{"id":668778,"date":"2026-09-02T13:20:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/668778\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T13:20:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:20:55","slug":"george-clooney-tackles-career-politics-questions-at-venice-film-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/668778\/","title":{"rendered":"George Clooney Tackles Career, Politics Questions at Venice Film Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGeorge Clooney<\/a> touched down on the Lido last year for the world premiere of Noah Baumbach\u2019s Jay Kelly, a film that cast him in the title role as an American actor who travels to Italy to receive a lifetime achievement award only to reflect on the weight of his iconic career and whether it was all worth it. <\/p>\n

\n\tOne year later, Clooney, 65, is back at the Venice Film Festival<\/a> for a spin in the spotlight on the opening night for a bit of life imitating art as he will take the stage inside Sala Grande on Wednesday evening to receive the fest\u2019s highest honor \u2014 a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. As is tradition for such a moment, Clooney braved the international<\/a> media for an opening day press conference on Wednesday afternoon \u2013 and because of who he is and the variety of his art and activism over a 40-plus-year career, he fielded questions on a wide variety of subjects including Hollywood, politics, climate change, the proposed Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) merger, the state of journalism, AI, deep fakes and more.<\/p>\n

\n\tGetting into the thick of the tough questions, Clooney was asked to deliver his take on the status of the United States, a broad question relating to the current political landscape. \u201cLook, I\u2019m always very optimistic about things, and we\u2019re at a moment in time that\u2019s unfortunate \u2014 I think that\u2019s an understatement. I do believe that we\u2019re going to get through all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe said that November\u2019s elections \u201cshould be a check and balance,\u201d adding that in 2028 \u201cwith any luck, we\u2019ll have some restoration into some normalcy.\u201d Clooney then took a moment to call out Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth\u2019s recent controversial social media post that featured women from the military in Canada. \u201cWhere\u2019s the sense of decency in all of this? I\u2019m ashamed of all of that. But we will get through it, and we will come out better on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tClooney at a photo call for his lifetime achievement award at Palazzo del Casino on Sept. 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tClooney was asked to respond to Paramount\u2019s criticism of Mark Ruffalo<\/a>, who has come out against the proposed WBD merger. The studio took the position that his recent comments were antisemitic<\/a>, and Clooney stood up for Ruffalo and for free speech.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI support Mark Ruffalo\u2019s ability to speak freely. I think that that\u2019s ridiculous. We\u2019re not going to ban speech,\u201d Clooney said during the Venice press event. \u201cI believe in free speech even when I completely disagree with it. That\u2019s important, right? In fact, it\u2019s part of how a democracy works. There are going to be people tonight in the room that are going to disagree with most everything I say or stand for. Fair enough. That\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to be. We\u2019re supposed to argue these things out and come to a conclusion based on the information that we take in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued: \u201cI will always support Mark Ruffalo\u2019s ability to speak freely. I like him. He\u2019s a good man.\u201d As for the merger itself, Clooney called it a \u201ccomplicated thing\u201d<\/a> that he doesn\u2019t quite foresee going through or benefiting the deal architects like David Ellison.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know how this goes through. There are so many issues involved,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how much money you have; it\u2019s going to be very tricky to do. So, my opinion on the merger is: I always worry whenever big companies are consolidating because it usually means a lot of people lose their jobs. That\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe then pivoted to talking about the \u201crevolution in our industry\u201d as it relates to artificial intelligence. \u201cIt\u2019s going to hurt us in a lot of ways. If you\u2019re a visual effects supervisor, you\u2019re going to have trouble coming up because that\u2019s going to be a lot of jobs are going to be taken away. Probably about 30 percent of the jobs. I don\u2019t know what the real number is, but there\u2019s going to be a big number of jobs are going to be taken away, and we\u2019re kind of on our back foot on it. We\u2019re not on taking the lead on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for how AI impacts him personally, Clooney quipped, \u201cWell, I would like to avoid being in a tampon commercial 20 years after I\u2019m dead. I would like to avoid that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tArtistic director Alberto Barbera and Clooney on Sept. 2, 2026. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tClooney was also asked to give his take on the state of journalism today as well, a relevant question for him considering he\u2019s the son of a journalist and he\u2019s married to Amal Clooney, the daughter of a journalist. \u201cWe have nothing but admiration and support for journalism,\u201d he said, pointing out the work that their foundation does to help support and free jailed journalists that have stood up against various regimes. \u201cThe state of journalism is always in flux, always challenged. It was that way in the 1700s. It is that way now. It\u2019s a concern for a moment, but I do believe that information will find its way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat said, he called it \u201ca concern\u201d that \u201cthe richest people in the world right now are owning the Washington Post and [Twitter aka X], most of the places we get our information,\u201d referencing Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, respectively. \u201cI think five or six of the biggest outlets for information are owned by the richest people in the world. That\u2019s a concern, but there\u2019s still a lot of room for good journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was also asked to reflect on the art imitating life piece of it all with Jay Kelly and whether today feels like his arc in the film, which was described as \u201cromantic but also melancholy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit similar to the tribute I get in the movie, which is kind of funny. You know, I\u2019m 65 years old; everything is melancholy. Literally, you brush your teeth, and you\u2019re like, oh, my teeth used to be so much nicer. Everything about getting older, you get a little melancholy,\u201d he explained. \u201cI also feel very lucky. I have an incredible wife who I love very much and loves me, and I have great kids \u2026 I continue to be able to work when I want to. You know, life is pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tClooney continued by saying that while he\u2019s in a good place, there\u2019s a lot of stuff in the world that isn\u2019t. While that takes a lot of focus at times, as it should, \u201cwe also have to remember to celebrate the good things that are happening in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne good thing that\u2019s about to happen in his life is reteaming with close friends like Brad Pitt and Matt Damon in another Ocean\u2019s Eleven installment. Clooney teased that project, which has already been announced by saying, \u201cWe have an Ocean\u2019s film that we\u2019re going to shoot as soon as we get our schedules worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tClooney is just about as beloved as they come here in Venice. The actor has a long history with the festival both as an actor and filmmaker dating back several decades to the world premiere of Steven Soderbergh\u2019s 1998 drama Out of Sight opposite Jennifer Lopez. His history also includes the Coen brothers\u2019 film Intolerable Cruelty opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones, the Clooney-directed Good Night and Good Luck, Tony Gilroy\u2019s Michael Clayton, another Coen effort, Burn After Reading with Brad Pitt, another Clooney special with The Ides of March, Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n\u2019s Gravity co-starring Sandra Bullock, Clooney\u2019s Suburbicon, and more recently with Jon Watts\u2019 Wolfs, also opposite Pitt.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he\u2019s also treated as a sort of countrywide hero as well thanks to his longtime residency of Lake Como with wife, Amal Clooney and their twins. Amal has accompanied him to this year\u2019s festival. She got a lot of attention from the podium from Clooney today. \u201cI will say I have had a love story with Venice for about 30 years, and in fact was married here, and so I would say that my greatest moment here was obviously my wedding because I would get in a lot of trouble if I don\u2019t say that,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he spread the love to the festival as well. \u201cThis is a film festival that has been very dear to me. My first big directing gig was Good Night, and Good Luck. I\u2019ve had immense successes and I\u2019ve had massive failures. I remember I was here with Catherine Zeta-Jones for Intolerable Cruelty, and none of the jokes played here, and it was over. Usually, people stand up and applaud, and everybody just turned and looked at us. I looked at Catherine and I said, \u2018Run!\u2019 And we ran out of the theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut there have been plenty of \u201cwonderful\u201d moments as well. \u201cCareers are really funny. It\u2019s so many different accidents that get you here, so many different lefts and rights, and things that could have gone wrong or right. It\u2019s hard to sustain all of that, and you have to rely on kindness of friends and kindness of people you work with,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it really requires luck all the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tClooney signs autographs at the close of the 62nd Venice Film Festival on Sept. 10, 2005. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Chris Jackson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Clooney touched down on the Lido last year for the world premiere of Noah Baumbach\u2019s Jay Kelly,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[27510,434,18,117,10232,19,1452,17,9921,3057,264227,271363,11492,31461],"class_list":["post-668778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-artifical-intelligence","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-george-clooney","tag-ie","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-mark-ruffalo","tag-paramount-global","tag-paramount-warner-bros","tag-venice-2026","tag-venice-film-festival","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117201659593702522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}