Copyright Screen Rant
George Clooney is one of the most recognizable names and faces in Hollywood, making it ironic that he would describe himself as having had a "lack of success," but it makes more sense with context. Clooney broke through in the entertainment industry as a television star, portraying Dr. Doug Ross of ER, before becoming acclaimed as a movie star. Clooney then went out to star in the iconic Ocean's Eleven movies at the beginning of the 2000s, and later won roles in a few true critical hits. Clooney's best movies today include Michael Clayton, The Descendants, and Syriana, the last of which he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His new feature film Jay Kelly, distributed by Netflix, arrives in select theaters on November 14. Jay Kelly's trailer showcases the titular character, a fading movie star, who goes on a transformative road trip with his longtime manager (Adam Sandler). In a new interview, CBS's Seth Doane points out "a few things that were planted about" Jay Kelly's character were evidently drawn from Clooney's life, including that he is from Kentucky and asked to run for president. Clooney himself then brings up another: the perception that Kelly (meaning also Clooney) only plays himself. However, first attempting to dispel this common critique by saying he's "never actually been a CIA agent or a thief," Clooney goes on to say that his comparatively middling commercial success has allowed him to pursue many different roles, rather than being stuck in one genre. Check out Clooney's full comments below: George Clooney: Well, I don't know, I've never actually been a CIA agent or a thief. There's a part of my career that's been a fascinating part of it, which is I have had a tremendous amount of success, but not over-the-top success, not the, you know, multi-billion dollar franchises. You know, the Ocean's films were big, but a lot of my successes were doubles, you know, Michael Clayton, it cost $12 million and we brought in like $90 [million]. But it's a great film […] So, if you do those a few times, Up in the Air the same thing, The Descendants the same thing, because it hasn’t been massively successful, you don't get pigeonholed into, well, you can only do comedy or you can only do drama. And because of that I've been allowed to O Brother [Where Art Thou?] and Syriana. That's a great sense of fun for me, that I'm not stuck in it, so in some ways, my lack of success— Seth Doane: People are gonna have a hard time hearing that line. George Clooney: Well you know, but you'll understand it if you compare it to other actors' careers. I don't feel like my career hasn't worked out, I feel like I'm doing fine. But a big part of it as an actor is that I get to do stuff that a lot of actors don't get to do because they got famous doing an action film so they’re an action star. […] I'm the beneficiary of hitting doubles instead of, you know, hitting them out of the park. Per The Numbers, Clooney only places at No. 76 among the highest-grossing actors of all time, with MCU stars Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Robert Downey Jr. occupying the top three spots. These actors will also be readily welcomed into any awards season-bound drama, including Marriage Story and Oppenheimer in recent years. It's true that Clooney has covered comedy, drama, action, and more, though some audiences may think his characters' personalities are all somewhat similar. Some of Clooney's more unique credits include Gravity, The American, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. However, the kind of success he claims he hasn't reached also generally allows actors to pursue different projects, with studios banking on their star power.
