The big difference between George Clooney and the matinee idols with whom he's been so often compared -- Cary Grant or Clark Gable -- is that his forebears were first and foremost movie stars.
Clooney, on the other hand, has used his celebrity to pursue passion projects as a burgeoning mogul, not to mention using his cachet in the political arena.
Clooney's reach as a filmmaker has been remarkably ambitious and uncannily successful.
Unlike his closest rival as a modern-day renaissance man, Clint Eastwood, Clooney grabbed the attention of critics from the get-go, when his directorial debut, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" (2002) revealed assured measures of off-beat wit and style.
His sophomore effort behind the camera, "Good Night and Good Luck" (2005) not only reflected the bulwark, fifth-estate values of his father, who worked in broadcast journalism, but resulted in six Oscar nominations, including writing and directing nods for Clooney.
With "Michael Clayton," co-produced by Clooney's Section Eight, he again counterpoints the breezy entertainments of, say, an "Ocean's 13," with a film of moral complexity and razor-sharp insights.
As the film's writer-director Tony Gilroy says, "Clayton" couldn't have been made without Clooney's support, and his willingness to forgo anything resembling a front-end salary.
"For films like 'Clayton' to work, there have to be other movie stars (who step up) like Clooney," explains Gilroy. "George gets to do a part in a film that would have been unrecognizable with another $20 million added to the budget -- a studio version that would have sucked. The filmmakers' responsibility is to make a movie and not waste money: They have to be very disciplined. That's the only reason this works, and it works 'cause George works for free."
Contact Steve Chagollan at
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