George Clooney has revealed that directing has taken a back seat to parenting.
The Oscar-winning actor, 64, who is a father to eight-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, made the surprising admission in a new interview about his latest movie, Noah Baumbach’s comedy drama Jay Kelly.
“I have eight-year-old kids, so I have to change my career choices — directing means ten months on the road,” Clooney told the Irish Examiner.
“Directing right now is not something I can do anymore, because I’ve got kids, and I’ve got to be home, and I want to be there for all of that. You make those decisions but it’s a lot easier to make those decisions later in life when you’ve sort of succeeded,” he added.
“It’s a lot harder for people who have to make those decisions when they’re trying to make their mark and trying to get to there. They are certainly decisions that are made a lot easier when you’re 64.”
In addition to having a prolific acting career, Clooney, one of Hollywood’s most bankable A-listers, has directed several movies over the years.
He made his directorial debut in 2002 with the comedy-thriller Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, followed by 2005’s Good Night, and Good Luck, which was recently adapted for Broadway. He last directed the 2023 sports drama The Boys in the Boat, a true story about the University of Washington’s rowing team that won gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics during the Great Depression.
Clooney shares his two children with British lawyer and human rights activist Amal, 47, whom he married in 2014.
Recently speaking to NPR, the Ocean’s Eleven star recalled being humbled by his son about his career choices. “My son went to Halloween this year dressed as Batman, which is a character I played — famously the worst Batman in the history of the franchise,” the ER alum said, referring to his 1997 Batman & Robin.
“And I literally said to him, ‘You know, I was Batman,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, not really.’”
Out now on Netflix, Jay Kelly stars Clooney as an aging movie star forced to embark on a journey of self-discovery after the death of his mentor. It additionally features Adam Sandler, Emily Mortimer, Riley Keough, Billy Crudup and Baumbach’s wife Greta Gerwig.
In the film, “Clooney seldom strays too far in his movies from his long-established persona as the handsome everyman,” The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote in a four-star review.
“However, if he is playing yet another variation on himself in Jay Kelly, at least he’s doing so in a far more raw and revealing way than he has ever done before. That’s why a film that looks in its early scenes as if it’s going to be unbearably smug ultimately tugs so hard on the heartstrings.”
Jay Kelly is streaming now on Netflix.
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