Bringing his suave ways to another publication’s front page, George Clooney covers the January 2012 issue of Esquire .
The 50-year-old actor partook in a playful Nigel Parry photo shoot while engaging in a thoughtful interview about topics such as the importance of community and managing his millions.
Highlights from George’s chat with Esquire are as follows.
On managing his millions:
“I didn’t put money in the stock market. To me that’s like Vegas without the dancing girls – none of the fun, no gambling or dancing or drinking – and you don’t get to participate. So I paid off my house in cash when I could. It’s about having a foundation for when things go bad. I still have that mentality. When things go badly, I’ll have this piece of land I can sell first, and then I have this piece of land I can sell second. You always think that way.”
On the importance of a killer script:
“Good storytelling sets you up. There’s a scene at the end of Michael Clayton where I get into the car and say, “Just drive.” It’s a close-up of me and we’re driving. Everybody really loves that scene because it just stays on me the whole time. And people ask, ‘What was going through your head’ The truth of the matter is if you showed that scene at the beginning of the movie, people would say, ‘I’m bored out of my mind.’ So that shows you that it’s not the actor that’s doing that – it’s the story that led to that and got you there. The trick as an actor is not to sell it. Let the story do the work.”
On making the most of his Tinseltown clout:
“I have a real interest in pushing some of the limits of things that studios don’t want to make. Because I can. I won’t be able to at some point in the near future. But right now I can, and while I can, I want to do it. So when you’re eighty years old and they ask you what you did, you can go, ‘When I had the keys to the car, I drove it as fast as I could and as hard as I could. I took it to places that the owner didn’t really want me to take it.’ That’s a fun thing to do. Understanding that at some point they’re going to come back and repossess the car. I don’t mind that. I just want to be able to say we gave it a shot when we had the time.”
On the importance of community:
“There’s ten of us, we’ve been best friends for thirty years. Ten guys. And their wives, and their kids, are all family now. I’m not big on keeping up on the phone, none of us are. Some guys I won’t talk to for two months and then you pick up the phone and hear, ‘So, anyway.’ There’s no guilt or where have you been? or what’s been going on? or why haven’t we talked? There’s an ease to it.”
As for the subject of marriage and kids, George Clooney recently demonstrated that he hasn’t changed his mind about either.
The “Descendants” actor stated that he’s too dedicated to his career, thus he wouldn’t be able to make children his top priority.
“I’ve always known fatherhood wasn’t for me,” he said. “Raising kids is a huge commitment and has to be your top priority. For me, that priority is my work. That’s why I’ll never get married again.”
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