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Tonya Mosley
This is FRESH air. I'm Tanya Moseley and today my guest is George Clooney, Academy Award winner, director, producer and one of Hollywood's most recognizable leading men. His latest film, Jay Kelly, directed by Noah Baumbach, follows a world famous actor who discovers that being a movie star is a lot easier than being an actual human being. The character J. Kelly has the fame part down, the father, partner, friend part, not so much. When a mentor dies, Jay's perfectly curated image unravels. He decides to follow his daughter across Europe, a trip that forces him to face his regrets and some of his blind spots, including the frosty relationship with his children. Clooney stars alongside Adam Sandler, who plays his manager Laura Dern as his publicist and Billy Crudup as his old friend who never made it as an actor. George Clooney's body of work spans decades, from his breakout role as Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama ER, earning nominations for three Golden Globes and two Emmys to two Academy Awards best supporting actor for Syriana in 2005 and Best Picture as co producer for Argo in 2012. Earlier this year, Clooney made his Broadway debut as he reprised the story of Good Night and Good Luck on stage, which was a theatrical adaptation of the film. George Clooney, welcome back to the show.
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George Clooney
Thank you. Tonya. It's been a while. I'm glad to be back.
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Tonya Mosley
I know. And it's our first time talking. You know, this, this new film where you play this world famous actor who is coming to grips with the fact that he has missed out on the things that actually matter. There is this pivotal scene that really plants that seed early in the film that I want to play. It's you, your character Jay in his palatial home by the pool with his 18 year old daughter Daisy, who was played by Grace Edwards, shortly before she goes on a trip to Europe with her friends. And Daisy speaks first. Let's listen.
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George Clooney
I am gonna go meet Moses in Rio. I love you. Wait, aren't we having dinner tonight? Mario's doing the tamales. Did we say that?
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All right, go on, be with your friends. There'll be other dinners. I wrapped this last one. I start the Lewis brothers movie right here on the lots. I'll be around for the summer. I'm going to Europe With Rio and Moses and some friends. I told you that. I thought that was in July. No, it was always June. I'm leaving on Saturday for Paris and.
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Tonya Mosley
We'Re making our way over to Tuscany.
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George Clooney
Saturday, I mean, that's Saturday. That's. It's too soon. I got two weeks off. We won't have had time to hang out. This is your last summer. That's why I want to see my friends. I will be so lonely here without you. No, it won't.
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Tonya Mosley
You're never alone.
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George Clooney
Really? I think I'm always alone.
- [03:21]
Tonya Mosley
That was my guest, George Clooney in the new movie J. Kelly with actor Grace Edwards. You know, this particular part of the film to a certain extent, I mean, almost every parent understands this moment. Your children are going off to live their own lives. They don't really want to hang out with you anymore. It's really bittersweet. But there's more to this dynamic because Jay has missed out on building that bond with his daughter and it's because of his career. This movie is really asking us, when do you realize you've made the wrong trade offs? And I'm really curious about what piqued your interest in exploring that question.
- [03:59]
George Clooney
You know, it's a funny thing, cause I never really think, I never thought of it. When I read the script as a story about an actor or a movie star, then it always read to me as something that sort of most people deal with in life, certainly if you have kids, which is that balance between, between work and your family. And you know, I look back at things when I was growing up and there was always my father missed some ball games that I did and some big events in high school in my life. My parents both did. And you know, you could be bitter about it or you could, as you get older, look back and realize, well, he was working. Who's putting food on the table? And so there's always this balance that we're always trying to get right. Clearly you actually have to work and clearly you need to make a living and there are opportunities that you have to follow. And always you look back and think, well, I think I maybe missed something there. And so we're all doing it, we're all balancing it. We're never getting it perfect. And this guy clearly didn't get any of it right since he only and didn't focus at all on his family, you know.
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Tonya Mosley
Yeah. There is this line that is kind of heartbreaking, at least for me as a working mom. It's where Billy Crudup's character says to you, we are only good parents when we make ourselves irrelevant. And there are so many lines like that. But how do you think about that as a parent, as someone who's had such a successful career?
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George Clooney
Well, it's a funny thing. The last thing they're aware of is my success, you know, at all. I even my son went to Halloween this year dressed as Batman, which is a character I played famously the worst Batman in the history of the franchise. And I literally said to him, you know, I was Batman. And he was like, yeah, not really. And he had no idea how right he really was. You know, I think that you, if you're successful, you do make yourself irrelevant. And that's probably the way it's supposed to be, right? You know?
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Tonya Mosley
Yeah. Around how old were you when you, as a working actor understood that you were quote, unquote, famous? And I ask that because this film really also grapples with some of the perils of fame.
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George Clooney
Well, I was working. I moved to LA in 1981, I guess, and I really didn't even get a job for the first three years. So that's a few. It's a hundred auditions that you don't get a lot of no's. And then I started getting small parts, guest shots on a TV show or a really low budget film in Budapest that no one ever saw. And, you know, things like that where it was always bouncing around. And for about 10 years I kind of did that and some success. You know, sometimes you get too much credit when they say you were struggling for 15 years. Because the truth is, if you're working at all in my industry, you're beating the odds. There's, I don't know, 100 and some thousand members of my union and probably, I think about 5% make about $5,000 a year or more. It's not a very lucrative, you know, it's a lot of luck takes place. And I'd done a few shows that I did a show called Roseanne when it first came out, was a huge hit, but I was like the 10th banana on that show. And then I did the pilot and then ultimately the show When I was 33 years old for ER and I'd been banging around long enough, I'd done seven other television series and 13 television pilots and I knocked around and then this show hit. And that had nothing to do with my brilliance as an actor. It had to do with the fact that we had a great time slot, which was Thursday night at 10 o' clock on NBC, which for 16 years only had two shows, LA Law and Hill Street Blues. And so for us to get that time slot was a big deal. And then the show was a transformative show. And suddenly I had a career overnight. And then literally within a month, we were on the COVID of magazines and people suddenly knew your name, which is a very different thing than recognizing you. You know, you can recognize me from the Facts of Life. I'm that guy. But once they know your name, that was a difference. It's sort of like a bug light. You know, you run as fast as you can towards fame because it means options and work and no longer having to audition and all those things that are really exciting. And what you don't realize along the way is that there are also drawbacks to it and those things you have to, you know, come to terms with along the way.
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Tonya Mosley
Yeah, those drawbacks. You've talked quite a bit about how you learned that, a lot of them, early on by watching your aunt, who was a famous actress and singer. And you have mentioned that she experienced fame pretty early. So you were about 33, she was a teenager, 19. And you talk about how you knew that she had had a hard time with it. What did you know or learn about that growing up? How did you come to understand that she had had a hard time?
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George Clooney
Well, I knew my aunt mostly by rumor. You know, I lived in Kentucky in a little small town. She lived in la, in Beverly Hills. And she'd come to the. She'd come to Kentucky three or four times in my growing up. So I knew her like, here comes the star, Aunt Rosemary. But I didn't really know her. And so how I found out about sort of her life and the struggles that she had was, first of all through, you know, family telling us. But then also she wrote a book and talked about it, which was about her struggles because, you know, she was really famous by the time she was 16 years old. They were the Clooney sisters, and they sang on television and. And then moved on to have her own solo career. And, you know, pop music at that point, I think eight of the top 10 singers were women in the very early, late 40s, early 50s. And then rock and roll came in, Elvis came in, and the top 20 were all men. And she was out of the business. Didn't you know, she didn't suddenly lose her skill. She didn't stop being a good singer. She just. The world stopped wanting what she did for a living. And so by the time she was 23 or 24 years old, you know, she was going in the wrong direction, and she didn't handle it well. You know, drugs were a big deal. It started out as sort of Dr. Feelgood giving you some sleeping pills and waking up pills.
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And then she became addicted to that, and booze was a big deal. And she never lost her talent, but she lost a career. And for, I don't know, 25 or so years, really through the years when I was growing up, no one had heard of Rosemary Clooney. When I was a kid in high school, she was long out of the business, and then she had this resurgence because talent eventually caught back up. And she had this beautiful jazz career and had this incredible career as a singer late in life. But it was a really good lesson for me in understanding how little success has to do with you on both sides of the spectrum. You're not as brilliant as they say you are when things are going well, and they do say that. And you're not as horrible as they say you are when things aren't going well, and they do say that. So it's a very helpful thing to understand that so much of this. Listen, if we hadn't had a Thursday night time slot, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation right now. That's sort of more than likely what would happen.
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Tonya Mosley
One of the other things that was really fascinating to me about this movie in particular and touching on fame and really giving us a lens, is that the people, like every celebrity, every star, kind of has people. And sometimes the people there are a lot of people that are behind. Sometimes they just have an entourage. That's kind of a small one. But something that your character J. Kelly, has done in his life is kind of design a world where everyone around him says yes to just about everything. And you have said that you have designed your life to be the opposite.
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George Clooney
The reality is I have an assistant and I have a publicist, and I have an agent. I don't have a manager. I don't have a business manager. I don't, you know. But what I would say is, in fairness, some of those trappings are really. They're products of getting famous young. Because when you're young, everybody says, well, you have to have a lawyer that takes 5%, and then you have to have a manager that takes 15 or 20%. And then you have to have an agent that takes 10%. And, you know, you have to have a publicist, and they go through all these lists of things that you need to do and you do it. I go, oh, okay, yeah, of course, that's what I gotta do. If you're 33 and you're famous, you know, the arguments are, well, now I need a publicist because I have something to publicize. So, okay, I don't need a manager because I have an agent. I don't need a business manager because I'm pretty good at understanding my own business. And.
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So you're in a different position when you're older, and so you don't have to surround yourself with this coterie of people that hold everything up for you. And I actually pride myself on being able to be scrappy and fix things along the way and take care of most things on my own. The people around you, though, I say that as my assistant just brought me a cup of coffee while we're talking. So just so you know.
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Tonya Mosley
Right. Like a scene right out of J. Kelly. Yeah, absolutely. But I wonder, you know, you've been so intentional about having people around you that can also tell you the truth. And have there been moments in your life where someone close to you has had to point out something about yourself that you couldn't see?
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George Clooney
Oh, sure. Tons of times. I remember I was working on a movie, and the movie wrapped early, and I stayed around with the crew and drank. And I came home, I was drunk driving home, which is never a good thing to do. I wasn't drunk drunk, but I'd had too much to do drink. And my buddy came over. Two of my friends came over and sat down and said, that can't ever happen again, dude. You can't ever get in a car when you've had too much to drink. And, you know, and of course, they were right. And that was probably 30 years ago. And. But it was very helpful to, you know, have people that. Instead of, like, laughing about the fact that I'd had four beers instead of two and came home and got home without getting, you know, without getting in trouble for it. Instead of thinking that was funny, they were like, dude, that's not cool, and you shouldn't do that again. And I. And I appreciated that and I took that to heart, you know, But I have friends that, you know, my friends are always been very straightforward with me. I'll do a project that, you know, that I'll think works, and they'll say, yeah, I don't know about that one. You know, so it's. I don't mind that it's important to have that in your life.
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Tonya Mosley
Yeah. How did you come to understand that that was what you needed, that that was actually important for you? And I Guess it also says a lot about the company that you keep.
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George Clooney
Well, I will say this. I didn't do it because there was some great plan. I did it because, you know, I had no interest in being married and having kids, and I had an interest in working. I was very excited with having a career. I couldn't believe I was having one.
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And I had all of these friends who had been my friends. When, you know, when you're a young actor and probably young anything, you know, that's when you tend to make all your friends either out of college or just after, and you make a lot of good friends. And then as time goes on and you get a job and you get married, you tend to lose a lot of them because life gets in the way. Well, I didn't lose them. I worked very hard at making sure we had them because probably selfishly, since I wasn't getting married and wasn't having kids, I was wanting to have this family, this sort of created family. And I worked very hard at making sure that we all, you know, had dinners together and spent time together and checked in with one another, and we've all managed to stay close and be friends.
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Tonya Mosley
There's this story that came out a few years ago that you. You gave your friends, people in your inner circle, money, like a million dollars, and you made kind of a performance out of it. Did that really happen?
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George Clooney
It's funny. It was a few months before I went out on a date with Amal, and I didn't, you know, like I said, I didn't have kids. I wasn't married or had really no prospects of that idea. I wasn't really thinking about it. And I'd met with my accountant to do my will, you know, and while I was doing my will, I said, so what happens when I, you know, get hit by a bus? And it's like, well, you, you know, you have to list who you're going to leave it to. And I have these. It's 12 guys, 12 friends who've been my friends since 19, all but two of them since 1982 and two of them since, like, 1989. And we've all been very close, and I was just. Just going to leave the money to them. And then I was sitting there with him and, you know, again, I don't have any money to leave to anyone else. And I said, well, why are we waiting until I'm like, you know, old or they're old, and why don't we just get on with it now? And So I got $12 million in cash, which was, you know, a big chunk of the money I had. I had it in cash. I paid all the taxes, so nobody had to pay any taxes. And I put them in these Toomey suitcases and I told everybody that they had to come. Had to come over to dinner. It was a very special night. And then I had a big map that I put up and there's Toomey bags were sitting in front of them at this dinner table. And I just said, so I don't get a job if I don't get to sleep on Tom's couch in Hollywood. And I don't get this unless I was in Westwood and, you know, Giovanni, we met in Venice, and I put pens in all these maps, you know, all these spots in the maps of where we were and what we did. And I said, and how do you thank the people that gave you a career and allowed you to have a career and have stood by you for so long? And I said, you know, so. And then I said, open the bags. And I said, and I said, screw it. I said, just give him a million bucks. So it was a fun thing to do, and I was very happy to do it. And then, of course, I met them all, we got married. And you're thinking, wow, I just gave.
- [18:41]
Tonya Mosley
Away a big chunk of money, right, to start our lives. What a dream, though, George.
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George Clooney
Well, I mean, if you're gonna spend that much money, you might as well make out a nice production.
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Tonya Mosley
You know, Noah Baumbach said that he thought about you immediately when he was co writing this.
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But one of the things that kind of seems clear is while he thought about you, you're kind of the opposite of this character, J. Kelly.
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George Clooney
Well, yeah, I mean, when he said he thought about me and I read it and I said, well, this guy's kind of a jerk. And I was like, wait, hang on a minute. No, I. You know, I'm sure he thought about who could play it as much as he thought about who the character is, you know, and you look at it and I understand his thoughts. When you're gonna write and direct this story, he wrote it with Emily Mortimer, is that the lead character should be someone that the audience has some familiarity with or thinks they know. I think that's an advantage. And also, it's an age thing, right? You gotta be in your 60s. And so I think there are only a few of us that sort of fit into that category. And I'm sure he probably thought about some of the others and they, you know. But he, I was certainly felt lucky that he came to me. I can't tell you what a, what an honor it was to be sent the script and to read it and think, well, this is a part that I would love to play. You know, it's, it's very rare. I know it doesn't, it sounds unusual because I think everybody thinks when you're at a certain position in your career that it's just everything kind of always falls into place. It's really hard to find good scripts, you know, and scripts are everything. You know, really good directors can't make a good film out of a bad script. You can make a bad film out of a good script, but you can't do it the other way around. So when you get a good script, it's rare, you know.
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Tonya Mosley
My guest today is George Clooney. We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Tanya Mosley and this is FRESH air.
- [20:52]
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Tonya Mosley
AT&T.
- [21:44]
J Kelly comes on the heels of your record breaking Broadway run just this past spring. And good night and good luck. It's a production about Edward R. Murrow's Showdown with Senator McCarthy that was eventually broadcast live on CNN. You made this film in 2005. It was a cautionary tale about McCarthyism and attacks on the press. But when you brought it to Broadway all these years later.
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You know, I remember watching it in 2005 and looking at it as a cautionary tale. But now doesn't feel like history. It feels urgent, like we were watching it happen in real time. And I'm wondering, what was the moment when you realized this story about Murrow needed to be told on stage at this moment?
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George Clooney
Well, you know, there was an idea I had about the Fourth Estate because we were in the middle of the we were in the middle of the war in Iraq. And I'd been called a traitor to my country because I was against the war in Iraq. But I wrote it because I felt like when the other three estates of government, when the executive branch and the legislative branch and the judicial branch dropped the ball, which had happened in the lead up to the war, the fourth estate has to. Has to pick it up, and has over the years did in Vietnam, certainly helped in the civil rights movement during the McCarthy era with Edward R. Murrow. And so I felt like it was a good time to reinvest and talk again about the importance of news. And then, as we were leading up to this new election.
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About May of. Not this last May, but the May before it, we'd gotten the conversation. Grant and I decided to try to adapt it into a play. It's harder than you think because, you know, you can't just cut from one scene to another. You actually have to walk on stage from one place to another. It's a very different kind of tale. But I thought that the themes were still really urgent, and I thought it was important to remind ourselves of. Of how important telling the truth and holding truth to power was. And so we started working on doing the play with the intent that we would try to have it out by the first of the year, having no idea what the election would be, because either way, it seems like. It seems like truth has become something that's negotiable suddenly. That's the one thing that wasn't part of the. The narrative as much in 2005. What's become the narrative now is don't believe what you see. You can tell a lie and say it's fact now. And also you can see factual things and say, well, those are fake and those are dangers. You see that happening in Darfur right now. Even though the people who are committing the crimes are actually posting video of the crimes, the government. Well, no, that's not what's happening. We've seen it obviously in Ukraine, we saw it in Russia. We now see it in the United States constantly. And I feel like it was an important time to talk about the necessity to dig down and constantly bear down on holding people with power responsible, no matter who's in power.
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Tonya Mosley
By the way, in the film version, you played Fred Friendly, so he was Murrow's producer. And on Broadway, you actually got to play Murrow himself.
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Did you come to understand anything new or more about Murrow being in the role and playing him night after night?
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George Clooney
Not always. You know, I wrote it, so I had to understand as much as I could about. About those same spheres of influence that we're talking about. You know, there are very few times that someone had the power to actually affect policy. Someone in news, for instance, when Walter Cronkite stepped out from behind the desk and said, this war in Vietnam is unwinnable, it's a tie at best. That's when President Johnson said, if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the country and decided not to run for reelection. When Murrow took on McCarthy, that was a moment when he was the most trusted man in America. And he said, the emperor has no clothes. That actually changed public opinion. And, you know, playing Murrow, the thing that was exciting to me was in the play, which it was very different, the play, it was much more urgent and much more about what we're dealing with today. And at the very end of the play, as Murrow, I got to stand in front of an audience of 1600 people every night and look them all, each one in the eye at the end and say, what are you prepared to do?
- [26:43]
And we would have violent reactions from the audience. People would be crying and people would be yelling, resist. And people would be standing up and cheering and screaming. And it really felt like everybody in that room needed a place to wash their hands and face and remind themselves, not by my words, but by Murrow's words, of who we are at our best.
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Who we aspire to be, who we often fall short of, but who we also have accomplished.
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We have been the people that defeated fascism and Nazism. You know, we did do that, and it wouldn't have happened without us. At the exact same time, we were putting Asian Americans, Japanese Americans, into camps. We're a very complicated country which has huge goals and aspires to many of them and falls way short of many of them along the way.
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Tonya Mosley
Those pronouncements that Murrow would make, I mean, they're very poetic, prophetic. For instance, there's the one I simply cannot accept that there are on every story two equal and logical sides to an argument. That's one that I often think about. Are there lines that you can recite from memory that are meaningful to you, that you often think about? Yeah.
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George Clooney
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason. If we dig deep in our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who fear to write, to speak, to associate or to defend the causes that are, for the moment, unpopular. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are the defenders of freedom wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. I think that's an important phrase.
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Tonya Mosley
When did you first learn that? Was it for the writing of this, or had that been something that you had known for a while?
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George Clooney
My father used to stand on a chair when he was, I don't know how old. When I was 7, he would stand on a chair and he would recite that speech.
- [29:09]
From Murrow. My dad was a big Murrow. He was a big fan of Murrows, and he would, he would do that and he would do Shakespeare when he'd stand on a chair for us when we were little kids to entertain us.
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Tonya Mosley
That had to be then, I mean, such a full circle moment. What, what has your father said about your adaptations?
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George Clooney
Well, it's funny, he wasn't well enough to come to the the play, which was heartbreaking, quite honestly, because really.
- [29:39]
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It.
- [29:39]
George Clooney
Was written for him. You know, it was written for his standard and what he taught me and what he asked of me as a child and as an adult. But we got to do we did it live so he could see it. And it was an interesting thing because he was there with a bunch of family members and watching it live. And at the end, he stood up and he saluted the television.
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Which was a pretty beautiful thing for me.
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And for us and for our relationship. He set the standard for pretty high for me.
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Tonya Mosley
Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, we're talking with George Clooney about his new film J. Kelly. We'll be right back after a break. This is FRESH air.
- [30:26]
Britney Loose
Hey, hey, it's Britney Loose from It's been a minute. Your voicemail box is full. Okay, I'll admit it. So is mine. So I'm leaving this for you here. I wanted to say thank you for supporting NPR this year. And if you haven't given yet, it's not too late. Give me a call back when you can visit donate.NPR.org this message is sponsored.
- [30:47]
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- [31:19]
Tonya Mosley
It's been a great year for tv, movies and music, and we are highlighting the best of the best, including K Pop, Demon Hunters, Sinners and Severance.
- [31:28]
Britney Loose
We're talking about our favorite moments of.
- [31:30]
Tonya Mosley
The year, including some of the best pop culture you might have missed. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour in.
- [31:36]
Britney Loose
The NPR app or wherever you can get your podcasts.
- [31:40]
Tonya Mosley
You know, you talked about this a little bit earlier, but I was thinking about how being a local TV personality, which your dad was, it really does come with its own level of fame. Not exactly what you encounter as a movie star, but there is a quality to it that everyone in the town knows who you are. You're kind of held to a certain standard, but both in your home and outside the home. What was that like being a legendary news anchor son?
- [32:11]
George Clooney
Well, it was a funny thing. You know, my dad was very well known in Cincinnati, Ohio. I mean, that's. And before he was an anchorman, he'd done a variety show called the Nick Clooney Show. And my sister and I would do commercials. You know, obviously we never got paid, but we would do like commercials for Hussman's potato chips and stuff like that. Live, you know, it was all live. And if it was St. Patrick's Day, he'd dress me up like a leprechaun and he'd interview me, you know, it must be a very big day for you. And I do my Lucky Charms accent. So my father was not my sister and I, but my father and mother both were well known personalities in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is a relatively small market, about the 17th largest city in this thing. But it was, but he was making $12,000 a year, you know, so we weren't like. It wasn't like we had money, we just sort of had. My dad was just recognized everywhere we went. And so it was very much about like, my mom made all of our clothes for us, but we had to dress up and wear nice clothes. So she made leisure suits for me, you know, that wouldn't have to wear like 10 years. So it was a very. Some of it was about putting on a really good show for an audience that really loved, particularly my father, who they knew very well. And when he was doing the news, he was trusted because he was honest and because he did hold truth to power. He went after the nuclear power plant that was in town that was. That was a big industry. And going after that was a big problem at the channel 12, which was ABC network at the time. And, you know, it was just that he was trusted and well liked. You know, everywhere we went, it was like, hey, Nick. And so, you know, you couldn't get caught with your finger in your nose or anything. You know, you learned about. You learned about being watched. And it was. Listen, it was a great way to grow up because I learned how to fix things and live a normal life. And then if we went into Cincinnati, my dad was well known, and we, you know, we didn't get to go out to dinners very often because we couldn't afford it, but we got a big thing. It's funny, all my friends will tell you this. If we got to go out to dinner, which is like, once a month or so, we knew how we were doing financially. If my dad let us order a shrimp cocktail.
- [34:31]
As a starter.
- [34:32]
Britney Loose
Yeah.
- [34:33]
George Clooney
And so he's like. And I'd say to my dad, can we have a shrimp cocktail? And be like, yeah, not this. Not right now. And we go, okay. And we knew how things were going. And now every time I go out to dinner with my friends, and they'll tell you to a man, they would all say, you know, the first thing I order is a shrimp cocktail. And my friends go, having a good week. And I go, yeah, good week. I'm addicted to it. Simply because it, to me, somehow, in the back of my head, represents doing okay.
- [35:01]
Tonya Mosley
Yeah. Is it right that you considered following in your father's footsteps just for a hot minute? But that changed pretty quickly.
- [35:10]
George Clooney
Yeah, I lacked skill. I studied journalism in college. I was at Northern Kentucky University at the time studying journalism. And because I was Nick Clooney's son in Cincinnati, I got to cover a couple of. I got to do a couple of, like, reports, you know, one on the Cincinnati Bengals were playing in the Super Bowl. It was, like, 1980. And I was allowed at 19 years old to do something that other people would have worked for years to have gotten a skill to do. You know, I was. I jumped. I jumped ahead in the line because I was Nick's son, and I was really, really bad at it. I didn't understand how to follow up and ask questions. I didn't understand how to close. And I realized that I was never going to be as good as my father was, and I was going to be held and I was going to be compared to him, because rightfully so, I was. The only reason I got there was because of my father. And so I had to quit that job, you know, immediately, and try to find something else to do, which I didn't know what to do. I sold ladies shoes at McAlpin's department store, and I sold insurance door to door, which is not a fun job.
- [36:30]
NPR Sponsor Announcer
No.
- [36:32]
George Clooney
Although I will tell you, ladies shoes was a little dangerous, too. Cause it was like there was a lot of. There was a lot of lying about foot size at that point.
- [36:40]
Tonya Mosley
Your dad actually tried. I mean, once you decided you understood this is not for me. And, you know, your path then led you to acting. Your dad tried to talk you out of acting. He said 50,000 broadcasters were making a living and only 3000 actors. And what I love about that is that that just shows that he is a journalist through and through, because he got some facts to put behind his conviction. But.
- [37:07]
George Clooney
Well, he did.
- [37:08]
Tonya Mosley
Yeah.
- [37:08]
George Clooney
What made you, by the way? Well, by the way, he also made up facts like that. You know, I don't even know if any of that is true. I need to factor that. Yeah, I doubt there were 3,000 actors working, and I certainly doubt there were 50,000 broadcasters. But I did, you know, my argument to him, and it's a funny thing, as I'm saying, I'm 64 now. I said to him, I don't want to wake up at 65 years old and say, I think I could have. Which is a fascinating thing at 64.
- [37:35]
Tonya Mosley
Now to be reflecting on.
- [37:38]
George Clooney
Yeah, yeah, it's true, you know.
- [37:40]
Tonya Mosley
Well, I guess the thing that I find fascinating, or I just want to know, is that, I mean, what really made you think back then that you'd be one of those 3,000 who could make it? Especially you had already tried your hand in journalism and. And you felt like you weren't good at that.
- [37:57]
George Clooney
I got a job as an extra on a movie.
- [38:03]
Down at Keeneland Racetrack. My cousin Miguel had gotten a part in it, and I didn't really know him. I'd met him a couple of times, but I loved him because he lived in Hollywood and he was doing a horse racing movie. So I went down and they gave me a Partisan Extra. I think I made 25 bucks a day, which was, you know, I was thrilled. And then when it was over and he was going back to Hollywood, he said, you know, you ought to go to LA and be an actor. And I was like, okay. And a couple months later, I. You know, I took my 1976 Monte Carlo with rust all over it, and. And I. So I drove for like, 40 hours. Got to LA and then I moved in with my buddy, a guy that I met, a guy named Tom Matthews. And he let me sleep on the floor of his closet of his one bedroom apartment. And I stayed there for almost three years, two and a half years, sleeping in that closet. And that was my sort of that was my home getting into, you know, going to acting classes and doing local plays and, you know, just banging around for a while. So it was all, you know, it was an exciting I mean, I can't explain to you what an exception thing it is to chase something that you think you could succeed at even though there was no reason to actually think you could succeed. You know, again, it's so many moments. All my friends in acting class were getting jobs and I wasn't and I was very jealous of all of them. And there's some similarities to the character that Billy Cruda plays in the film, you know.
- [39:38]
Tonya Mosley
Right. Because Billy's character is this.
- [39:42]
Person who didn't make it. He went on to become he has like a normal job, I think he said he's a psychologist, but he's like the most talented. He was the most talented in those days. When they were younger in an acting class, did you have folks that you really admired that you were like, that person is the one?
- [40:01]
George Clooney
It's never not been that way. Right. It's a really funny thing. There were two or three actors in class who were by far the best actors. And, and if there was justice in the world, they would have been the biggest stars because they were the best actors. That's why this is such a random thing. You know, if you study medicine and you spend six years studying medicine, when you're finished studying medicine, you're gonna be a doctor. You can study for six years acting, be the best actor in acting class and never get a single job ever. In fact, that happens much more often than not.
- [40:43]
Tonya Mosley
Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, we're talking to Oscar winning actor George Clooney about his new film, J. Kelly. We'll continue our conversation after a short break. This is FRESH air. On the next through line from npr, the mother of Thanksgiving. If every state should join in Union Thanksgiving on the 24th of this month, would it not be a renewed pledge of love and loyalty to the Constitution of the United States? Listen to Throughline in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [41:20]
Britney Loose
This week on Up First, NPR's morning news.
- [41:22]
Tonya Mosley
Podcast as we learn more about the Trump administration's deadly strikes against alleged drug.
- [41:27]
Britney Loose
Boats, senators from both parties have questions?
- [41:30]
Tonya Mosley
Will they get answers? We'll keep you updated.
- [41:33]
Britney Loose
And we're following the latest efforts by the president to broker a peace deal.
- [41:36]
Tonya Mosley
Between Russia and Ukraine. Listen to up first for what you need to know to start your day.
- [41:43]
George Clooney
Making time for the news is important, but when you need a break, we've got you covered on All Songs Considered. NPR's music podcast. Think of it like a music discovery show, a well deserved escape with friends and, and yeah, some serious music insight. I'm gonna keep it real. I have no idea what this story is about. Hear new episodes of allsongs Considered every Tuesday. Wherever you get podcasts.
- [42:06]
Tonya Mosley
You know, you really laid out for us some of the moral like complexities of life that your dad taught you and kind of to be sort of this standup man who stands for something. And I was just curious, when do you make the choice to speak out about the social and political causes that you support?
- [42:26]
George Clooney
In general, when I've been able to be personally involved. When I've been able to know or have some personal insight. But in general, it's when I feel like.
- [42:42]
When I feel like no one else is going to do it. That's kind of the thing. If someone else has got a certain subject covered, then I don't really need to do it. I don't need to be involved in everything. You can't pick up every fight.
- [42:59]
You lose all of your clout. If you fight every fight, you have to pick the ones that you know well, that you're well informed on and that you have, you know that you have some say and you hope that that has at least some effect. If it doesn't, at least you've participated.
- [43:15]
Tonya Mosley
Knowing that you knew something that you could share with the world. Is that what made you decide to write that? The op ed for the New York Times calling on President Biden to step aside in the presidential race back in 2024 because you wrote, joe Biden is a hero. He saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024. And it was an extraordinary public statement asking someone who you actually called a friend to withdraw. And reflecting on your decision to write that op ed and to speak so publicly about it at such an inflection point for our.
- [43:53]
Do you stand behind your decision to write it? Because, you know, there's also just the narrative where a lot of people feel like, well, celebrities, what right do they have to speak about such things to step into this arena? And in this particular case, there were a lot of celebrities that stepped in to speak out about the presidential election. Like, what are your thoughts on that?
- [44:17]
George Clooney
Well, that's never not been the case. Right. I don't give up my right, my freedom of speech, because I have a Screen Actors Guild card. I spoke up when I. When no one was listening, when it was just somebody at the end of a bar and I spoke up. I was. I was out protesting and against apartheid in 1982, and no one gave a damn who I was. I was. I grew up in 1960s, man. And so suddenly, you know, you get well known and it's like, okay, now don't speak. I love watching some knucklehead, usually famous person saying, you know, shut up and drivel or, you know, any of those things, and you go. You realize that what you're saying is a political statement, right? And by the way, here's the point. You get to say what you believe, you get to stand by what you believe, and everything people do with you is voluntary. Right? Meaning there are going to be people now that won't go see this movie. Okay, fair enough. That's the trade off I make. And I can handle that. I believe in standing up for what you believe in and saying, telling the truth. The minute that I'm asked to just straight up lie, then.
- [45:31]
I've lost without giving it away.
- [45:35]
Tonya Mosley
There is a moment near the end of J. Kelly where your character watches a tribute reel that uses moments from your actual films. Is it true that you didn't know that that was going to happen?
- [45:48]
George Clooney
No, I had no idea it was gonna happen. And I was shocked. I thought he was gonna do some sort of CGI and it would be. I didn't know what he was gonna do, but it didn't dawn on me he was gonna use actual footage because that felt a little too meta for me. And also, I'm not really thrilled about looking at, you know, myself with a mullet in 1984. But it was a moving moment, though. It worked. Yeah, it really worked. Well, look, he's a. He's really one of the great directors in the business, and he just directed the hell out of the film. And you just trust what he wants to do, and he made it work beautifully.
- [46:25]
Tonya Mosley
What is it? I mean, learning that this was also literally the first time you were watching that retrospective of yourself and your real career? What's your takeaway when you watch this body of work that you've produced over so many years?
- [46:42]
George Clooney
Well, I don't. You know, it's a funny thing. I don't watch when I was looking at clips. I don't see them as movies. I see them as memories of, oh, I met, you know, I met my friend Richard Kind on this, on this shoot. I see it as moments in time. I remember the experience of making the film. I don't really see the film itself and so only just reminded me of how long I've known some of these people and how lucky I am to still have them as friends and those kind of things. I mean, most people don't get a career in my industry, and to have one that's lasted as long as mine has is, you know, unique. And so I was very happy to be able to look back and see such, you know, when you see some of the stuff I did early. And the idea that I still have a career is astonishing, you know, George.
- [47:39]
Tonya Mosley
Clooney, this has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time.
- [47:43]
George Clooney
Well, thank you so much and good luck. I think your show is just amazing. I'm so glad it's still running. I cannot appreciate what you do more, so thank you.
- [47:53]
Tonya Mosley
George Clooney stars in the new film J. Kelly. It's out now in select theaters and will be streaming on Netflix starting tomorrow.
- [48:03]
Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Brigger. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Yakundi, Anna Bauman, and Nico Whistler. Our digital media producer is Molly CV Nesper. Our consulting visual producer is Hope Wilson. Thea Chaloner directed today's show with Terry Gross. I'm Tonya Mosley on Wait Wait.
- [48:37]
George Clooney
Don't tell me famous actors remember their days of obscurity. Like when Pedro Pascal remembered the stress of being a waiter, the logistical labor of meeting everyone's needs in the right manner. Act one, the water to the drink Listen to Wait Wait in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [49:03]
Britney Loose
So I just want to check in really quick. Are you okay? Or are you suffering from sleep deprivation, a stack of bills, or political propaganda? If so, you may be stuck in the parent trap. On the It's Been a Minute podcast. We're diving headfirst into the anxieties of modern parenting and how that trickles out to all of us. Even if you don't have children. Come find some relief. Listen to the It's Been a Minute podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.