George Clooney doesn’t seem fazed by criticism concerning his acting.
The Oscar winner has famously played a wide variety of characters, including an emergency room doctor in “ER,” iconic superhero billionaire Bruce Wayne in “Batman & Robin” and an astronaut in “Gravity.”
However, critics often accuse him of playing himself in every project.
Clooney recently sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss his latest role as an aging A-lister with so-called limited range in Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly”— when he was asked about that criticism being lobbed against him offscreen.
“Do people say that I only play myself? I don’t give a shit,” Clooney told the outlet. “There aren’t that many guys in my age group that are allowed to do both broad comedies like ‘O Brother [Where Art Thou?]’ and then do ‘Michael Clayton’ or ‘Syriana.’”
“So if that means I’m playing myself all the time, I don’t give a shit,” he continued.
Clooney has tackled a range of roles. His manic, wide-eyed paranoia in “Burn After Reading,” for instance, is undeniably distinct from the suave, Cary Grant-esque charm he exhibits in “Ocean’s Eleven.”
One explanation for the criticism: Clooney’s ubiquitous, world-famous persona across films, advertisements and politics is too prominent to be hidden behind characters — audiences can’t help but recognize him.
To drive the point home, Clooney quoted “Jay Kelly” during his interview: “Have you ever tried playing yourself? It’s hard to do.”
However, there have been some who don’t even consider Clooney a movie star.
“Well, it’s been a long time since I think George Clooney has drawn anybody to an audience,” Quentin Tarantino, his former collaborator, explained during a Deadline interview in 2023, adding: “When was the last time that he had a hit in this millennium?”
Clooney reacted to the comment with an expletive-laden response last year and told GQ at the time that “this millennium” — which saw Clooney lead the “Ocean’s” trilogy, win an acting Oscar and cement himself as a household name — is “kind of my whole fucking career.”
“I didn’t really get successful, in the kind of success that can be blinding, until I was 33 years old,” Clooney told Vanity Fair. “I’d been working for 12 years at that point. I had a real understanding of how fleeting all of it is and how little it has to do with you, quite honestly.”
The actor, movie star or not, was nominated for a Tony Award earlier this year for his Broadway performance in “Good Night, and Good Luck.”