Film 2000 - Thursday May 25, 2000
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Jonathan Ross: "Welcome aboard the good ship Film 2000. We're moored by a small coastal town in the south of France called Cannes, which, by strange coincidence, is playing host to 53rd International Cannes Film Festival. Lucky, that! Because this just happens to be the longest running film festival in the world. This year, almost 4000 journalists and 30,000 industry professionals flooded the town to see 120 brand new movies and pursue stars like Catherine Deneuve, Bjork, Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor and George Clooney for that exclusive interview. And it was Clooney more than any other star who seemed to drive the Cannes media pack wild with his Cary Grant-like charm offensive.
George Clooney was the interview that everyone was chasing and Film 2000 was one of the lucky few who caught him.
In Joel and Ethan Coen's screwball comedy - O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Clooney stars as escaping convict Everett Ulysses McGill alongside John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson as fellow fettered cohorts, Pete and Delmar."
[clip from the movie]
Sound
Jonathan: "Now I hear tell that you accepted the part without even reading the
script."
George: "Well, it's sort of true. I was working on Three Kings in Phoeniz, Arizona
and they came to Arizona to visit. I didn't know 'em, they came there to bring
me the script and they set it down on the table and they said [in high-pitched
voice], 'We wrote this and we wanna know if you wanna do it.' And I looked at
it and I said, 'Okay.' They said, 'Do you wanna read it?' I said, 'Eventually,
sure.' And they said [in high-pitched voice], 'Okay,' and then I sat there and
read it while they sat there and watched. It's great, it was so much fun."
Jonathan: "Now, I haven't met the Coen's, is that an accurate impersonation
of them or is this sort of a late puberty thing going on here?"
George: "Yeah, I just got through the....I'm going through the change, we call
it....[in high-pitched voice] They both kinda talk like this, you know, and
then they kind of, they....[laughs]....they laugh a lot like that."
[clip from the movie]
Sound
Jonathan: "What is it about the Coen's that inspires this confidence that you
would go into a project not having read the script?"
George: "Their history of films. I mean, if you look at their films, the things
that are considered failures for them....um, Big Lebowski and Hudsucker Proxy,
actors adore. I love 'em, I love those films. And that's where they're considered
their worst. And their best, you know, Fargo and Raising Arizona and Blood Simple
and films like that, Miller's Crossing, you know, are brilliant. So, when you
have that kind of history, they send you a script that's wonderful, you pretty
much know, you know, you can take chances and they will protect you."
[clip from the movie]
Sound
Jonathan: "I believe it's based on Homer's The Odyssey."
George: "The Odyssey. Well, here's the thing. I hadn't read the damned thing,
you know, so they told me that after and I thought they were kidding when it
said, you know, I thought it was just a joke when the script said, 'Based on....,'
you know, 'Homer's Odyssey.' So I read it, so I didn't get all of the references
like John Goodman is the Cyclops and the Sirens and the Seer and all that stuff,
I didn't understand it so then afterwards they made me, you know, they said
you should read, you should read it."
Jonathan: "For situations like this."
George: "For these exact situations where people come down and they test ya.
Jonathan: 'So what happens to Homer?'"
[clip from the movie]
Sound
George: "You found that you couldn't make it sort of methody and 1990's real,
you know, you had to sort of elevate it a little bit. It's interesting, the
guys all said [in high-pitched voice], 'I think you've gotta make it a little
bigger.'"
[clip from the movie]
Sound
Jonathan: "So you're gonna work with the Coen's again, you think?"
George: "Yeah, we've been talking about another project for next year."
Jonathan: "But am I safe in thinking there are no more Batman jobs on the...
..?" George: "I think I buried that franchise. I think that one's done."
Jonathan: "I'd like to think Schumacher's more responsible than you."
George: "I don't know. I'd love to blame somebody else."
Jonathan: "Well, I'll blame him on your behalf." George: "Okay, then you do
it."
Jonathan: "You're now absolved." George: "Thank you, I feel better."
[clip from the movie]
Jonathan: "O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a screwball comedy of the very highest calibre. If, like me, witty dialogue and superb timing are the feathers that tickle the soles of your feet, then you'll still be smiling long after you've left the cinema. It will be released in the UK in September."