George Clooney touched down on the Lido last year for the world premiere of Noah Baumbach’s 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.
One year later, Clooney, 65, is back at the Venice Film Festival for a spin in the spotlight on the opening night for a bit of life imitating art. He will take the stage inside Sala Grande on Wednesday evening to receive the fest’s highest honor: a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. As is tradition for such a moment, Clooney braved the international media for an opening day press conference on Wednesday afternoon – 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 merger, the state of journalism, AI, deep fakes and more.
Getting 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. “Look, I’m always very optimistic about things, and we’re at a moment in time that’s unfortunate — I think that’s an understatement. I do believe that we’re going to get through all of this.”
