It’s George Clooney’s way or the highway

“It’s not hard for George to envision if the road had turned the other way,” said “Michael Clayton” writer-director Tony Gilroy, who felt that an actor who succeeded at an early age would be unable to get at the character’s core. “There’s something infinitely more sad about someone who you really feel has squandered everything. Here’s a guy who has skated on his looks and skated on his charms, and you realize he’s completely lost. He was perfect for that. ...

“We’re putting the camera right up his nose in this movie, all the way through. You can’t front a performance like this, you can’t front successfully that kind of fear of failure and that kind of self-loathing. He’s really there in this role.”

Co-star Swinton said Clooney is an easy screen counterpart, a performer who has figured out “what works for him, this sort of landscape within where he can be sincere and comfortable.”

Clooney is working again with Swinton on the Coens’ “Burn After Reading,” which also co-stars his “Ocean’s Eleven” chum Brad Pitt.

There’s a comfort factor in collaborating with trusted friends, including other frequent co-stars such as Matt Damon and Don Cheadle, also part of the “Ocean’s” gang, Clooney said.

“There’s a bunch of actors who can be really good in a film, but they will make everyone suffer, or the director suffer, because it becomes about them. Some of them thrive in this world where things have to be going wrong, other people have to be unhappy, for you to get your performance out. When you find people who aren’t like that, you tend to like to work with them.

“Also, there’s a funny thing that people tiptoe around you when you get famous, but we don’t have to tiptoe around each other. So Matt gives me a really hard time all the time. I give him a really hard time. But that’s because that’s also fun.”

A lighter affair
Fun was the idea behind “Leatherheads,” Clooney’s latest directing effort, a lighter affair than his previous two. A revival of old screwball comedy, the film is built around a romantic triangle that Clooney jokes he stole from “The Philadelphia Story.”

Set in the 1920s, “Leatherheads” stars Clooney as a pro football player who recruits a college star (Krasinski) for his team, the two ending up contenders for the affection of a reporter (Zellweger) doing a story on the sport’s new golden boy.

Though once married and divorced, Clooney is considered one of Hollywood’s most-eligible bachelors. He said getting married again and having a family are not conscious priorities, preferring to leave that to fate.

“I don’t actively pursue any of that stuff, because I think if it turns around and finds you then it turns around and finds you,” Clooney said.

His focus is on work, and a lot of it. Clooney knows from his own family how fleeting fame can be, so he views his time now as a narrow window of opportunity to make the sort of films he wants.

“My aunt Rosemary was the biggest star on Earth, and then she was a flop because rock ’n’ roll came in and pop music went out. She didn’t become less of a singer. In fact, she became a better singer, but it didn’t matter. Things change. So understanding that is a really important element to what it is I do,” Clooney said.

“I’m going to force people to make films they don’t want to make. Believe me, no one’s encouraging us to make ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ or ‘Syriana’ or ‘The Good German’ or ‘Solaris.’ To me, the idea is there’s a period of time that I have where I’m able to force-feed films down people’s throats, and I don’t know how long that lasts. So I’ve been sort of on a mad rush to try and slam films down that I’d like to see made.”

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