After the failure of the 1997 movie, the 57-year-old actor 'understood that I needed to take control of the films I made, not just the role.'
- Jun 6, 2018
AceShowbiz - George Clooney's 1997 movie flop Batman & Robin helped him turn his career around.
The critically-panned Joel Schumacher film is still a punchline for the Oscar winner, but he insists he wouldn't have had the success he has enjoyed as a director and producer if it wasn't for his turn as the Caped Crusader.
"Up until that moment, I was an actor only concerned with finding work," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "After the failure of that film creatively, I understood that I needed to take control of the films I made, not just the role. My next three films were Out of Sight, Three Kings and O Brother, Where Art Thou?".
But he'll forever be grateful for the character Dr. Doug Ross on ER, because that really launched his acting career after a series of false starts on TV flops.
"ER was the gamechanger for me," he explains. "I'd done seven TV series and 13 pilots, and nothing stuck. ER was such a phenomenon that it swept all of us up in it".
And, as for the future, Clooney has made it clear he will be acting less and making more movies - but there could be a theatre role that could drag him back to the stage.
"I did a lot of theatre when I was young," he adds. "I did a play at Steppenwolf Theater called Vicious. It's been probably 20 years since I was onstage. I loved it. Who knows? If something made sense I'd be interested".
The movie star will be honoured with the American Film Institute's 2018 Life Achievement Award on 7 June. His longtime friend Julia Roberts will present him with the accolade at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
