As fascinated as I am with George Clooney, the actor, it’s his directorial career that comes with the most surprises. After breaking out in E.R. and transitioning to big-league movie stardom, Clooney started directing, using the opportunities to open doors to several genres. Politics (The Ides of March), journalism (Good Night, And Good Luck) and underdog sports dramas have been on the menu for Clooney, up to and including his latest film, The Boys In The Boat. It’s a rousing rowing movie, one that proved physically challenging for the actors in the crew. But it has led to solid reviews… much better than the ones Clooney received for a doomed project he still likes to joke about.
There’s a stirring scene in The Boys In The Boat where the members of the competitive rowing team from the University of Washington learn they have made the squad. The coaches, led by Joel Edgerton, convene afterwards and discuss how invigorating it can be to tell these men they have been chosen. So during a press day with George Clooney and Edgerton, I asked them if they ever felt such elation when being called and told they earned a specific role. And Clooney said that, hilariously, you might get excited… for the wrong reasons.
He told CinemaBlend:
The funniest part is, there is no real reference to things. For me, the big one was getting Batman and Robin. I called all my friends. Now remember, this is famously one of the worst films ever made, right? Famously. Everybody was like, ‘This is literally the worst film ever made.’ But when I got the part, I'm calling my friends going, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna be in the next Batman movie.’ They're like, ‘What are you playing?’ I'm like, ‘Batman!’ You didn't really realize you're on the Titanic.
Clever boat reference while promoting The Boys in the Boat, Mr. Clooney. The actor rarely misses an opportunity to poke fun at his involvement in the ridiculously campy Batman and Robin, his first and only stab at playing the Caped Crusader until he returned to the Bruce Wayne part for the ending of The Flash. That was a gag cameo, and none of it means anything, now that the DCEU is over. Not that Clooney needs it. He’s plenty busy.
So is Joel Edgerton, who plays Coach Al Ulbrickson in The Boys in the Boat. When he reflected on the major role he got that changed his life, he told this incredible story:
I often wonder why I don't celebrate more. I feel like I'm a little bit too cynical. But I do remember that feeling. I remember it was my 26th birthday, and I was doing a theater workshop in Sydney, and I got a call saying I was going to be in Star Wars. And I just walked into that rehearsal room feeling a gazillion feet tall. I was only in the movie for three and a half minutes, but it didn't matter. It was like… the joy of that! … If you could harness that feeling, the celebratory feeling of a young actor getting their first job, or that job that makes them feel they've stepped up a level. It's pretty great.
For Callum Turner and Hadley Robinson, that call might have been The Boys in the Boat, as the movie leans on both of their performances, and their on-screen chemistry, to carry the story of the triumphant rowing team. Clooney himself has been in the headlines after commenting on the death of his Michael Clayton co-star, Tom Wilkinson, and weighing in on the press response to his marriage to Amal Alamuddin. But we like to focus on his film work, which will continue in some upcoming 2024 movies, and beyond.
