Why George Clooney Thinks Directing Is 'More Fun' Than Acting
While George Clooney is celebrated for his charismatic presence as an actor, too often do his directorial efforts go under the radar. His movies such as "The Monuments Men," "The Ides of March," and "Good Night, and Good Luck" have been hits at the box office and awards season alike, with the latter film even earning Clooney an Oscar nomination for best director. But audience perception matters little to Clooney, who admits that he prefers being behind the camera instead of in front of it.
Speaking with Sky News about his upcoming biopic sports drama, "The Boys in the Boat," the "Ocean's Eleven" and "ER" star shared why he finds directing so worth it. "It's more fun, you have a lot more control. I get to boss [the actors] around and I don't have to learn how to row." However, he did admit that he still had fun acting, but further acknowledged how much joy directing brought him.
"Directing is a fun thing to do," Clooney stated. "It's fun to come in the morning and it's fun to write a screenplay and then have somebody build a set that you wrote, it really is." Being such an active participant in a film's production is not only fun but has proven to be far more fulfilling for Clooney as an artist. He continued, "As you get older, you need to have other things to do. You can't just do one thing. I'm lucky because I'm 62 and I get to do the stuff I love, and a lot of people don't get that." As much as he may love directing now, Clooney's initial seat in the director's chair came under chaotic circumstances.
Clooney's directorial debut was an emergency situation
Directing has been an increasingly satisfying manner of expression for George Clooney as the years have gone on. But over 20 years ago, it's unlikely that he could have seen himself at the helm of nine feature films. This big swing in career trajectory changed with 2002's "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," which saw him step up as things were getting out of hand.
The film chronicles the fictionalized accounts of the late game show host Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), who transitions to a life of espionage as a CIA hitman. The long-gestating project got its start in the '80s when Columbia Pictures got the rights to Barris' 1984 book "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Chuck Barris." Several directors came and went from the project, including Curtis Hanson, David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, and David Cronenberg, to name a few.
With this and other production issues running rampant, Clooney took on the arduous task, even if it wasn't his deepest desire. "No, it wasn't something that I was looking to do," Clooney shared in an About interview. "I directed it because it had fallen apart so many times that it wasn't getting made. We were in pre-production, we were about eight weeks from shooting, and they pulled the plug from us financially." Taking his childhood experiences of being on his dad's game show set and with advice from filmmakers such as the Coen Brothers and Steven Soderbergh, Clooney helped save the production. Little did Clooney know, this hectic experience birthed what would ultimately become his passion.