George Clooney to Quit Acting? 'I Like Directing More' on 'Monuments Men'
George Clooney recently admitted that he prefers directing over acting, as demonstrated in his latest film, "Monuments Men."
The 52-year-old actor produced, directed and starred in the World War II drama, which is due in theaters next week and starrs Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett and many others. Earlier this month, Clooney hinted that his time in front of the camera could be ending.
"I prefer directing to other things, directing and writing I think seem infinitely more creative," he explained to The Christian Post during a press conference for "Monuments Men" in Los Angeles.
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Clooney played a pivotal role in "Monuments Men," but the actor relied on the A-list cast to carry much of the plot, allowing him to progress as a director.
"All you try to do is learn from the people you work with," he said of his directorial chops, before jokingly adding, "I've worked with the Coen brothers, Alexander Payne … I see what they're doing and steal it, that's the theory."
"The truth is, your development, you hope, is the same as everyone-- succeed some, fail some and keep slugging away at it," Clooney noted. "[Directing] is fun, I really enjoy it. I like directing more than acting now. I don't know if it's improving but its evolving in different directions."
Clooney is not the only celebrity to try his hand at directing after a storied career in acting in recent years. One example is Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie who made her directorial debut with "In The Land of Blood and Honey" in 2011. She is currently at the helm of another film, "Unbroken." Alternately, Ben Affleck first directed in "Gone Baby Gone" in 2007. The actor has since earned multiple awards, especially for his most recent directorial project, "Argo," a film that Clooney co-produced.
Today, Clooney has teamed up with award-winning producer Grant Heslov at their production studio, Smokehouse Pictures, to work on movies such as "Monuments Men" and "Argo" that otherwise would have gone unmade and unnoticed.
"Grant and I have been interested to make and not necessarily slam dunks for the studio to make, it's hard to make films like this, like 'Argo,' takes a long time," the actor explained. "'Good Night And Good Luck'- I had to mortgage my house for it."
When selecting which films to get involved with, Clooney first considers the challenges without too much regard over whether it will be a box office hit or not.
"We're trying to do films so that you don't walk in and say, 'Ok, yeah that's an easy one.' Sometimes they're successful and sometimes they aren't, but they're the ones we wanna make," he said. "Our inspiration in general is to try and get stories made that if we didn't sort of go after them, they probably wouldn't get made. The others are gonna get made anyway. That's what we're trying to do."
Clooney achieves his goal of shedding light on something important with "Monuments Men." The film introduces a little-known, true story about the Allies preserving art destined for destruction at the hands of the Nazis during WWII.
"We wanted to make an entertaining film," he said. "We like the story, people aren't all that familiar with it, which is rare WWII film- usually you think you know all the stories. We wanted it to be accessible. We wanted to talk about a serious subject that is ongoing still, but we wanted it to be accessible."
"Monuments Men" hits theaters everywhere on Friday, Nov. 2. Watch the trailer here.
