Obligatory Mel Gibson bump.
Posted on 02/15/2003 7:09:24 AM PST by aculeus
If you're a hugely bankable Hollywood star, there are certain expectations of you. Maintain your profile, toe the line and keep schtum about politics. George Clooney, on the other hand, is hollering his disdain for his government and its dumb war plans, and he's directed his own, somewhat risky, film. Interview by Sally Vincent.
[Fanmag fluff snipped.]
"The question is," he goes on, "do we go on murdering each other, or are we going to take time out to ask ourselves why we're so angry in the first place? I get mad at someone, then I find out more about why they did what they did to make me mad, and the anger disperses. We get angry because we don't have enough information." His mousseline is now neatly stacked on the side of his plate. All tidied away.
"It's the head guys who really tick me off," he says. "You dumb down at the top, so what does that do to the bottom? Who's going to stand up for us now? I just want someone smart to stand up and shout, 'Bullsh**!' They tell us we're going to war and no one's saying 'Bullsh**' loud enough. And the language! Listen to the language! 'Evil.' 'Evil'? 'Nexus of evil'? 'Evil-doer'? That's my favourite, 'Evil-doer'! What's wrong with their vocabulary: couldn't they come up with 'schmuck'?"
This makes me laugh uncontrollably. I wonder if he'll mind if I gobble up his mousseline. "Look at us," he cries, "we're the guys who marched into France and liberated them, handing out stockings and chocolate. And we've slowly become all the things we fought against. How'd it happen?"
I feel the soul of America is at large. The words of Walt Whitman beat in my brain. "O Captain! My Captain!" I bleat. Clooney looks at me sideways. "We're so smart we don't even try to elect a leader. We elect someone to manage our country. Bush was elected, or sort of elected, on the issues of school vouchers and welfare reform. When the big one hit, we found we didn't have a leader at all. What did Bush do on 9/11? He ran away and hid. Even Reagan knew more about leadership than that, and he was as bad a symbol of America as I can think of, off-hand. But at least he's been in enough cowboy movies to know he had to come out and stand on top of the rubble and be seen shaking his fist or something. What has it all come down to? Selling things on television, is what. The three-second soundbite. We don't have any great speakers any more, we don't have great television any more, we don't have great films any more. Everything's knocked out by committee. That's how it is. How we deal with everything. That's politics. You turn on the TV for the news now and what do you get? 'Showdown in Iraq!' it goes, like it's a game. The news is a f***king game show. They're selling us a pre-emptive war and no one says, 'Bullsh**'. It's a conglomerate decision, all rounded off to make it palatable so we'll swallow it, believe it. But it's a lie. Of course it's a lie. We've been lying to ourselves since Vietnam. And if you say that, if you stand up and say no to the war in Iraq, immediately you're being 'unpatriotic'. But if you don't, if it's not you, who the f**k's it going to be?"
O Captain! My Captain! "It's not my place. I'm not a big, like, yogi guy, I'm just a stoopid film star. Stooooopid, goofball film star."
"Big guru guy," I say.
"Big guru guy," he says.
....
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Don't we all feel better knowing that Mr Clooney's highly evolved political opinions, and the renowned George Clooney ThinkTank is on the job?
Obligatory Mel Gibson bump.
In a Perfect World...
In a less than perfect world, this would be acceptable after his comments about Charlton Heston...
But AT THE VERY LEAST, people should consider the source of the vile...
Oh, really....
Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney launched an angry tirade against a journalist at the Berlin Film Festival - after he described the star's latest film Solaris as "boring." The sexy actor was left furious after the Turkish journalist remarked on the Steven Soderbergh film at a news conference on Saturday night. Clooney blasted, "I find you fascinating. You crack me up, man. You just wanted to get up and be a rat, you know that? You just wanted to get up and say something rotten. What a jerk! I mean honestly, you know, what a s**t thing to say! You make a lot of films, do you? You make a lot of films yourself? Yeah, I'd like to see you make a film first before you get to talk about it. What a jerk!" Solaris opened in America to mixed reviews and has performed badly at the box office, however the Ocean's Eleven star remains impressed by the work. When the same journalist asked if he was happy with the film, he replied, "Yes I am. And thanks for the question."
You can't handle the truth!
Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!
Hey, what's Baldwin saying about all of this? Did he move to France yet?
"The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible."
I think they also have a website here http://www.doubletakebook.com
You've got a cool writing style and the pace and wording made me think about every sentence. It reads like a Brit penned it . . . and right now them kinda folks rate purty high on my Darwin Scale.
Your style, sir or ma'am, is a talent and you need to use it here more often. I'm not sure we've ever crossed paths before.
Hey! Now you're getting personal. There's nothing wrong with pigs. Or sheep. Ask Jacques Chirac.
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