George Clooney Praises Biden as Most Selfless President for Stepping Down

George Clooney has broken his silence regarding his New York Times op-ed which suggests Joe Biden should step aside from the presidential race. During the Venice press conference for his new film, “Wolfs,” Clooney addressed the query for the first time. He remarked, “I’ve actually never had to answer that question so I suppose I will do it here.”

In his response, Clooney lauded President Biden, stating, “The person who should be applauded is the president, who has done the most selfless thing a president has done since George Washington.” He underscored Biden’s act of stepping back from power as a commendable and rare decision, adding that, “It’s very hard to let go of power — we know that, we’ve seen it all over the world — and for someone to say I think there’s a better path forward, all the credit goes to him. And that’s really the truth … I’m just very proud of where we are in the state of the world right now.”

When asked about Apple moving the film from a wide theatrical release to a limited one, Clooney referenced a recent New York Times report by Nicole Sterling, which mentioned that he and Brad Pitt were paid over $35 million each for their roles. Clooney clarified, “It was millions and millions dollars less than what was reported,” expressing concern that this type of speculation is harmful to the industry.

Despite the shift to streaming, Clooney acknowledged the current necessity of streaming services. “We need it. Our industry needs it. And [streamers] also benefit from having films release,” he said. “But we haven’t got it all figured out. It’s a revolution in our industry. We need Apple and Amazon and they actually need distributors. They need Sony and Warner Bros, who have been doing this for 100 years.”

Clooney admitted his disappointment over “Wolfs” not receiving a wide release as initially planned. The film, which was supposed to be distributed by Sony, will now have a limited theatrical run followed by a release on Apple TV+. “Brad and I gave some of our salary back to [the limited release]. It’s a bummer, of course, It would have been nice to have gotten a wide release. We’ve had some bumps along the way.”

Reflecting on the current film landscape, Clooney noted that his recent directorial project, “Boys in the Boat,” originally slated for MGM, ended up with Amazon and without a foreign release. “There are elements we’re figuring out,” he added.

“Wolfs,” written and directed by Jon Watts of “Spider-Man” fame, is an action-comedy that features Clooney and Pitt as two professional fixers who usually work alone but must team up when hired for the same job. The film also stars Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, and Poorna Jagannathan. Apple has announced that a sequel is already in development with both Watts and the two stars attached.

This marks Clooney and Pitt’s first co-headlined film since the Coen Brothers’ 2008 black comedy “Burn After Reading.” They have previously worked together in the “Ocean’s” franchise from 2001 to 2007. Both actors have notable histories at the Venice Film Festival, with Clooney attending in 2009 for Grant Heslov’s “The Men Who Stare at Goats” and Pitt premiering David Fincher’s “Fight Club” in 1999 and later earning the Volpi Cup for best actor with Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” in 2007. “Wolfs” represents Watts’ first film debut at Venice.

Following its premiere at Venice, “Wolfs” will release in theaters for a limited period starting September 20, before debuting on Apple TV+ on September 27.

Source: New York Times, Nicole Sterling