want to see it. Finally I said, "You have to come down and see it, just to get it out." It was very emotional for her. She had lost her other brother in Vietnam and her mother and father had died. She was really alone. That's when you really understand the responsibility. Normally, when you change a line in a script, you're just changing a script. With this, when you change a line, you're affecting the peoples' lives who live in this town.

Julie: I think they have a great love and affection towards you guys.

George: You know, they've been very nice to us since the very beginning. That's because of Wolfgang, too. He came in and just said, "We're not going to suck the life out of this town. We're not using this as just a commercial venture." It is a commercial venture -- it's a summer movie. But it's also trying to tell a story of people whose story otherwise wouldn't be told.

Julie: True or false. Do you cut your own hair?

George: Yeah, sometimes. (Laughs) It depends on the job. I did on 'From Dusk 'Til Dawn' and I did it when we were out at sea on this. Things were sticking out so I hacked it off.

Julie: You never wear make-up on the set?

George: I never have. Actually, when I did 'Batman' you had to color your eyes black to do it. I'm pretty dark complected, so that's an advantage. There will be a day when I'll have to, but I like not having to worry about that. I think guys look like guys.

Julie: Guys should look like guys, right?

George: Yeah, we're allowed to. Those are the fun rules about being a guy: we can get fat and bald, things get to fall off, and people say, "Ah, it's all right. He's a guy!"

Julie: Billy was a loner, and your friends have said that they worry about you ending up alone. Do you worry about it?

George: No, I have the greatest friends in the world. That's not alone. It's the end of 'It's a Wonderful Life.'

it's me wrote:right
deep emotional film
BAD BAD END also


(George hates being tickled
interesting news.... )

Maggy wrote:Come here Georgie