Nick Clooney reflects on George’s success

September 12, 2008 by admin
Filed under Family, Friends and Co-Stars

As a lifelong movie fan, Nick Clooney knew that not every TV star can make the transition to the big screen.

Think Tom Selleck or David Caruso.

It’s hard to fathom now, but Clooney had doubts that George, his Oscar-winning son, would be able to convert his “ER” TV fame into box office success in “From Dusk Till Dawn” 12 years ago, after a decade in Hollywood with minimal star recognition.

“Some people fill up a big screen, and some people don’t. We’ve seen wonderful actors and actresses whose gifts didn’t translate from the small screen to the big screen, so I didn’t know if that would work for George or not. There’s no way to know until you see it,” says Nick, 74, who’s teaching journalism this school year at American University in Washington, D.C.

When Quentin Tarantino’s “Dusk” opened in 1996, parents Nick and Nina Clooney sat in the back of the Maysville, Ky., theater and held their breath.

“Nina and I were very nervous. Our palms were sweating,” Clooney recalls.

“As soon as it came on the screen, we both exhaled for the first time - because it was obvious that he filled up the screen. And I looked up and said, ‘He’s home free. Now it’s in the lap of the gods as far as the material is concerned. He’ll fill up the screen.’ ”

The movie gods have been kind to George, 47, whose “Burn After Reading” opens today. The 1979 Augusta High School graduate has been nominated for three Oscars in three categories - lead actor (”Michael Clayton,” 2007), best screenplay (”Good Night, and Good Luck,” 2006), and best supporting actor, which he won for the spy thriller “Syriana” in 2006.

He’s back in the spy business for “Burn After Reading,” a dark comedy about CIA secrets falling into the hands of health club trainers (Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand). Clooney stars as a married federal agent having an affair with the wife (Tilda Swinton) of a CIA analyst (John Malkovich) who loses the top-secret files.

“Burn After Reading” was written by Joel and Ethan Coen, the Oscar-winning brothers behind “No Country For Old Men” and Clooney’s big-screen comedy (2000), “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

George Clooney’s movie success has enabled him to have the best of all worlds in Hollywood. His bankable star power from “One Fine Day” with Michelle Pfieffer (1996), “Out of Sight” with Jennifer Lopez (1998) and “The Perfect Storm” (2000) paved the way for him to do just about any kind of film that attracted him.

He can make fun caper films such as the “Ocean’s” trilogy, serious dramas (”Syriana,” “Michael Clayton”); and pet projects that otherwise might never be made, like his “Leatherheads” 1920s football comedy or “Good Night and Good Luck,” a biography about his father’s hero, CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow.

George’s movie career has been a remarkable turnaround from his TV career, in which he bounced from show to show for a decade without becoming famous - until playing womanizer Dr. Doug Ross on “ER.”

Ironically, his first regular TV role was on a hospital comedy called “E/R” with Elliott Gould and Jason Alexander, followed by a gig on “Facts of Life.” Then came guest shots - “Golden Girls,” “Murder She Wrote,” “Hunter” - until landing series roles on “Roseanne,” “Bodies of Evidence” and as Sela Ward’s love interest on “Sisters.” He turned down a lead role in an NBC detective series to join the ensemble “ER” cast.

Just before “ER,” Nick Clooney says, his son had accepted never becoming a major star. During an Augusta visit in early 1994, he told his father: “I am the best-known unknown actor in the world. Sothis gives me a chance to make good money, and not to have to put up with all of the other crap. If this is going to be my life, this is great. I’ll be the best-known unknown actor.”

His world changed that fall, when “ER” catapulted him to covers of “TV Guide” and “Newsweek,” and a gig as host of “Saturday Night Live.”

“You’re not going to be the best-known unknown actor from now on,” his father told him.

“I always knew he had the talent, and I knew he’d make a living. The stuff on television came naturally, and he was great at it. But whether that transfers to the big movie screen is another question. And it did.”

Source: LINK