Jezebel
George Clooney is on the cover of Time magazine, and the story, written by Joel Stein, reads kind of like a blog entry. For the interview, Stein invited Clooney over to his house for dinner; Clooney agreed. Stein tries really hard to contain his fanboy glee. But. If you weren't already hopelessly in love with the 46-year-old actor — if you didn't already find him unbelievably charming — this article seals the deal. He comes off as smart, down-to-earth, effortlessly cool. Some gems: Clooney doesn't accept gift bags. "Rich famous people getting free shit looks bad. You look greedy. And I don't need a cell phone with sparkles on it," he says. But you'll never hear him bitching about stuff like that: "I know what pisses people off about fame," Clooney says. "It's when famous people whine about it."
The thing about Clooney is that he knows how to play the game properly. "You don't say, I don't talk about my personal life," he explains. "People say they won't talk about their personal life. And then they do. And even when the tabloids say really crappy things and it pisses you off and you know it's not true, you have to at least publicly have a sense of humor about it." He's extremely passionate about his campaign to stop the genocide in Darfur: "I've been very depressed since I got back. I'm terrified that it isn't in any way helping. That bringing attention can cause more damage. You dig a well or build a health-care facility and they're a target for somebody," he says. "A lot more people know about Darfur, but absolutely nothing is different. Absolutely nothing." And yet, he can find a silver lining: "I have a U.N. passport. It says 'Messenger of Peace' on it. It's very cool," he says.
During his dinner with Stein, some sort of alarm goes off. Clooney proceeds to scour the house for the source, and even goes into Stein's dusty, musty crawlspace. (There's video!) He finds nothing, but then when the beeping starts again, he discovers it's the carbon monoxide detector in an outlet near the table. "Either it needs a battery," he says, "or we have six seconds to live."
And yet: Even this funny, charming, practically perfect star is not good enough for Hollywood's standards: behold how someone PhotoShopped the hell out of Clooney in the promotional shots for his upcoming film, Leatherheads. If George Clooney isn't good enough just the way he is, what is this world coming to?
George Clooney: The Last Movie Star [Time]
By George! Mr. Clooney Receives The Airbrush Touch [Daily Mail]
Comments
Oh George, you can get into my crawlspace any time...
He really is a lovely man. I don't see any phony with him. Just genuine charm and talent.
If only he didn't have such awful taste in women, he would be perfect.
I wouldn't mind having George Clooney in my crawl space.
Want.George.now.
And, why the fuck would you airbrush GEORGE CLOONEY to look like Jude Law? The first pic I can see as being mostly makeup, but the second? Blue eyes? On my perfect Georgie? Grrr...
Joel Stein only did this so he could have George over for dinner and talk about it for the rest of his life. Creepy stalker.
he would make a good companion, but not a husband.
The alleged photo-shop could just be good make-up and a filter on the lens coupled with great lighting. All wrinkles are still there.
And, I heart George Clooney.
Oh how I love you Georgie. It's kind of creepy that my fiancé is equally in love with him tho. He calls him "the Cloons".
What a sexy, sexy, sexy man.
god i love him for admitting the deep moral ambiguity of doing human rights work and the possibility that you are making things worse. fuck me george, i understand you better than all those pretty bitches!
OMG, crawlspace is now going to become Jeze-speak for vadge. Hawt!
Even my boyfriend has a crush on George Clooney.
Bleuggh! When did Joel Stein become a features writer for TIME?!
I feel like it's always way more obvious when men are photo shopped and have on make up because we don't expect men to have that unnatural smooth and highlighted skin that we're so used to seeing on pictures of women. Is it just me? Because whenever a man has on make up, like on the Pro-Activ commercials, I'm like HOLY SHIT.
I've always been kind of "meh" about Clooney.
@J.D.Regent: My comment is remarkable shallow compared to yours, dearest.
@charlotte corday: i'd like to have a beach time share with him, say.
Wrinkles are my new fetish. I love a real face.
Why isn't he running for President again?
Someone turned his brown eyes blue! Crazyness.
@skinnybonejones: oh, my use of humanitarianism to get laid? yeah i'm deep like that.
@skinnybonejones:
Crawl space is not a word I'd want to use for my vadge, because every crawl space I've ever seen is dank and dusty and my "crawl space" is not full of cobwebs!
@J.D.Regent: that quote alone sold me...I've always been kind of 'meh' on him, but after reading that, I was like, 'one George Clooney to go, please!'
Shrug. He is gay right? Why does no one get on his case about it? Guess he charms them right out of the question.
Doth protest too much Clooney. He does ads for Nestle in Europe but then complains about globalization/world debt and the rest on his soap box...? He's a fake.
@charlotte corday: I would love for him to be my husband. I'd put up with all his dalliances as long as he came home to me. Mmm... Pick me, choose me, love me, George.
@Bridesmaid4: I KNOW! That's what keeps me from loving George completely -- if he's so down-to-earth, what's up with the model parade? He should be bunked in his little Italian hideaway with some lovely village girl by now.
George, I hardly knew you. I was always kinda "meh" about him, but that joke about "6 seconds to live." Swoon!
Goddammit George.
@charlotte corday: I feel as if after one day with Mr. Clooney I would be begging him to propose. Even thought I'd swear to all my friends we were just having a good time and it wasn't serious and I totally don't care if he calls.
@Katxyz: Mine, tragically, might be full of cobwebs soon if action it does not see.
@NefariousNewt: Let him run for governor of California first, just to gian a little experience.
@rachystyle: that's what I was thinking. Besides the eyes, that is. It really looks like the lit to avoid showing his wrinkles and bags.
@skinnybonejones: so i have a manspace?
damn, damn, damn. I didn't think it was possible to love George more than I already do but this interview proved me wrong!
At least he's still allowed some forehead wrinkles.
@westvillagegirl: Have you ever seen "South Park: The Movie"? He deilvers the exact same line to a child he's accidentally mangled.
@J.D.Regent: Oh, you're that guy. Word!
@mystery white girl: I just get stabby thinking how Jude Law-ish he looks in the 2nd photo though. I want his luscious dark chocolate eyes to swoon into as he's falling in love with me.
@rachystyle: No ... it is photoshopped. Look at the eyes. He has "bags" under his eyes -- nothing horrible, but he certainly doesn't have baby-smooth eyes. And you can see it even more when you look at the second picture group -- his eyes look almost blue in the promotional picture!
@nodoubt9203: That sounds eunuch-y. I don't think you want that.
So there must be something horribly wrong with him right? He can't be that perfect. Does he fart a lot? I bet he farts all the time.
I don't take much issue to the way those promotional pictures have been altered. They didn't make him look younger or anything. The images are in keeping with the tone and look of the movie and all the other promotional material shit I'm seeing everywhere.
George Clooney = yeah! Vintage football = blarg! What do do, what do do...
@myrtlebeachbum: He's amazingly hot. It's so nice to see a guy considered hot who looks like he has done a little living. Never have been attracted to the boy toys.
@NefariousNewt: He's smart enough to know that the job sucks like a five dollar hooker.
@Det. Philangie: Bite your tongue! No. No. No! nononononononononononononononononnono!
I love him.
Oh man, I do.
I'm madly in love with my boyfriend, but I would still let George Clooney stick the tip in.
Hell, I think my BOYFRIEND would let George Clooney stick the tip in.
@Bridesmaid4: Yeah - Kelly Preston, for God's sake, how could he?
@Hamsterpants: seriously. look at that man, and if you can bear it, picture justin timberlake. HELL NO.
@charlotte corday: bingo! ergo, he looks nice in a suit and the rest...kinda meh.
@skinnybonejones: Ha, totally! Except mine certainly isn't dusty or musty. I'm not surprised Joel's is though. Normally I don't advocate this, but that douche needs to douche.
Joel Stein just reeks of the dude in your senior class who was never invited to the cool kids shindigs, whined incessantly, even obsessively about that fact in private and never had the cajones to crash the party. Having George Clooney over for dinner should make up for all those miserable years. You can move on from here now, Joel.
@caffeinequeen: just the tip? cocktease!