George Clooney hasn’t starred in a movie since 2016 (remember Money Monster? Me neither), but it’s not as if the Oscar winner has been off the radar the past four years. He’s just been more focused on his tequila company than being in major motion pictures. Clooney’s star-less streak ends, however, with Netflix’s The Midnight Sky, where he plays a scientist who’s trying to stop a group of astronauts (including Felicity Jones and Kyle Chandler) from returning home. Clooney also directed the film, but he’s ready to be on-screen again, and for people to be surprised at what they see.
“I don’t look so good,” he told Vanity Fair. “I’m not even 60 yet, but the character is 70. Unfortunately, I’m looking closer to that. I’ve always looked a little older, but now I really look like I am. I’d say I look like my father, but my father looks better than me.”
Clooney shaved for the role “and I tried to do it kind of badly so that it looked patchy. And I’ve got some pretty funky scars on my head in general,” he said. “Since [his character, Augustine] is clearly dying of something that he has to have a transfusion for, which is usually some form of cancer, it was important to me to add some elements so that I didn’t look like I look normally.” It must be tough going from being the most handsome man on the planet to merely one of the most handsome men on the planet (or in this case, space):
“There was a stillness to the character that I really liked. You need to be of a certain age for it to actually hurt. When you’re younger, we don’t feel like we’ve had enough life experiences for things like this to actually hurt you in your chest… It felt like I was the right age, and it was a good time for me to move into this kind of role.”
He’s not a Soggy Bottom Boy — he’s a Soggy Bottom Old Man. The Midnight Sky, which was written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), premieres on Netflix in December.
That’s a wrap! THE MIDNIGHT SKY, from director and star George Clooney, is coming later this year. pic.twitter.com/51aMNjelF9
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) February 21, 2020
(Via Vanity Fair)