George Clooney Has a Bone to Pick with Quentin Tarantino
George Clooney fired back at Quentin Tarantino in a new interview with GQ over comments the director made about him in an interview with Deadline in July 2023. (You gotta love rich people problems, right?)
Last year, Tarantino talked with Deadline about how studios don’t seem to invest in actors anymore to help them become “movie stars.” This then led to Tarantino talking about certain actors who he considers to be today’s “movie stars.” Among them are Margot Robbie, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington and Harrison Ford.
Deadline’s Baz Bamigboye then posed to Tarantino whether he considers Clooney to be a movie star. Tarantino responded with, “Well, it’s been a long while since I think George Clooney has drawn anybody to an audience. When was the last time that he had a hit in this millennium?”
If we’re talking significant box office hits, Clooney’s IMDb page points to 2013’s Gravity as being the last time he really drew people to movie theaters. The film, which also starred Sandra Bullock, grossed $274 million domestically and $773 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. So, perhaps Tarantino has a bit of a point…
Not so fast, says Clooney to GQ in his recent interview, which was also with the aforementioned movie star Pitt. The topic of Tarantino was brought up in the scope of how both Clooney and Pitt seem to be go-to actors for certain directors. GQ’s Zach Baron cites Clooney as being a go-to actor for the Coen brothers, while Pitt is a go-to for David Fincher and Tarantino.
This led to Clooney touching on how Tarantino “said some sh-t about me recently.” When Clooney mentions how Tarantino alleges he hasn’t had a hit movie this millennium, he says, “That’s kind of my whole f—ing career.”
Clooney concludes, “So now I’m like, all right, dude, f— off. I don’t mind giving him sh-t. He gave me sh-t.”
To Clooney’s point, if we’re talking about all of his movies that have come out this millennium, which means since 2000, he has had plenty of hits. 2000’s The Perfect Storm was a hit. All of the Ocean’s films were major draws at the box office. There’s also critical darlings like 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? and 2005’s Good Night, and Good Luck and Syriana. 2009’s Up in the Air was a critical and commercial success.
Perhaps, Tarantino was talking from a point of “what have you done for me lately,” which is a seemingly constant attitude in the entertainment industry, period. But the idea of George Clooney not being a movie star seems to be a mild stretch. Then again, when you have Clooney’s business acumen which has led to him having a net worth of around $500 million, he doesn’t necessarily need to continue to be a box office draw to matter.
