Young actors have “a lot more opportunities than ever before” thanks to the growth of streaming, George Clooney said as he and Brad Pitt arrived at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday for the out-of-competition screening of their new film “Wolfs.”
The action comedy will not be widely screened in cinemas, but will be available exclusively on Apple TV Plus starting September 27, with limited screenings in some US theaters before that.
Clooney, 63, joked during a press conference with Pitt in Venice that the decision clearly showed that he and his colleague were “on the decline.”
Young people have more opportunities than in the past.
“We need online video,” he added more seriously. “Our industry needs it. It’s part of what we do. But streaming platforms also benefit from movies being in theaters, so Brad and I worked hard to get the movie out in theaters.”
“It’s a revolution in our industry, but we need Apple and Amazon, and they also need distributors in theaters. They need Sony and Warner Bros., who have been in this business for a century,” he continued. “We will find the solution, even if we don’t have it completely yet.”
The actor noted that the growth of streaming is a positive development for actors, however, “and I’m very happy for young actors because I feel like there are a lot more opportunities than before, or at least than there were when I was young.”
Brad Pitt, 60, said, “We always romanticize the moviegoing experience, but I love streaming, because it allows more stories, more talent, to be seen by more people.”
In “Wolves,” directed by Jon Watts, Clooney and Pitt play two outlaws who are tasked by their clients with cleaning up a crime. They are forced to work together to dispose of the body of a young boy in the hotel room of a powerful judge, but things go awry.
Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race welcomed
On the other hand, Clooney welcomed US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race for the White House, and called for praising the “most noble step” of withdrawing his nomination in favor of Kamala Harris.
When asked about the subject during the press conference, he replied, “The person who should be praised is the president who initiated the most lofty plan (…) since George Washington,” the first American president (1789-1797).
Clooney, who supports the Democratic Party and contributes significantly to its fundraising, was one of the first prominent supporters of the party to call on Biden to withdraw from the presidential election race on July 10, due to doubts about his health and mental state.
“I love Joe Biden,” the actor wrote in The New York Times weeks after he and other Hollywood stars attended a fundraiser for the president’s campaign. “But we need another candidate.”
“What we have to remember is the high-handed act of someone who… gave up power, which is very difficult,” Clooney said Sunday.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(722x134:724x136)/chris-martin-dakota-johnson-011725-1-dc753811e0d7410aaab82863e14815bc.jpg "Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin Hold Hands, Shut Down Split Rumors (Exclusive Photos)")
