He’s smart, he’s funny … and he’s still single! George Clooney reveals all about life, past loves and his latest pranks, as he chats to us.
George Clooney is everywhere this month: he provides the voice of the title character in the animated screen adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, he’s getting early Oscar buzz for his role as a commitment-phobic frequent flyer in Up In The Air and he is soon to be seen playing a military man who believes in psychic powers to fight wars in the wonderfully silly The Men Who Stare At Goats, released on March 4 in Australia.
In pictures: The Sexiest Man Alive, George Clooney
Yet all that goes out the window when he shows up for our chat in a hotel in Toronto, Canada, with his right hand tightly wrapped in bandages. He garners concern – as well as wobbly knees – when he leans in for a friendly kiss on the cheek and a hug, wincing when his hand is caught in the middle.
“I wish I could tell you that Brad Pitt punched me, but the truth is more boring,” 48-year-old George says, chuckling, looking fresh and casual in a long-sleeved white T-shirt over jeans. “I just slammed it in a car door – well, a minivan door – at my place in Italy.”
Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor is driving a minivan? Have no fear – the Oscar-winning actor, producer, director and all-round nice guy has not inherited or adopted a gaggle of kids. He just operates an open-door policy at his villa on Italy’s Lake Como when it comes to friends dropping in. The only difference between George and the rest of us is that his friends include people such as Al Gore, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro and the late news anchor, Walter Cronkite.
So why don’t we hate him? After 15 years of interviewing the actor, I still can’t find a reason.
Do you feel foxy or fantastic yourself?
I feel more like a goat now than a fox! [laughs] Literally, I was at dinner last night and I fell asleep – I nodded off at the table! It’s Bill Murray who steals that movie and in Men Who Stare At Goats, it was Jeff Bridges and a goat! But I have three films out and all of them I can sit back and go, “I don’t have anything to be embarrassed about”, and that’s rare.
Has flying first-class and not waiting in lines spoilt you now?
Part of my survival over the past 15 years or so, since ER came out, is that I still stand in line. When I’m on a film, I don’t go to the front of the line when it’s time to eat, I go to the very end. It’s a little embarrassing jumping ahead, so a lot of times I try to avoid that kind of VIP treatment. I don’t find it particularly attractive to come off like you think you are better than everybody else.
What luxury couldn’t you live without?
My villa in Italy! It’s been one of the greatest things I’ve ever done in my life, so I’d go kicking and screaming before I’d have to give up that one.
Have you never considered dyeing your grey hair?
I’ve been going through this thing of people thinking I was about 60 for such a long time that I’m kind of comfortable with getting older. But there were a couple of scenes, when I watched these movies, and thought, “Maybe I better start wearing make-up!”
I’m also complaining a lot about “my back hurts”, “my elbow hurts”, “my shoulder hurts” and it’s like we’re all plugging holes in the dyke trying to keep ourselves in one piece, but at least we’re sitting around laughing about it.
You’re famous for your pranks. What was the last one you pulled?
Matt Damon stayed at my house over the summer with his family. He’d put on a ton of weight to film The Informant and was getting rid of that weight, working out in the gym twice a day and watching what he eats, which is hard to do in Italy! I had the woman who does my clothes take in his pants an eighth-of-an-inch every day, so he would come home and put on his pants, and say, “I don’t understand!” I didn’t tell him about it the whole time he was there, but now he knows. I’m working on one for Brad Pitt, which I’ll fill you in on when it comes off, but he got me last, so something evil has to be done.
You have always been very politically outspoken. Would you ever consider running for office?
No. Wouldn’t it be better if I continued to just do the things that I think would help, as opposed to what Arnold [Schwarzenegger] is doing? He’s a smart guy, talented and knows what he is doing. I disagree with him politically, in general, but he knows what he is doing and he’s in hell in California. I think he’d probably like to be on the set of Terminator if he could choose, so I’m able to stand on the outside of the issues I care about and not straddle the line, which is an easier position to be in
Your say: What do you think of George Clooney? Do you think he is the sexiest man in the world? Share your thoughts below…
Read more from this interview in the January issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly out now with our bumper celebrity cover.
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