George Clooney doesn't "give a s***" about criticism of his acting.
The 64-year-old star's versatility as a performer has come into question but the Jay Kelly actor insisted he doesn't care that people believe he is only ever playing a version of himself because he appreciates the diverse range of projects that come his way.
He told Vanity Fair magazine: "Do people say that I only play myself? I don’t give a s***.
"There aren’t that many guys in my age group that are allowed to do both broad comedies like O Brother [Where Art Thou?] and then do Michael Clayton or Syriana. So if that means I’m playing myself all the time, I don’t give a s***.
"Have you ever tried playing yourself? It’s hard to do.”
George suggested he has aged out of action roles because it would be "funny" to see him running after a bad guy now, and he welcomed his latest movie Jay Kelly, in which he plays a world famous movie star faced with a personal reckoning.
He said: When you’re an actor in my position, at my age, finding roles like this aren’t all that common.
"If you can’t make peace with aging, then you’ve got to get out of the business and just disappear.
"I’m now the guy that, when I go running after a bad guy, it’s funny—it’s not suspenseful. That’s okay. I embrace all of that.”
And while he was quick to sign on for the project, he did ask director Noah Baumbach - who is known for requesting multiple takes of a scene - to make the shoot less gruelling.
George admitted: "I literally said to him, 'Noah, look, I love the script. I love you as a director, but I’m 63 years old, dude - I can’t do 50 takes.'
"I don’t have it in me. I’ve got the acting range from A to B."
The former E.R. star is grateful that he didn't experience "blinding" success until relatively late in his career.
He said: “I’ve been the beneficiary of having my career not be massively successful in lots of different directions.
“I didn’t really get successful, in the kind of success that can be blinding, until I was 33 years old. I’d been working for 12 years at that point. I had a real understanding of how fleeting all of it is and how little it has to do with you, quite honestly.”
