Posted on 12/02/2004 8:34:57 AM PST by Pikamax
'Ocean's Twelve' Stars on 'Moral Values' Clooney, Damon, Pitt, Zeta-Jones and More on Hollywood vs. the Heartland Dec. 2, 2004 - In the new film "Ocean's Twelve," a variety of Hollywood A-listers play professionals, each with a special skill, who band together to pull off a gambit none of them could accomplish individually. The film might be seen as a metaphor for real life.
When movie stars come together, they're often recognized as a force to be reckoned with -- and not just at the box office. They're seen collectively as "the Hollywood liberal elite."
Six of "Ocean's" stars -- George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Andy Garcia and Don Cheadle -- recently sat down with ABC News' Diane Sawyer for an exclusive interview about family, fame and public perception.
After one of the most heated presidential campaigns in recent memory, Saywer asked them to reflect on the outcome, the importance of moral values and the idea they are on the opposite side of that dividing line.
"We are, in fact, at times defensive of the idea that there's this disconnect between us and the rest of the country," Clooney said.
"We are actually, all of us, conservative, not liberal, whatever … We are reflections of that society. And we're a product of it."
Movie stars who grew up in Middle American families are troubled by the idea that the country does not think they belong to them.
Pitt grew up in Missouri with an upbringing he describes as "Baptist and then a more nondenominational charismatic kind of movement."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
You mean the little coffin? Yeah, that's a little strange. Grace Kelly also got her fair share of abuse dring Rear Window, etc. Hitch suffered, or so I have read, from scopophilia (sp?) basically peeping tom-ism.
I had forgotten about the little coffin! I was thinking about the scene where he threw birds at her for a week, until one nearly pecked her eye out and she ran screaming from the set.
All of this goes to the same point -- what is acceptable behavior in "the business of show" is not acceptable in the larger world. You can't expect actors, directors, etc. to behave like rational adults. They work in a business where at any given time 99.99% of them are unemployed and where you basically get three chances to fail before falling from grace. They are, by necessity and personality societal outsiders.
Yep. I was a theatre major in college (I got better) and you nailed it on the head.
Because the "conservative" he played was designed to denigrate real conservatives. Just like Alex P. Keaton and Archie Bunker: not real conservatives, but the left's idea of a conservative.
Thanks. You know, it's only recently that acting became a "respectable" profession. If you're looking for a good analysis of the artist's place in society, there's an essay by Edmund Wilson called The Wound and the Bow, which pretty much sums it up.
Matt Damon is from Massachusetts and he makes Clooney look like a conservative. I read an interview with Damon in a liberal magazine. He couldn't answer one question without using the f-word, and he Bush Bashed the entire time.
Andy Garcia was at the Republican convention.
And if we were all judged by the political opinions of our co-workers, we would all be in trouble.
Because unfortunately, unless you work on a small farm, there are liberals in most everywhere.
There are some liberal actors I'm able to watch their talent and still enjoy them without thinking about their politics (ex. Johnny Depp), but for some of the others, every character they play their liberalism engulfs the character and me and it makes me sick.
Susan Sarandon and Matt Damon are some of the ones which make me sick.
With luck, actors will find something to talk about other than politics within the next six months. Then they can get back to their jobs and we can get back to going to the movies -- if anyone would bother to make a decent movie.
Alex P Keaton was shown to be an honorable and moral person who cared about his family. Bunker became a better person as the show went on without every losing his conservatism.
You'd never know that watching him on Leno or Letterman. Some actors are not the empty, immature shells as are the rest. But those are the older generation. Jimmy Stewart did not appear to be a flake. But Nicholson does. The later generation and the name-of-the-day today appear to be these childish drones, in real life. There HAVE to be some exceptions. Does seem to be a rule.
Jack Nicholson virtually never gives interviews on camera so it would be a hard conclusion to come to based on his antics at Lakers games and awards shows where he's usually drunk. Dennis Hopper has called him the best screen writer he's ever come across.
You do realize that you're using Dennis Hopper as a character witness? Dennis Hopper. Besides, Nicholson is seen on things such as the documentary for The Shining, and other things. When you look for that 10-year-old brat in most any actor or actress, you don't come away disappointed. These are people who are generally conceited, blind to others and the world, and emotionally and mentally stunted, with the personality you'd expect from that - which is really, none at all. Is it entirely their fault? No. They are surrounded by those who see a pile of money and wish to gnaw away at it. That's true anywhere you find someone with wealth. Success and money don't necessarily go together.
Did you think Catherine was "hot" when she gained all those pounds? Wish I could find a pic of her in a bikini back then for ya!
Well... a beautiful woman is a beautiful woman...even if she has gained 30 lbs of baby fat...right?
I doubt it...I am a second generation one myself.....
The Cubans that fled Cuba consider it a crime to vote Democrat.....They pass it on to their children...and so on.....
www.boycottoceans12.blogspot.com
for a collection of dopey things they've said.
David Duchovny's parents are both professors I believe. I know Duchovny's dad was a liberal. Before there were "Quaylisms" or "Bushisms", there was the "Collected wit of Spiro T. Agnew", that was a compellation put together by Duchovny's dad.
Look, you might be DD, so I'll be diplomatic. You can find one or two "thinking" and fully functioning actors, but there are not alot of them out there.
I personally think he is a mediocre actor, and I don't care what celebs think about politics. He is unusual that he comes from an academic family though.
Truthfully, it takes a lot of guts to try acting. People only see the celebs, they don't see the hundreds of thousands of people sweating it out in acting classes and auditions. Or living in crummy apartments, in constant need of cash for another set of head shots and working bad jobs. But the truth of the matter is, nearly 100% of them are not very bright about anything outside of their craft.
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