Open Forum Friday: Does George Clooney Make Good Career Decisions?
I consider myself a bit of a George Clooney fan nowadays, but there was a time when I had written him off as just another pretty face in Hollywood. He proved me wrong with the number of great projects he has been involved in ever since he left ER, and I now trust that whenever he comes out with a movie, whether it be in front of the camera or behind it, it’s going to be something interesting and thoughtful. Even his so-called “blockbuster” movies like Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels are quality films with some artistic merit to them.
As a matter of fact, I sort of just figured that everyone loved George Clooney, until I read a recent article by Kim Masters over at Slate. She brings up his most recent movie Michael Clayton, which opened in limited release to a phenomenal per-screen average, only to go wide a week later and pull in a measly $10 million. She concludes that there are a few possible reasons for this disappointing turnout, one of which is Clooney himself. Maybe he’s just not the box office draw that some people think he is? One movie producer is quoted as saying, “George has made calculated decisions about what he wants, not what the audience wants”, which is industry speak for saying he’s done too many personal projects and hasn’t worried about marketing himself enough. I can actually see some truth to that statement. If he expects audiences to follow his art house projects, he’ll have to keep them interested with more popcorn flicks too. Maybe people see him as being too serious and political as of late. What do you think? Has Clooney’s image taken a nosedive because of his career choices? Is he still an A-list actor? Are you a Clooney fan? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (7)
Yes…of course.
Posted by P. S. on October 19th, 2007His best movie
I’ve never been a Clooney fan. I just don’t like him. His performances tend to sit onscreen and bore me.
Posted by Rian on October 19th, 2007Eh… I think he is a passable actor. I don;t think he truly has “acting” chops, because he rarely ever plays characters that are very far outside of his personality. I think he gets by on his charm and charisma, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing– look at Cary Grant. This may be obvious, but I’ll take a Christian Bale or Russel Crowe over him any day. Believe it or not, one of my favorite films of his is the box-office dud “Solaris”. Go figure.
Posted by Jon Rocks on October 19th, 2007I think he’s great, I’ve always liked him. He’s fairly one-dimensional, in that he always seems to play himself, but that’s good enough for me.
Posted by krew on October 19th, 2007he does but i don’t like all of his films but i di like his old stuff.
Posted by Roy on October 19th, 2007Hey guys…”Beauty is its own excuse for being.”
Posted by Bernice on October 20th, 2007The best career decision for Clooney was to get that role on ER, which made him a star. Before that he was just another struggling actor.
He is famous not so much for his talent (which is considerable), but for who he is: an old fashioned movie star who is handsome, debonair, charming, wry, urbane plus he has a sense of humor and real integrity when it comes to making thought provoking, intelligent films (Batman & Robin aside, but no one really blames him for that debacle).
As an actor he will always be George Clooney up on screen, but it is his choices as a director and producer that are the most interesting.
Posted by TheSnowLeopard on October 20th, 2007Leave a Reply