George Clooney Was Once Cast in a Horrible Film After Lying to a Casting Director About His Acting Resume
Actor George Clooney has come a long way thanks to hits like Ocean’s 11 and The Descendants. But when he was first staring out, the actor was so determined to establish himself in the industry that he was willing to lie.
But the lie caught up with him pretty quickly, and led to him starring in a horrible film.
George Clooney became an actor by accident
Many actors become passionate about being in the industry from their childhood years. But for Clooney, acting was the furthest thing from his mind as a child growing up under modest means.
“We didn’t have a lot of money. My mom made my clothes for me. So, it was understanding, though, we never felt poor. And we felt as if we were very lucky. And we felt as if that luck should be shared with people who weren’t as lucky,” Clooney once said in an interview on CNN.
Although he wasn’t into acting, lessons he learned from childhood were applicable to many areas in Clooney’s life. Including storytelling.
“It was always the idea that we have to participate in other people’s lives. That teaches you, not just about storytelling in general, but kind of how you want to carry on with your life as you go forward,” he said.
Later on, however, he would receive a visit from his cousin Miguel Ferrer who was an actor. After Clooney’s cousin invited the actor onto set for a film he was shooting, Ferrer suggested to the Return to Horror High star to pursue the profession.
“So, that’s sort of how it happened. Just really by accident, in a way. I was cutting tobacco at the time,” he added.
George Clooney was once cast in a horrible film after lying to a casting director
In the beginning of his career, Clooney was determined to find his big break. One of his first steps he needed to take was becoming a member of the Screen Actors Guild. So when the opportunity presented itself, he was eager to do whatever it took to acquire membership. Even if that meant lying.
“You couldn’t get a job without getting into the Screen Actors Guild, so everybody would make up these credits just to get in,” Clooney once said according to Contact Music. “I remember lying to a casting director about this movie Cat People. She was like, ‘You were in that?’ I was like, yep, and she goes, ‘Because I cast that.’”
Clooney was eventually able to convince the casting director to put him in a film. But it wasn’t a film the Syriana star was too proud of.
“I finally just said, ‘I can’t get in the SAG. Help me!’ She helped me get a job on a film called The Predator. The movie never came out, that’s how bad a film it was. But I got my SAG card,” he recalled.
George Clooney once revealed the worst experience he’d ever had filming a movie
Clooney has starred in a variety of films in his long career, with some more critically successful than others. But there was one movie he shot that stood out for the Batman and Robin actor. In 1999, Clooney co-starred alongside Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube in the war movie Three Kings. The film was being directed by David O. Russell, who Clooney chastised because of the way Russell treated others.
“He yelled and screamed at people all day, from day one,” Clooney said in a 2000 interview with Playboy (via Clooneys open house).
Eventually, the two would soon clash over Russell’s behavior, with Russell getting physical with the star.
“He goes, ‘Hit me, you p****. Hit me,'” Clooney said. “Then he got me by the throat and I went nuts. Waldo, my buddy, one of the boys, grabbed me by the waist to get me to let go of him. I had him by the throat. I was going to kill him. Kill him. Finally, he apologized, but I walked away. By then the Warner Bros. guys were freaking out. David sort of pouted through the rest of the shoot and we finished the movie, but it was truly, without exception, the worst experience of my life.”
