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Barnes& Nobles

George Clooney
Examining Life on the Big Screen

Best known as the hunky, headstrong pediatrician Doug Ross on ER, George Clooney abandoned the confines of full-time television two years ago to take his place on the roster of Hollywood's A-list leading men. Despite having the rugged frame of a macho action star, Clooney brings a sense of purpose and vulnerability to the screen. That odd combination allows him to play a wide range of roles, from Batman in Batman and Robin to a single dad in One Fine Day to a smooth-talking bank robber in Out of Sight. In David O. Russell's iconoclastic Gulf War film, Three Kings, Clooney played Major Archie Gates. Portraying a conflicted man caught between the pulls of worldly gain and moral duty, Clooney was able to communicate how difficult such an internal struggle might be, all the while staying in line with the movie's off-kilter take on a strange war. Clooney talked about the strains of movie acting, about his influences, and about the joys of watching Mark Wahlberg get tortured.

Barnes & Noble.com: You fought hard to get director David O. Russell to cast you. What was it about Three Kings that attracted you so strongly?

George Clooney: I thought it was a hysterically funny story that also had some meaning without being preachy. It's a black comedy like M*A*S*H and Catch-22. We're like the Three Stooges through the first half of the film. Then, we become reluctant heroes, like Atticus was in To Kill a Mockingbird. It's about people who start out to do something wrong, and eventually do the right thing. That's great storytelling.

B&N.com: What kind of sacrifices do you have to make in your personal life to be in the business you are?

GC: You give up a little bit of everything. I haven't seen my friends. I don't get to do the golf vacations and things that I got to do with the boys before. But there will be other times for that. I remember talking to Joel Schumacher before we started Batman and Robin,, and he said, "All right, we're talking about seven days a week, can you do it?" And I said, "Physically, can I do it? I think so." And there I was sitting in the Batsuit from hell, which is the most miserable thing, and there's fake snow all over me, and I'm covered in water and I'm sitting in this chair trying to wait for them to call me onto the set, and I said, "I don't think I can do it. I don't think I'll make it." But you do. You know that's the bottom line: You do. I worked seven days a week on From Dusk Till Dawn, and I worked six days a week on The Peacemaker. I've been working straight through for, you know, three years now. But I'll be fine.

B&N.com: In Three Kings, you and Mark Wahlberg survive, but Mark takes some serious beatings. Word is that you made sure to be on set to watch those scenes.

GC: How fun was that? We'd show up on the set just to watch Mark get electrocuted. I would be the one yelling, "Everybody come on, Mark's getting tortured."

B&N.com: Of those films you mentioned, some have been successes and some disappointments. What's the film you wish more people had seen?

GC: One Fine Day. That was a disappointment to us, because it opened over Christmas, and that's when everyone is looking for Oscar contenders, and this wasn't an Oscar contender; it was a sweet romantic comedy that should have come out for Valentine's Day. It was never designed to be a giant hit.

B&N.com: You sound very practical about your career. What's the process of picking scripts?

GC: Well, in the beginning you take the job because it's offered to you, period. When I started I was thrilled to get jobs, period. I danced when I got Return of the Killer Tomatoes, which you may not remember but I'll never forget. The best thing I've learned is it's conceivable to take a great script and make a bad movie, but it is inconceivable to take a bad script and make a good movie. So ultimately it comes down to scripts, first.

B&N.com: What are the films you look to when you're determining what kinds of movies you want to do?

GC: I grew up in a generation where Steve McQueen was a hero, but I also loved Bogey. I think Casablanca is still one of the top five films ever. My favorite film of all time is a movie called Fail Safe. Sydney Lumet directed it and I just think it's the best film ever made. One of the more recent films I really admired is Dead Poets Society. I walked out of it and thought, "I've got to do something with my life." It's a rare that a movie will do that.

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