How George Clooney came to see himself as the Coen brothers’ unlucky charm
Filmmakers will often cast the same actors in different roles across productions, creating ongoing creative partnerships and associations with each other. Think Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, who have worked together across eight movies, or the myriad of actors who frequently appear in Wes Anderson’s roster of symmetric cinematic releases. While George Clooney isn’t the most recast actor to appear in the works of the (that accolade goes to Frances McDormand who has nine credits with the directors), he has appeared in five of their movies over 17 years, starting with 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou.
The Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, began releasing their acclaimed, darkly comic works in the mid-’80s with Blood Simple. Around ten years later, they gained widespread critical success with the release of crime-thriller Fargo and further cult following with the black comedy The Big Lebowski. The movie has gone on to be considered one of the greatest cult pictures ever made, and, with it, the duo cemented themselves as directing heavyweights.
George Clooney’s career began to take off around the time the Coen’s were releasing their first film, starring on the small screen, in dramas like E/R, and bit parts in a number of films through the mid-’80s before his first leading role in the 1992 comedy Unbecoming Age. Clooney began working with notable directors like Terrence Malick and Steven Soderberg, who cast the chiselled actor in one of his most defining roles, as Danny Ocean in Ocean’s Eleven. Despite being seen by some as a somewhat obvious money-grab, the movie has gained cult status over the years and it also saw Clooney partner with now longtime friend and collaborator, Brad Pitt.
With the production of O Brother Where Art Thou, the Coen brothers would give the directors a chance to follow up on two recent successes, but the film would fail to reach the heights of Fargo or The Big Lebowski, something Clooney now jokes he’s in part responsible for.
“Yeah, what they try to do is do a movie with me after they have had a big success”, the one-time Batman would joke, when talking during the promotion for 2008’s Burn After Reading, a satirical, dark comedy film that plays on post-9/11 suspicion and paranoia.
“O Brother [Where Art Thou] tanked and came right after Fargo“, he would go on to jab, claiming that he was their “go-to guy to bring them right back down to Earth.” At the time, the Coen’s had just received the highest accolades in their career, with No Country for Old Men being named ‘Best Picture’ at the Academy Awards in 2007.
When following up their western, which is now widely regarded as their best film, the brothers chose to make a very different movie with Burn After Reading taking a much lighter tone, and far less serious subject matter. Clooney would remark that given his track record with the director duo, mentioning his second film with them: “Intolerable Cruelty came right after The Man Who Wasn’t There, which got Oscar nominations”, and considering the recency of such a clear success that perhaps the bad luck would continue. “[They’re] winning everything so we’re in a lot of trouble.”
Of course, to label Clooney as their bad luck charm is susperstitious nonsense. However, to suggest that Clooney has perhaps a bad sense of timing feels, at least when considering awards season, rather apt.
