No Hollywood star seems as intrinsically linked to Venice as George Clooney.
Twenty-six years ago he attended his first Venice Film Festival with the instant classic ‘Out of Sight’; He made his debut here 19 years ago with his second film, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which earned him his first nomination for best director; and ten years ago he exchanged vows there with the then Amal Alamuddin, at the Aman Venice, a five-star hotel on the Grand Canal.
Venice is a city that he, like many, considers one of the most beautiful in the world. Unlike most people, he also owns a 15-bedroom villa a few hours away on Lake Como, which famously starred in ‘Ocean’s Twelve’.
While never that far from Venice, or the city’s eponymous film festival, it may come as a surprise that Clooney hasn’t had a film debut there in seven years. But that clock will be reset next week when he returns with “Wolfs,” the Jon Watts-directed heist thriller that reunites him with Brad Pitt.
It will also not be the first time that Clooney and Pitt have graced the red carpet of the festival together. Ahead of his big return, here are some of Clooney’s most memorable moments in Venice.
Legend has it that Clooney’s long love affair with Venice may have begun with the festival premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s Elmore Leonard adaptation “Out of Sight.” When he was 37 and standing next to Jennifer Lopez in the press, the actor would soon make another big leap: he would leave ‘ER’ in February.
This Coen brothers joint, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, premiered out of competition at the 60th Venice Film Festival, alongside titles such as ‘Matchstick Men’, ‘Once Upon a Time in Mexico’ and ‘The Dreamers’. Clooney’s nearby Italian residence was as famous as he was, and a staging ground for amateur and professional paparazzi.
In a profile that fall, during the filming of “Ocean’s Twelve,” Vanity Fair writer Ned Zeman noted: “That an affable, self-effacing, Kentucky-born Hollywood actor is fast becoming the most popular public figure in Italy , says something about Italy and a lot about Clooney, who is not Italian, does not speak Italian and only lives here in the summer.”
Clooney’s critically acclaimed black-and-white dramatization of journalist Edward R. Murrow’s clash with Joseph McCarthy began its successful competitive run at the 62nd Venice Film Festival. Although it lost the Golden Lion to Ang Lee’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’, the film still received six Oscar nominations, including for Clooney’s direction. He will also make his Broadway debut in an adaptation next year.
During the trip he also inspired a cocktail that is still served at the chic Belmond Hotel Cipriani on Giudecca. One evening he retreated to the hotel’s Gabbiano Bar, where his friend, legendary bar manager Walter Bolzonella, mixed him a drink of lemon, sugar, vodka, cranberry juice, ginger and Angostura bitters and called it Buona Notte to honor of the film. The two would later name a Prosecco, passion fruit and elderflower cocktail La Nina after Clooney’s mother, which was served at his wedding.
Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton,” which earned Clooney an Oscar nomination for his turn as the titular law firm fixer, was playing in competition in Venice. The top prize again went to an Ang Lee film: ‘Lust, Caution’, which also won. such as ‘I’m Not There’, ‘Atonement’ and ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.’
This Coen brothers comedy starring Clooney and Pitt chose to debut out of competition on opening night. He said it completed his “trilogy of idiots” he had done for the Coens, including “Intolerable Cruelty” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” “Looking at the roles we play, I am very concerned about what you think of us,” said Clooney at the press conference, who had won the festival’s acting prize the year before, adding: “Just like George… I Not sure if I should be flattered or insulted.”
Another opening night, out-of-competition debut for this Clooney-directed campaign thriller starring Ryan Gosling and Philip Seymour Hoffman. As usual, Clooney was peppered with political questions, noting that “it is a very difficult time to govern.”
Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity opened the 70th edition of the Venice Film Festival before winning seven Oscars. Clooney was, of course, at the premiere with Sandra Bullock, and he was self-deprecating about his role: “There were only two parts and Sandy had the other one, so I felt like that was the only one I could get away with.”
The canals were packed with paparazzi for the wedding of one of Hollywood’s favorite bachelors. On September 27, Clooney, then 53, and Alamuddin, then 36, exchanged vows in front of 100 of their closest friends and family, including Bono and Matt Damon, at the luxury Aman Grand Canal hotel, originally a grand palazzo built in 1550 .She wore a custom Oscar de la Renta gown made of French lace, pearls and diamanté accents. He wore a black wool/cashmere tuxedo by Giorgio Armani.
Clooney returned to the festival with another of his directorial projects, “Suburbicon,” a darkly comedic satire about a seemingly idyllic 1950s community starring Damon and Julianne Moore. This festival was especially notable because it was the Clooneys’ first public appearance since the birth of their twins, Alexander and Ella, a few months earlier.
This time, George was the plus for Amal, who received an award from the Diane von Furstenberg and Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation for her work as a human rights lawyer. The power couple gave last year’s festival some much-needed star power amid the actors’ strike with a performance at the adjacent DVF Awards. “I am here in Venice with my husband; he is a rising star,” she said that evening. “I just wanted to say: you, my love, just like this city, breathtaking.”
