George Clooney's kids don't care about his success (and that's a good thing)

TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Tonya Mosley. And today, my guest is George Clooney, Academy Award-winner, director, producer and one of Hollywood's most recognizable leading men. His latest film, "Jay Kelly," directed by Noah Baumbach, follows a world-famous actor who discovers that being a movie star is a lot easier than being an actual human being. The character Jay Kelly has the fame part down, the father, partner, friend part, not so much. When a mentor dies, Jay's perfectly curated image unravels. He decides to follow his daughter across Europe, a trip that forces him to face his regrets and some of his blind spots, including the frosty relationship with his children. Clooney stars alongside Adam Sandler, who plays his manager, Laura Dern as his publicist and Billy Crudup as his old friend who never made it as an actor. George Clooney's body of work spans decades from his breakout role as Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama "ER," earning nominations for three Golden Globes and two Emmys to two Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actor for "Syriana" in 2005, and Best Picture as co-producer for "Argo" in 2012. Earlier this year, Clooney made his Broadway debut as he reprised the story of "Good Night And Good Luck" on stage, which was a theatrical adaptation of the film.

George Clooney, welcome back to the show.

GEORGE CLOONEY: Thank you, Tonya. It's been a while. I'm glad to be back.

MOSLEY: I know, and it's our first time talking. You know, this new film where you play this world-famous actor who is coming to grips with the fact that he has missed out on the things that actually matter, there's this pivotal scene that really plants that seed early in the film that I want to play. It's you - your character, Jay, in his palatial home, by the pool with his 18-year-old daughter, Daisy, who was played by Grace Edwards, shortly before she goes on a trip to Europe with her friends. And Daisy speaks first. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JAY KELLY")

GRACE EDWARDS: (As Daisy Kelly) I'm going to go meet Moses and Rio. I love you.

CLOONEY: (As Jay Kelly) Wait. Aren't we having dinner tonight? Mario's doing the tamales.

EDWARDS: (As Daisy Kelly) Did we say that?

CLOONEY: (As Jay Kelly) All right. Go on. Be with your friends. There'll be other dinners. I wrapped this last one. I start the Louis (ph) brothers' movie right here on the lots. I'll be around for the summer.

EDWARDS: (As Daisy Kelly) I'm going to Europe with Rio and Moses and some friends. I told you that.

CLOONEY: (As Jay Kelly) I thought that was in July.

EDWARDS: (As Daisy Kelly) No, it was always June. I'm leaving on Saturday for Paris, and we're making our way over to Tuscany.

CLOONEY: (As Jay Kelly) Saturday? I mean, that's Saturday. That's - I mean, it's too soon. Wait. I got two weeks off. We won't have had time to hang out. This is your last summer.

EDWARDS: (As Daisy Kelly) That's why I want to see my friends.

CLOONEY: (As Jay Kelly) It'll be so lonely here without you.

EDWARDS: (As Daisy Kelly) No, it won't. You're never alone.

CLOONEY: (As Jay Kelly) Really? I think I'm always alone.

MOSLEY: That was my guest, George Clooney, in the new movie "Jay Kelly" with actor Grace Edwards. You know, this particular part of the film, to a certain extent, I mean, almost every parent understands this moment. Your children are going off to live their own lives. They don't really want to hang out with you anymore. It's really bittersweet. But there's more to this dynamic because Jay has missed out on building that bond with his daughter, and it's because of his career. This movie is really asking us, when do you realize you've made the wrong trade-offs? And I'm really curious about what piqued your interest in exploring that question.

CLOONEY: You know, it's a funny thing 'cause I never really think - I never thought of it when I read the script as a story about an actor or a movie star even. It always read to me as something that sort of most people deal with in life, certainly if you have kids, which is that balance between work and your family. And, you know, I look back at things when I was growing up, and there was always - my father missed some ballgames that I did and some big events in high school in my life. My parents both did. And, you know, you could be bitter about it, or you could, as you get older, look back and realize, well, he was working. He was putting food on the table. And so there's always this balance that we're always trying to get right.

Clearly, you actually have to work. And clearly, you need to make a living, and there are opportunities that you have to follow. And always you look back and think, well, I think I maybe missed something there. And so we're all doing it. We're all balancing it. We're never getting it perfect. And this guy clearly didn't get any of it right, since he only focused on work and didn't focus at all on his family, you know?

MOSLEY: Yeah. There's this line that is kind of heartbreaking, at least for me as a working mom. It's where Billy Crudup's character says to you, we are only good parents when we make ourselves irrelevant. And there are so many lines like that. But how do you think about that as a parent, as someone who's had such a successful career?

CLOONEY: Well, it's a funny thing. The last thing they're aware of is my success, you know, at all. I even - my son went to Halloween this year dressed as Batman, which is a character I played, famously the worst Batman in the history of the franchise. And I literally said to him, you know, I was Batman. And he was like, yeah, not really.

MOSLEY: (Laughter).

CLOONEY: And he had no idea how right he really was. You know, I think that you - if you're successful, you do make yourself irrelevant. And that's probably the way it's supposed to be - right? - you know.

MOSLEY: Yeah. Around how old were you when you, as a working actor, understood that you were, quote-unquote, "famous"? And I ask that because this film really also grapples with some of the perils of fame.

CLOONEY: Well, I was working. I moved to LA in 1981, I guess, and I really didn't even get a job for the first three years. So that's a few - that's a hundred auditions that you don't get. A lot of nos. And then I started getting small parts - guest shots on a TV show or a really low-budget film in Budapest that no one ever saw and, you know, things like that where I was always bouncing around. And for about 10 years, I kind of did that, and some success. You know, sometimes you get too much credit when they say you were struggling for 15 years. Because the truth is, if you're working at all in my industry, you're beating the odds. There's - I don't know - a hundred and something thousand members of my union, and probably, I think, about 5% make about $5,000 a year or more. It's not a very lucrative - you know, it's - a lot of luck takes place.

And I'd done a few shows that - I did a show called "Roseanne." When it first came out, it was a huge hit, but I was, like, the tenth banana on that show. And then I did the pilot and then ultimately the show when I was 33 years old for "ER." And I'd been banging around long enough. I'd done seven other television series and 13 television pilots, and I'd knocked around. And then this show hit. And that had nothing to do with my brilliance as an actor. It had to do with the fact that we had a great time slot, which was Thursday night at 10 o'clock on NBC, which for 16 years only had two shows - "L.A. Law" and "Hill Street Blues." And so for us to get that time slot was a big deal. And then the show was a transformative show, and suddenly I had a career overnight.

And then literally within a month, we were on the cover of magazines and people suddenly knew your name, which is a very different thing than recognizing you. You know, you can recognize me from "The Facts Of Life." I'm that guy. But once they know your name, that was a difference. It's sort of like a bug light. You know, you run as fast as you can towards fame because it means options and work and no longer having to audition and all those things that are really exciting. And what you don't realize along the way is that there are also drawbacks to it. And those things you have to, you know, come to terms with along the way.

MOSLEY: Yeah. Those drawbacks, you've talked quite a bit about how you learned that - a lot of them early on by watching your aunt, who was a famous actress and singer. And you have mentioned that she experienced fame pretty early. So you were about 33. She was a teenager, 19. And you talk about how you knew that she had had a hard time with it. What did you know or learn about that growing up? How did you come to understand that she had had a hard time?

CLOONEY: Well, I knew my aunt mostly by rumor. You know, I lived in Kentucky in a little small town. She lived in LA in Beverly Hills. And she'd come to Kentucky three or four times in my growing up. So I knew her like, here comes the star, Aunt Rosemary. But I didn't really know her. And so how I found out about sort of her life and the struggles that she had was first of all through, you know, family telling us. But then also she wrote a book and talked about it, which was about her struggles, because, you know, she was really famous by the time she was 16 years old. They were the Clooney sisters. And they sang on television and then moved on to have her own solo career.

And, you know, pop music at that point, I think eight of the Top 10 singers were women in the late-'40s, early-'50s. And then rock 'n' roll came in. Elvis came in. And the Top 20 were all men, and she was out of the business. You know, she didn't suddenly lose her skill. She didn't stop being a good singer. Just the world stopped wanting what she did for a living. And so by the time she was 23 or 24 years old, you know, she was going in the wrong direction. And she didn't handle it well. You know, and drugs were a big deal. It started out as sort of Dr. Feelgood giving you sleeping pills and waking up pills.

MOSLEY: Bedtime, yep.

CLOONEY: And then she became addicted to that. And booze was a big deal. And she never lost her talent, but she lost a career. And for, I don't know, 25 or so years, really through the years when I was growing up - no one had heard of Rosemary Clooney when I was a kid in high school, you know? She was long out of the business. And then she had this resurgence because talent eventually caught back up. And she had this beautiful jazz career and had this incredible career as a singer late in life.

But it was a really good lesson for me in understanding how little success has to do with you on both sides of the spectrum. You're not as brilliant as they say you are when things are going well, and they do say that. And you're not as horrible as they say you are when things aren't going well, and they do say that. So it's a very helpful thing to understand that so much of this - you know, listen, if we hadn't had a Thursday night time slot, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation right now. That's sort of more than likely what would happen.

MOSLEY: Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, we're talking to George Clooney about his new film, "Jay Kelly," where he plays a world-famous actor taking stock of his life and the people he's pushed away. We'll continue our conversation after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF PAQUITO D'RIVERA QUINTET'S "CONTRADANZA")

MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. And today, I'm talking with Oscar-winning actor George Clooney. His new film, "Jay Kelly," follows a movie star who's forced to look at who he's become and what it's cost him.

One of the other things that was really fascinating to me about this movie in particular and touching on fame and really giving us a lens is the people. Like, every celebrity, every star kind of has people. And sometimes the people, there are a lot of people that are behind them. Sometimes they just have an entourage. It's kind of a small one. But something that your character Jay Kelly has done in his life is kind of design a world where everyone around him says yes to just about everything. And you have said that you have designed your life to be the opposite.

CLOONEY: The reality is I have an assistant, and I have a publicist, and I have an agent. I don't have a manager. I don't have a business manager. You know, but what I would say is, in fairness, some of those trappings were really, they're products of getting famous young. Because when you're young everybody says, well, you have to have a lawyer that takes 5%. And then you have to have a manager that takes 15% or 20%. And then you have to have an agent that takes 10%. And, you know, you have to have a publicist. And they go through all these lists of things that you need to do, and you do it. You're like, oh, OK. Yeah, of course, that's what I got to do.

If you're 33 and you're famous, you know, the arguments are, well, now I need a publicist because I have something to publicize, so OK. I don't need a manager because I have an agent. I don't need a business manager because I'm pretty good at understanding my own business. And so you're in a different position when you're older. And so you don't have to surround yourself with this coterie of people that hold everything up for you. And I actually pride myself on being able to be scrappy and fix things along the way and take care of most things on my own, yeah.

MOSLEY: The people around you, though...

CLOONEY: I say that as my assistant just brought me a cup of coffee while we were talking, so just so you know.

MOSLEY: (Laughter) Right, like a scene right out of "Jay Kelly." Yeah, absolutely. But I wonder, you know, you've been so intentional about having people around you that can also tell you the truth. Have there been moments in your life where someone close to you has had to point out something about yourself that you couldn't see?

CLOONEY: Oh, sure. Tons of times. I remember I was working on a movie. And the movie wrapped early, and I stayed around with the crew and, you know, drank. And I came home. I was drunk driving home, you know, which is never a good thing to do. I wasn't drunk, drunk, but I'd had too much to drink. And my buddy came over - two of my friends came over and sat down and said that can't ever happen again, dude. You can't ever get in a car when you've had too much to drink. And, you know, and of course they were right.

And, you know, it was, like, probably 30 years ago. But it was very helpful to, you know, have people that instead of, like, laughing about the fact that I'd had four beers instead of two and came home - and got home, you know, without getting in trouble for it - instead of thinking that was funny, they were like, dude, that's not cool. And you shouldn't do that again. And I appreciated that. And I took that to heart, you know? But I have friends that - you know, my friends have always been very straightforward with me. I'll do a project, you know, that I'll think works. And they'll say, yeah, I don't know about that one. And, you know, so I don't mind that. It's important to have that in your life.

MOSLEY: Yeah. How did you come to understand that that was what you needed, that that was actually important for you? And I guess it also says a lot about the company that you keep.

CLOONEY: Well, I will say this. I didn't do it because there was some great plan. I did it because, you know, I had no interest in being married and having kids, and I had an interest in working. I was very excited with having a career. I couldn't believe I was having one. And I had all of these friends who had been my friends when - you know, when you're a young actor and probably a young anything, you know, that's when you tend to make all your friends - either out of college or just after - and you make a lot of good friends. And then as time goes on and you get a job and you get married, you tend to lose a lot of them 'cause life gets in the way. Well, I didn't lose them. I worked very hard at making sure we had them because probably selfishly, since I wasn't getting married and wasn't having kids, I was wanting to have this family, this sort of created family. And I worked very hard at making sure that we all, you know, had dinners together and spent time together and checked in with one another. And we've all managed to stay close and be friends.

MOSLEY: There's this story that came out a few years ago that you gave your friends, people in your inner circle, money - like, a million dollars - and you made kind of a performance out of it. Did that really happen?

CLOONEY: It's funny. It was a few months before I went out on a date with a mom. And I didn't - you know, like I said, I didn't have kids. I wasn't married or had really no prospects of that idea. I wasn't really thinking about it. And I met with my accountant to say - to do my will, you know. And while I was doing my will, I said, so what happens when I, you know, get hit by a bus? And he's like, well, you know, you have to list who you're going to leave it to. And I have these - it's 12 guys, 12 friends who have been my friends since - all but two of them since 1982, and two of them since, like, 1989. And we've all been very close, and I was just going to leave the money to them.

And then I was sitting there with him, and, you know, again, I don't have any money to leave to anyone else. And I said, well, why are we waiting until I'm, like, you know, old or they're old, and why don't we just get on with it now? And so I got $12 million in cash, which was, you know, a big chunk of the money I had. I had it in cash. I paid all the taxes on it, so nobody had to pay any taxes. And I put it - put them in these Tumi suitcases, and I told everybody that they had to come over to dinner. It was a very special night.

And then I had a big map that I put up, and those Tumi bags were sitting in front of them at this dinner table. And I just said, so I don't get a job if I don't get to sleep on Tom's (ph) couch in Hollywood. And I don't get this unless I was in Westwood. And, you know, Giovanni, we met in Venice, and I put pins in all these maps, you know, all these spots on the maps of where we were and what we did. And I said, and how do you thank the people that gave you a career and allowed you to have a career and have stood by you for so long? And I said, you know, so - and then I said, open the bags, and I said, screw it. I said, just give them a million bucks. So it was a fun thing to do, and I was very happy to do it. And then, of course, I met Amal. We got married, and you're thinking, well, I just gave away a big chunk of money.

(LAUGHTER)

MOSLEY: Right, to start our lives. What a dream, though, George.

CLOONEY: Well, I mean, if you're going to spend that much money, you might as well make it a nice production.

MOSLEY: You know, Noah Baumbach said that he thought about you immediately when he was co-writing this. And - but one of the things that kind of seems clear is, while he thought about you, you're kind of the opposite of this character, Jay Kelly.

CLOONEY: Well, yeah. I mean, when he said he thought about me, and I read it and I said, well, this guy's kind of a jerk. I was like, wait, hang on a minute. No, I - you know, I'm sure he thought about who could play it as much as he thought about who the character is. You know, and you look at it, and I understand his thought when you're going to write and direct this story - he wrote it with Emily Mortimer - is that the lead character should be someone that the audience has some familiarity with or thinks they know. I think that's an advantage. And also, it's an age thing, right? You got to be in your 60s. And so I think there are only a few of us that sort of fit into that category, and I'm sure he probably thought about some of the others and they - you know, but he - I certainly felt lucky that he came to me. I can't tell you what an honor it was to be sent the script and to read it and think, well, this is a part that I would love to play.

You know, it's very rare. I know it does - it sounds unusual because I think everybody thinks when you're at a certain position in your career, that it's - just everything kind of always falls into place. It's really hard to find good scripts, you know? And the scripts are everything. You know, really good directors can't make a good film out of a bad script. You can make a bad film out of a good script, but you can't do it the other way around. So when you get a good script, it's rare, you know?

MOSLEY: My guest today is George Clooney. We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Tonya Mosley, and this is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE VELVET UNDERGROUND'S "RIDE INTO THE SUN (2014 MIX)")

MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Tonya Mosley. And I'm talking today with George Clooney about his new film "Jay Kelly." It's a story that blends humor, regret and self-reflection as a movie star as he confronts his past, literally stepping into the memories that shaped him. George Clooney has starred in numerous roles in film and television, with his big break as Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC Medical drama "ER," for which he earned nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and two prime time Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Clooney is also a two-time Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor in the 2005 film "Syriana" and for Best Picture for coproducing the 2012 film "Argo."

"Jay Kelly" comes on the heels of your record-breaking Broadway run just this past spring in "Good Night, And Good Luck." It's a production about Edward R. Murrow's showdown with Senator McCarthy that was eventually broadcast live on CNN. You made this film in 2005. It was a cautionary tale about McCarthyism and attacks on the press. But when you brought it to Broadway all these years later - you know, I remember watching it in 2005 and looking at it as a cautionary tale. But now it doesn't feel like history. It feels urgent, like we were watching it happen in real time. And I'm wondering, what was the moment when you realized this story about Murrow needed to be told onstage at this moment?

CLOONEY: Well, you know, there was an idea I had about the Fourth Estate because we were in the middle of the war in Iraq, and I'd been called a traitor to my country because I was against the war in Iraq. But I wrote it because I felt like when the other three estates of government, when the executive branch and the legislative branch and the judicial branch drop the ball, which had happened in the lead-up to the war, the Fourth Estate has to, has to pick it up - and has over the years, did in Vietnam, certainly helped in the Civil Rights Movement, during the McCarthy era with Edward R. Murrow. And so, well, I felt like it was a good time to reinvest and talk again about the importance of news.

And then as we were leading up to this new election, about May of - not this last May, but the May before, we'd gotten into conversation. Grant and I had decided to try to adapt it into a play. It's harder than you think because, you know, you can't just cut from one scene to another. You actually have to walk onstage from one place to another. And it's a very different kind of tale. But I thought that the themes were still really urgent. And I thought it was important to remind ourselves of how important telling the truth and holding truth to power was. And so we started working on doing the play with the intent that we would try to have it out by the first of the year, having no idea what the election would be, because either way, it seems like truth has become something that's negotiable suddenly.

That's the one thing that wasn't part of the narrative as much in 2005. What's become the narrative now is don't believe what you see. You can tell a lie and say it's fact now. And also, you can see factual things and say, well, those are fake. And those are dangerous. You see that happening in Darfur right now. Even though the people who are committing the crimes are actually posting video of the crimes, the government still says, well, no, that's not what's happening. We've seen it, obviously, in Ukraine. We saw it in Russia. We now see it in the United States constantly. And I feel like it was important time to talk about the necessity to dig down and constantly bear down on holding people with power responsible, no matter who's in power, by the way.

MOSLEY: In the film version, you played Fred Friendly. So he was Murrow's producer. And on Broadway, you actually got to play Murrow himself. Did you come to understand anything new or more about Murrow being in the role and playing him night after night?

CLOONEY: Not always. You know, I wrote it, so I had to understand as much as I could about those same spheres of influence that we're talking about. You know, there are very few times that someone had the power to actually affect policy, someone in news, for instance. When Walter Cronkite stepped out from behind the desk and said, this war in Vietnam is unwinnable - it's a tie at best - that's when President Johnson said, if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the country and decided not to run for reelection. When Murrow took on McCarthy, that was a moment when he was the most trusted man in America. And he said the emperor has no clothes. That actually changed public opinion.

And, you know, playing Murrow, the thing that was exciting to me was, in the play - which, it was very different, the play. It was much more urgent and much more about what we're dealing with today. And at the very end of the play, as Murrow, I got to stand in front of an audience of 1,600 people every night and look them all, each one, in the eye at the end and say, what are you prepared to do? And we would have violent reactions from the audience. People would be crying, and people would be yelling resist. And people would be standing up and cheering and screaming.

And it really felt like everybody in that room needed a place to wash their hands and face and remind themselves, not by my words, but by Murrow's words of who we are at our best, who we aspire to be, who we often fall short of, but who we also have accomplished. We have been the people that defeated fascism and Nazism. You know, we did do that. And it wouldn't have happened without us. At the exact same time, we were putting Asian Americans, Japanese Americans into camps. We're a very complicated country, which has huge goals and aspires to many of them and falls way short of many of them along the way.

MOSLEY: Those pronouncements that Murrow would make, I mean, they're very poetic, prophetic. For instance, there's the one, I simply cannot accept that there are, on every story, two equal and logical sides to an argument. That's one that I often think about. Are there lines that you can recite from memory that are meaningful to you, that you often think about?

CLOONEY: Well, sure.

MOSLEY: Yeah.

CLOONEY: We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men - not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate or to defend the causes that are, for the moment, unpopular. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are the defenders of freedom wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. I think that's an important phrase.

MOSLEY: When did you first learn that? Was it for the writing of this or had that been something that you had known for a while?

CLOONEY: My father used to stand on a chair when he was - I don't know how old - when I was 7, he would stand on a chair, and he would recite that speech from Murrow. My dad was a big Murrow - he was a big fan of Murrow's and he would do that and he would do Shakespeare when he'd stand on a chair for us when we were little kids to entertain us.

MOSLEY: That had to be, then, I mean, such a full-circle moment. What has your father said about your adaptations?

CLOONEY: Well, it's funny. He wasn't well enough to come to the play, which was heartbreaking, quite honestly, because really, it was written for him, you know, it was written for his standard and what he taught me and what he asked of me as a child and as an adult. But we got to do - we did it live so he could see it. And it was an interesting thing because he was there with a bunch of family members and watching it live. And at the end, he stood up and he saluted the television, which was a pretty beautiful thing for me and for us and for our relationship. He set the standard pretty high for me.

MOSLEY: Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, we're talking with George Clooney about his new film, "Jay Kelly." We'll be right back after a break. This is FRESH AIR.

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MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR, and today, we're talking with George Clooney. His new film, "Jay Kelly," follows a famous actor at a crossroads. Someone who spent decades in the spotlight but is suddenly forced to take a hard look at who he is off camera.

You know, you talked about this a little bit earlier, but I was thinking about how being a local TV personality, which your dad was, it really does come with its own level of fame. Not exactly what you encounter as a movie star, but there is a quality to it that everyone in the town knows who you are. You're kind of held to a certain standard, both in your home and outside the home. What was that like being a legendary news anchor's son?

CLOONEY: Well, it was a funny thing. You know, my dad was very well-known in Cincinnati, Ohio. I mean, that's - and before he was an anchorman, he'd done a variety show called "The Nick Clooney Show," and my sister and I would do commercials. You know, obviously, we never got paid, but we would do, like, commercials for Husman's potato chips and stuff like that - live. You know, it was all live. And if it was St. Patrick's Day, he'd dress me up like a leprechaun, and he'd interview me. You know, this must be a very big day for you. And I'd be like (imitating Irish accent) oh, to be sure. And I'd do my Lucky Charms accent.

So my father was - not my sister and I, but my father and mother both were well-known personalities in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is a relatively small market, about the 17th largest city in this thing. But he was making $12,000 a year, you know, so we weren't like - it wasn't like we had money. We just sort of had - my dad was just recognized everywhere we went. And so it was very much about, like, my mom made all of our clothes for us, but we had to dress up and wear nice clothes. So she made leisure suits for me...

MOSLEY: (Laughter).

CLOONEY: ...You know, that wouldn't have to wear it, like, [inaudible] So it was a very - some of it was about putting on a really good show for an audience that really loved particularly my father, who they knew very well. And when he was doing the news, he was trusted because he was honest and because he did hold truth to power. He went after the nuclear power plant that was in town that was a big industry, and going after that was a big problem at Channel 12, which was ABC Network at the time. And, you know, it was just - he was trusted and well-liked. You know, everywhere we went, it was like, hey, Nick, so, you know, you couldn't get caught with your finger in your nose or anything.

You know, you learned about being watched. And it was - listen, it was a great way to grow up because I learned how to fix things and live a normal life. And then if we went into Cincinnati, my dad was well-known and we'd - you know, we didn't get to go out to dinners very often 'cause we couldn't afford it. But we got - a big thing - it's funny, all my friends will tell you this. If we got to go out to dinner, which is, like, once a month or so, we knew how we were doing financially if my dad let us order a shrimp cocktail...

MOSLEY: (Laughter).

CLOONEY: ...As a starter.

MOSLEY: Yeah.

CLOONEY: And so, like - and I'd say to my dad, can we have a shrimp cocktail? And he'd be like, yeah, not this - not right now. And we'd go, OK. And we knew how things were going. And now, every time I go out to dinner with my friends, and they'll tell you, to a man, they would all say, you know, the first thing I order is a shrimp cocktail...

MOSLEY: (Laughter).

CLOONEY: ...And my friends go, having a good week? And I go, yeah, a good week. I'm addicted to it simply because it, to me, somehow in the back of my head represents doing OK.

MOSLEY: Yeah. Is it right that you considered following in your father's footsteps just for a hot minute? But that changed pretty quickly.

CLOONEY: Yeah. I lacked skill. I studied journalism in college. I was at Northern Kentucky University at the time studying journalism. And because I was Nick Clooney's son in Cincinnati, I got to cover a couple of - I got to do a couple of, like, reports, you know, one on the Cincinnati Bengals were playing in the Super Bowl. My God, it was, like, 1980. And I was allowed, at 19 years old, to do something that other people would have worked for years to have gotten a skill to do, you know, I was - jumped ahead in the line because I was Nick's son. And I was really, really bad at it. I didn't understand how to follow up and ask questions. I didn't understand how to close. And I realized that I was never going to be as good as my father was, and I was going to be held - I was going to be compared to him because, rightfully so, I was - the only reason I got there was because of my father. And so I had to quit that job, you know, immediately and try to find something else to do, which I didn't know what to do. I sold ladies' shoes at McAlpin's department store, and I sold insurance door to door, which is not a fun job.

MOSLEY: No (laughter).

CLOONEY: Although I will tell you, ladies' shoes was a little dangerous, too, 'cause it was like - there was a lot of lying about foot size at that point.

MOSLEY: Your dad actually tried - I mean, once you decided, you understood this is not for me and, you know, your path then led you to acting, your dad tried to talk you out of acting. He said 50,000 broadcasters were making a living and only 3,000 actors. And what I love about that is that that just shows that he is a journalist through and through because he got some facts...

CLOONEY: Yeah.

MOSLEY: ...To put behind his conviction. But...

CLOONEY: Well, he did.

MOSLEY: Yeah. What made you think that...

CLOONEY: He also, by the way - well, by the way, he also made up facts like that. That's all - you know, I don't even know if any of that is true.

MOSLEY: I need to fact-check that.

CLOONEY: I think that...

MOSLEY: Yeah.

CLOONEY: I doubt there were 3,000 actors working, and I certainly doubt there were 50,000 broadcasters. But I did - you know, my argument to him, and it's a funny thing as I'm 64 now - I said to him, I don't want to wake up at 65 years old and say, I think I could have...

MOSLEY: Wow.

CLOONEY: ...Which is a fascinating thing at 64 now...

MOSLEY: To be reflecting on.

CLOONEY: ...Where you go, oh.

MOSLEY: Yeah.

CLOONEY: Yeah. It's true, you know.

MOSLEY: Well, I guess the thing that I find fascinating or I just want to know is that - I mean, what really made you think back then that you'd be one of those 3,000 who could make it? Especially, you had already tried your hand in journalism, and you felt like you weren't good at that.

CLOONEY: I got a job as an extra on a movie in - down at Keeneland racetrack. My cousin Miguel had gotten a part in it, and I didn't really know him. I'd met him a couple of times, but I loved him because he was - lived in Hollywood. And he was doing a horse racing movie, so I went down, and they gave me a part as an extra. I think I made 25 bucks a day, which was - you know, I was thrilled. And then when it was over and he was going back to Hollywood, he said, you know, you ought to go to LA and be an actor. And I was like, OK.

And a couple of months later, I - you know, I took my 1976 Monte Carlo with rust all over it, and I - so I drove for, like, 40 hours, got to LA. And then I moved in with my buddy, a guy that I met, a guy named Thom Mathews. And he let me sleep on the floor of his closet of his one-bedroom apartment. And I stayed there for almost three years, 2 1/2 years, sleeping in that closet. And that was my sort of - that was my home, getting into - you know, going to acting classes and doing local plays and, you know, just banging around for a while.

So it was all - you know, it was an exciting - I mean, I can't explain to you what an exciting thing it is to chase something that you think you could succeed at, even though there's no reason to actually think you could succeed. You know, again, it's so many moments. All my friends in acting class were getting jobs, and I wasn't, and I was very jealous of all of them. And there's some similarities to the character that Billy Crudup plays in the film, you know.

MOSLEY: Right, because Billy's character is this person who didn't make it. He went on to become - he has, like, a normal job. I think he said he's a psychologist. But he's, like, the most talented - he was the most talented in those days when they were younger in an acting class. Did you have folks that you really admired, that you were like, that person is the one?

CLOONEY: It's never not been that way, right? It's a really funny thing. There were two or three actors in class who were by far the best actors. And if there was a - if there was justice in the world, they would have been the biggest stars because they were the best actors. That's why this is such a random thing. You know, if you study medicine and you spend six years studying medicine, when you're finished studying medicine, you're going to be a doctor. You can study for six years acting, be the best actor in acting class and never get a single job ever. In fact, that happens much more often than not.

MOSLEY: Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, we're talking to Oscar-winning actor George Clooney about his new film, "Jay Kelly." We'll continue our conversation after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE BAD PLUS' "THE BEAUTIFUL ONES (INSTRUMENTAL)")

MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. And today, I'm talking with Oscar-winning actor George Clooney. His new film, "Jay Kelly," follows a movie star who's forced to look at who he's become and what it's cost him.

You know, you really laid out for us some of the moral, like, complexities of life that your dad taught you and kind of to be sort of this stand-up man who stands for something. And I was just curious, when do you make the choice to speak out about the social and political causes that you support?

CLOONEY: In general, when I've been able to be personally involved, when I've been able to know or have some personal insight. But in general, it's when I feel like no one else is going to do it. That's kind of the thing. If someone else has got a certain subject covered, then I don't really need to do it. I don't need to be involved in everything. You can't pick up every fight. You lose all of the - you lose all of your clout if you fight every fight. You have to pick the ones that you know well, that you're well informed on and that you have - you know, that you have some say. And you hope that that has at least some effect. If it doesn't, at least you've participated, you know?

MOSLEY: Knowing that you knew something that you could share with the world, is that what made you decide to write that - the op-ed for The New York Times calling on President Biden to step aside in the presidential race back in 2024? Because you wrote, Joe Biden is a hero. He saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024. And it was an extraordinary public statement, asking someone who you actually called a friend to withdraw. And reflecting on your decision to write that op-ed and to speak so publicly about it at such an inflection point for our country, do you stand behind your decision to write it? Because, you know, there's also just the narrative where a lot of people feel like, well, celebrities, what right do they have to speak about such things, to step into this arena? And in this particular case, there were a lot of celebrities that stepped in to speak out about the presidential election. Like, what are your thoughts on that?

CLOONEY: Well, that's never not been the case, right? I don't give up my right - my freedom of speech because I have a Screen Actors Guild card. I spoke up when I - when no one was listening, when it was just somebody at the end of the bar. And I spoke up - I was out protesting and - against apartheid in 1982, when no one gave a damn who I was. I was - I grew up in 1960s, man. And so, suddenly, you know, you get well-known and it's like, OK, now, don't speak. I love watching some knucklehead, usually famous person saying, you know, shut up and drivel or, you know, any of those things, and you go, you realize that what you're saying is a political statement, right?

And by the way, here's the point. You get to say what you believe. You get to stand by what you believe. And everything people do with you is voluntary, right? Meaning there are going to be people now that won't go see this movie. OK, fair enough. That's the trade-off I make. And I can handle that. I believe in standing up for what you believe in and saying - telling the truth. The minute that I'm asked to just straight up lie, then I've lost.

MOSLEY: Without giving it away, there is a moment near the end of "Jay Kelly" where your character watches a tribute reel that uses moments from your actual films. Is it true that you didn't know that that was going to happen?

CLOONEY: No, I had no idea it was going to happen. And I was shocked. I thought he was going to do some sort of CGI, and it would be - I didn't know what he was going to do. But it didn't dawn on me he was going to use actual footage 'cause that felt a little too meta for me. And also, I'm not really thrilled about looking at, you know, myself with a mullet in 1984, but...

MOSLEY: It was a moving moment, though.

CLOONEY: It worked. Yeah, it really worked well. Well, look, he's a - he's really one of the great directors in the business, and he just directed the hell out of the film. And you just trust what he wants to do, and he made it work beautifully.

MOSLEY: What is it - I mean, learning that this was also literally the first time you were watching that retrospective of yourself and your real career, what's your takeaway when you watch this body of work that you've produced over so many years?

CLOONEY: Well, I don't - you know, it's a funny thing. I don't watch - when I was looking at clips, I don't see them as movies. I see them as memories of, oh, I met, you know, my friend Richard Kind on this shoot. I see it as moments in time. I remember the experience of making the film. I don't really see the film itself. And so it only just reminded me of how long I've known some of these people and how lucky I am to still have them as friends and those kind of things. I mean, most people don't get a career in my industry, and to have one that's lasted as long as mine has is, you know, unique. And so I was very happy to be able to look back and see such - you know, when you see some of the stuff I did early and the idea that I still have a career is astonishing, you know?

MOSLEY: George Clooney, this has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time.

CLOONEY: Well, thank you so much, and good luck. I think your show is just amazing. I'm so glad it's still running. I cannot appreciate what you do more. So thank you.

MOSLEY: George Clooney stars in the new film "Jay Kelly." It's out now in select theaters and will be streaming on Netflix starting tomorrow.

(SOUNDBITE OF NICHOLAS BRITELL'S "JAY KELLY THEME - QUINTET")

MOSLEY: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Briger. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Whistler (ph). Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Our consulting visual producer is Hope Wilson. Thea Chaloner directed today's show. With Terry Gross, I'm Tonya Mosley.

(SOUNDBITE OF NICHOLAS BRITELL'S "JAY KELLY THEME - QUINTET")

Transcripts are created on a rush deadline, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of Fresh Air interviews and reviews are the audio recordings of each segment.