Overview
- Accepting the AARP Movies for Grownups Best Actor award for Netflix’s Jay Kelly, Clooney said he would be honored to work with Paul Dano, Owen Wilson and Matthew Lillard.
- Clooney framed his remarks as a call to decency, saying he loves actors and does not enjoy watching people be cruel, adding, “We are living in a time of cruelty… We don’t need to be adding to it.”
- The comments answered Quentin Tarantino’s December appearance on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, where he derided Dano as “the weakest” in SAG, said he “can’t stand” Wilson and dismissed Lillard.
- Coverage of the event noted no public response from Tarantino to Clooney’s remarks.
- The exchange follows prior tension, including Tarantino’s 2024 claim that Clooney “wasn’t a movie star,” which Clooney said in GQ left him irritated.