George Clooney in Venice

Posted 12 years ago by myetvmedia

A Discussion with George Clooney and Cast about ‘Ides of March’ at the

68th Venice Film Festival

This is a great opening night film. Is it a political film? How personal are your films?

George:

“I do not think of this as a political film, it is really about what are you willing to trade your soul for an outcome?”

Is this a film personal film?

“Many of my films are very personal, … ‘Good Night and Good Luck’ and I am very proud of these. Yes if you spend 4 or 5 years making a film, it is personal.”

In politics there is a lot of money and power and is a big part of the story.

Have you thought about getting into politics? And the title?

“The 15th of March is the Ides of March and the themes seemed somewhat Shakespearean. I will leave it up to everyone else to decide who is Brutus, Caesar…”

“I have no interest in running. There are great people and they have a difficult job but I have a great job, get to meet very seductive people.”

“Trying to do the right thing but in the end having to make compromises.”

“We were able to put to gather such an incredible cast which made the job very easy.”

Did you approach this as a cautionary tale about American politics or about the state of the world?

“Grant and I were working on a morality play. Do the ends justify the means?”

“Grant and I took a piece we were working on and gave it a home. The current temperature in our country is that it is a very difficult to govern. Cynicism is winning over idealism right now but we fix things, so we will fix this eventually.”

How did the cast come onboard?

“Ryan Gosling was the first person cast and then everyone else came along. The film has a $12million budget so when we pitched film, the cast made a huge difference in getting the financing. It was not just a political film.”

“I enjoy directing especially directing myself and it is a lot easier when you have really wonderful actors.”

“Every country relates to some sort of political sex scandal and I will not be advising anyone to see it, as I should not be advising anyone – ever!”

“There is a huge difference between Hollywood and Washington. The people governing us have a much more important position…”

Press Conference in Venice

Official Trailer

Gallery

  • VENICE INT'L FILM FEST 2011
  • VENICE INT'L FILM FEST 2011
  • George Clooney
  • VENICE INT'L FILM FEST 2011

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