George Clooney and Brad Pitt cover the latest issue of GQ and British GQ. The interview took place at Chateau Miraval, the French estate half-owned by Brad and half-owned by Yuri Shefler. GQ shot the cover and editorial there too. As it turns out, George and Amal have a place in the south of France nowadays too, and their place is only nine minutes away. Amal and the Clooney twins took a tour of Miraval and Amal wanders over mid-interview and “gives Pitt a hug” and talks up the estate. So… that’s what this is really all about. The Clooneys are saving Brad Pitt’s reputation. They’re saying, look, we love the guy, we love his French estate which is definitely not part of several multijurisdictional lawsuits and there are absolutely no French authorities conducting raids on the property because of Pitt’s poor record-keeping, money laundering and tax issues. The Clooneys are also saying: our kids love to hang out with Brad, they don’t care that his own children don’t want anything to do with him because of his violent abuse. You’d think all of this would give a rich backstory to the GQ profile. You would be wrong. Angelina Jolie’s name is only mentioned once, in passing, by GQ and never by Brad or George. Some highlights from GQ:
Clooney on being 63: “I remember when I was 20 years old and I heard somebody died at 63? I’m like: They lived a good life.”
Clooney on why he’s back to being an actor for hire: “The main reason is that it is a year on the road to direct, and now my kids are of a certain age. We’re not going to uproot our kids out of school and run around. Before that, they could just come with us and we would all go. But that’s different now. So now I’m going to just probably focus on other things, like acting.
Brad on working less to spend time at the chateau: “Well, now I’m doing one movie in a year and a half. No, I’m still kind of on the same trajectory. I feel the same. I’m really just trying to enjoy the people that I love around me and just living. [He gestures out at the vineyard.] I don’t know how to not sound cheesy about it, but just the air is fresh and the grass is green and I’ve just kind of become that guy a little bit.
George is surprised he still works: “I remember I talked to Damon about this 25 years ago, when he first hit with his movie and won the Oscar. I was like, “Just know that if you get a 10-year career, playing at that level, it’s an absolute jackpot.” Nobody sustains it much longer than that. So yeah, I’m surprised that I still have the work.
Clooney on getting fewer calls: “The phone stops ringing if your decision is that you want to continue to be the character that you were when you were 35, and you want a softer lens. But if you’re willing to, say, move down the call sheet a little bit and do interesting character work, then you can kind of – you have to make peace with the idea that you’re going to die! I will walk up to people and they’ll be like, “Oh, you’re older than I thought.” And I’m like, “I’m 63, you dumb sh-t!” It’s just: that’s life. And so as long as you can make peace with the idea of change, then it’s OK. The hard part is, and I know a lot of actors who do this – and you do too – who don’t let that go and try desperately to hold onto it.
Clooney on his real friendship with Brad: “Yeah, man, we’re friends. We’ve been friends for a long time. And it’s fun because we also check in on each other every once in a while, which is an important part of this. Things get complicated in life and you always have to make sure everybody’s OK.
Brad on his friendship with George: “George is probably the best at understanding, seeing the chessboard and the potential moves. I’ll call George on numerous occasions when things get bumpy.
George on Quentin Tarantino: “Quentin said some shit about me recently, so I’m a little irritated by him. He did some interview where he was naming movie stars, and he was talking about you, and somebody else, and then this guy goes, “Well, what about George?” He goes, he’s not a movie star. And then he literally said something like, “Name me a movie since the millennium.” And I was like, “Since the millennium? That’s kind of my whole f–king career.” So now I’m like, all right, dude, f–k off. I don’t mind giving him sh-t. He gave me sh-t. But no, look, we’re really lucky we got to work with these great directors. Director and screenplay is what keeps you alive. And I learned that after doing some really bad films. You can’t make a good film out of a bad script. You can’t do it. You can make a bad film out of a good script. You can f–k it up.
Brad on talking about how he was in AA: “Yeah, that was really cool. But you know they came down on me for that? AA did. They were like, “It’s anonymous.” I was like, “Well yeah, but if I want to…”
So much of the interview is just variations on these excerpts – two 60-something men talking about how old and famous they are and trying to joke around about everything. There’s no depth there – George isn’t asked about his recent ratf–king, Brad isn’t asked about anything personal involving his kids or Angelina. In fact, I’m sure it was a prerequisite for the dual interview: you’ll get Brad and George on the cover but you can’t ask them anything real. They’re promoting Wolfs, btw. Don’t watch it. Do the mute challenge on all of this.
Cover & IG courtesy of GQ. Additional photos courtesy of Backgrid.
