Few Hollywood stars can boast the echo and fame of George Clooney. Having immediately become a mass icon for his role as Dr. Ross in the television series ER, the star who brought back to cinema the fascination for the retro look and the propensity for elegance has given his contribution to the seventh art boasting collaborations with some of the most important living directors, such as Terence Malick and the Coen Brothers.

The road to success then led him to receive the Oscar in 2006 for “Syriana” as best supporting actor, and several other nominations such as that for best actor in “Michael Clayton”. In addition to being named by Time magazine among the hundred most influential people for four consecutive years, Clooney has never overlooked the communicative impact and the hold on the public that comes from fame. Just last month, we remember his speech for the New York Times and the open letter addressed to President Joe Biden, urging him to withdraw from the race for the elections after the televised debate with the Republican candidate Donald Trump.

A few days ago, he gave an interview to GQ UK together with his colleague Brad Pitt to remember the September release of “Wolfs”, by director Jon Watts, which sees them together again in a thriller/comedy full of surprises. In addition to the promotion of the film, the exchange with the two actors revealed signs of a deep crisis in Hollywood, mainly due to the large companies that are increasingly taking control of small production houses, as happened with the American studio Paramount.

On this particular aspect, Clooney said: "Paramount is one of the original great movie studios. But in some cases you don't have a say. Because the business is being consumed. Like everything else, it's being eaten up by the big Walmarts and Amazons of the world. Our version of a small-town mom-and-pop store could be compared to Paramount."

Another point in question is that actors are no longer at the center of projects, and that production companies do not seem willing to invest in talent as they used to : "They have not developed stars like the system did years ago. We were at the end of this period, in which you could work in a studio and make three or four films, and there was a schedule. Today I don't think that's the case anymore. So it's more difficult to sell something to someone on the presence of an actor."

But at the same time, the star emphasizes that for new actors it is a positive time, because the amount of work is much greater than in the past: "But it is a fantastic time to be a young actor. Because when I was young, if you looked at the back of the LA Times every Monday morning there were 64 shows that had been made. And of those 64 shows, if you were in one of them, you were trying to be in the top 20 to keep your show on the air. But that was it. And then the movie studios were making five movies a year. Now there are 600 types of shows, between movies and series, so there is a lot more work for actors."

Brad Pitt also inevitably intervened , and he could not help but recall the experiences he had in the past alongside Clooney and other international actors such as Matt Damon. Citing an episode dating back many years, he revealed: «It's already been 40 years for us, which is scary. I remember talking to Matt Damon about it 25 years ago, when he made his first film and won the Oscar. I said to him: know that if you have a career of 10 years, playing at that level, it's an absolute blessing. No one can maintain it longer than that. So yeah, I'm surprised I still have the job».

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