George Clooney addressed why he’s no longer starring in “romantic films” at age 63.
“That’s not my job,” he joked during the Sunday, March 23 episode of 60 Minutes.
The actor looked back on his Academy Award-winning career on the CBS news show, where he insisted he was no longer interested in playing heartthrobs.
“Look, I’m 63 years old … I’m not trying to compete with 25-year-old leading men,” he explained.
Clooney then vowed, “I’m not doing romantic films anymore.”
Clooney’s shift in career strategy comes after more than 30 years playing romantic leads, first on TV as Dr. Doug Ross in ER and then as one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars in sexy dramas such as Out of Sight, One Fine Day and the Ocean’s series.
Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Shaobo Qin and Casey Affleck in ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
His most recent — and perhaps final — romantic comedy was 2022’s Ticket to Paradise, in which he starred with Julia Roberts as a divorced couple whose spark was reignited while trying to stop their daughter’s destination wedding.
Instead of wooing leading ladies, Clooney has turned to the stage for his Broadway debut in Good Night, and Good Luck, an adaptation of his Oscar-nominated 2005 movie.
Clooney cowrote and directed the film version of Good Night, and Good Luck, but he only gave himself a supporting role in the true story of embattled newsman Edward R. Murrow during the Red Scare. David Strathairn earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for portraying Murrow in the movie, while Clooney originally cast himself as the journalist’s producer Fred W. Friendly.
In the Broadway version, Clooney takes on the central role as Murrow alongside a star-studded cast including Broad City’s Ilana Glazer, Zero Day star Clark Gregg and Barry actor Glenn Fleshler.
Clooney spoke to 60 Minutes about why he wanted to shift roles for the stage adaptation of Good Night, and Good Luck.
“I don’t know that I could’ve [done this before]. I wasn’t — I didn’t do the work required to get there,” he acknowledged. “I mean, there isn’t a single actor alive that wouldn’t have loved to have, you know, been on Broadway. So that’s — that’s the fun of it.”
The role required Clooney to ditch his signature salt-and-pepper hair color for a brunette dye job, with the star admitting to The New York Times in February that his family would not be thrilled with the change.
“My wife [Amal Clooney] is going to hate it because nothing makes you look older than when an older guy dyes his hair,” he joked.
Julia Roberts and George Clooney in ‘Ticket To Paradise’ Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Clooney quipped that his and Amal’s 7-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, were likely to “laugh at [him] nonstop” over his freshly-dyed locks.
Away from the Broadway stage, it was recently reported that George and wife Amal will host a pricey fundraiser in Lake Como this August where attendees will have to pay at least $233,000 up front.
Only 16 guests will be able to take part, but they must fork over $173,000 for their lodging as well as a $60,000 donation per person to the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
Guests can be sure their hefty donation is going to a worthy cause. The Clooneys’ charitable foundation, which was founded in 2016, offers legal support in defense of free speech and women’s rights in more than 40 countries.
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