George Clooney has commented for the first time on his New York Times op-ed calling on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
“I've never really had to answer that question before, so I guess I'll do it here,” Clooney said when asked about it at a press conference in Venice to promote his new film, “Wolves.”
“The person who deserves credit is the president, who has done the most selfless act of any president since George Washington,” he said. “What we should remember is the selfless act of someone who is very hard to give up power — we know that, we’ve seen it all over the world — and for someone to say I think there’s a better way forward, all the credit goes to him. And that’s really the truth… I’m very proud of where we are in the state of the world right now.”
Elsewhere, when asked about Apple's decision to move the film from a wide theatrical release to a limited release, Clooney also mentioned a New York Times report last week by Nicole Sterling that said he and Pitt were each paid more than $35 million.
“It was millions of dollars less than what was reported. I think it's bad for our industry that this is the norm,” he said.
But in terms of the changing state of the industry and moviegoing, he said streaming is a necessary force.
“We need this. Our industry needs this. And [streamers] “They also benefit from releasing movies,” he said. “But we haven’t figured it all out yet. This is a revolution in our industry. We need Apple and Amazon and they really need distributors. They need Sony or Warner Bros, who have been doing this for 100 years.”
However, Clooney admitted it was disappointing that “Wolfs” did not get the full, wide release he originally planned with Sony, and has now been released on Apple TV+ with only a limited theatrical release.
Brad and I put part of our salary back into [the limited release]”It's frustrating of course, it would have been nice to have the film released widely. We had some difficulties along the way.”
He noted that his last directorial effort, “Boys in the Boat,” was intended for MGM, but “ended up being for Amazon and never got released overseas, so there are elements we’re working on.”
Pitt also discussed his role as a producer through his company Plan B (“Bob Marley: One Love”), which he runs with Jeremy Kleiner (who also attended the press conference) and Dede Gardner. In addition to “Wolfs,” the company is showing several films in Venice, including Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice,” as well as the documentaries “One to One: John & Yoko” by Kevin Macdonald and “Apocalypse in the Tropics” by Petra Costa.
“We’re finding ways to talk about our time and what we’re up against and where we want to be. That’s why we’re here,” Pitt said of Plan B’s ambition to make meaningful films alongside more mainstream production. “These stories will always prevail.”
Clooney, who also works as a producer through his company Smokey House Pictures, said films can't always deal with current times immediately because of the filmmaking process.
“Movies aren’t news. It takes a few years to put something together. All the President’s Men came out two years after Watergate. So there’s a little bit of history that you can think about in movies if you can,” said Clooney, who also noted that his father was a journalist.
“Movies give you an opportunity to reflect and look back and say, ‘Well, let’s see. Let’s take a look at this.’ Sometimes slowing down is better for seeing where we’ve all come to,” Clooney, who also praised visionary 1970s films like “Network,” continued. “Watch[this movie]again and it’s hard to imagine that everything Patty Chayewsky wrote in 1975 came true.”
Written and directed by “Spider-Man” director Jon Watts, the film stars Pitt and Clooney as two professionals who prefer to work alone but must team up after being assigned to the same job. “Wolfs” also stars Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams and Poorna Jagannathan. Apple announced earlier this month that a sequel to the film is already in development featuring Watts and the two stars.
“Wolfs” marks Pitt and Clooney’s first film collaboration since the Cohen brothers’ 2008 black comedy “Burn After Reading.” Before that, the two starred in the “Ocean’s” franchise from 2001 to 2007. The actors have previously appeared at Venice, with Clooney attending in 2009 for Grant Heslov’s “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” Pitt screening David Fincher’s “Fight Club” in 1999 and winning the Volpi Award for best actor for Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” in 2007. Meanwhile, “Wolfs” marks Watts’ Venice debut.
Following its Venice premiere, “Wolfs” will be released in theaters for a limited time starting September 20 before premiering on Apple TV+ on September 27.
