One Fine Day (1996)
The Perfect Storm (2000)
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
“A lot of times
when you’re
very young and
successful, you
think it’s all
about your
brilliance.
Then you find
out later that it
probably isn’t.”
It took 16 years of B-movies and mediocre supporting roles before he landed
his breakthrough gig as Dr. Doug Ross
on ER, but Clooney suggests that his
success was essentially a crapshoot.
“Everything we do is luck,” he
insists. “The truth of the matter is I
ended up on a show that was averag-
ing 40 million [viewers] a week. That
makes you famous no matter what you
do. A week before the show came out
we were at the restaurant across the
street from Warner Bros. and Tony
Edwards had a brand-new baby. He
gave the baby half a french fry and the
baby started to choke, and we’re all
wearing doctor uniforms. We said,
‘Somebody help him!’ but everyone
thought we were doctors! A week later
everybody had figured out who we were.
It was sort of an overnight thing after
doing years of really bad television.”
For Clooney, the reasons behind his
fame are far less significant than what
he chooses to do with the opportuni-
ties he’s been given. Alongside creative
partner Grant Heslov, he has increas-
ingly focused his attention behind the
scenes, producing films by auteurs
such as Christopher Nolan (Inception),
Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven),
Richard Linklater (A Scanner Darkly)
and Anton Corbijn (The American, in
which Clooney also stars, and which
premiered Sept. 1). He’s also spent
more time developing his own projects,
co-writing and directing Good Night,
and Good Luck and Leatherheads and
producing films such as Syriana and
Michael Clayton, with at least six other
high-profile projects scheduled for
release in the next two years.
CLOONEY’S GREATEST MISSES
7 stinkers he would probably rather forget
The Facts of Life
(1985-1987)
Sure, this show has a warm
place in the heart of anyone
with a fondness for ’80s
nostalgia. But by the time
Clooney’s poofy-haired
George Burnett came
along, the sitcom was
on its last legs.
Return to Horror High
(1987)
1988’s Return of the Killer
Tomatoes may be Clooney’s B-movie bomb most
frequently referenced,
but this stinker co-starring
Maureen McCormick (The
Brady Bunch’s Marcia) is
much worse.
Red Surf (1990) One of his first leading roles, this by- the-numbers action “thriller” cast Clooney
as a drug-
dealing surfer on the run
from a revenge-driven
crime lord. This is the
kind of low-budget film
for which “direct-to-DVD”
was invented.
Baby Talk
(1991)
Based on the Look
Who’s Talking
film series, this
hilariously awful
sitcom featured
Tony Danza as the
voice of a baby
being raised by a single
mother. The show some-
how lasted 35 episodes,
but Clooney’s run merci-
fully ended after five.
