Probably the one thing I’m most proud of in my life is how hard I’ve worked at keeping everybody around. It can get tricky. Because when you start to get famous, people start to surround you and tell you how great you are; you get this whole crew of friends you don’t know, and they’re suddenly your best friends.

“But you have to keep the other people close, and that’s work. So we talk to each other at some point every day. It’s not like some sick, fucked-up thing. It’s just like ‘Hey, man, what’s up?’ It can be fucked-up if that’s your obsession. But it’s just friendship, the boys. What it is, is the greatest support group ever. That’s what it’s about when it all comes crashing down. — George Clooney, GQ, October 1997