Following last year’s Hollywood strikes, George Clooney is offering a bit of pay transparency about his latest role.
The Academy Award winner referenced “an interesting article” by The New York Times that falsely reported he and co-star Brad Pitt were each paid more than $35 million for the movie as he spoke at a Venice Film Festival press conference on Sunday.
“Whatever her source was for our salary, it is millions and millions and millions of dollars less than what was reported,” noted Clooney. “And I am only saying that because I think it’s bad for our industry if that’s what people think is the standard bearer for salaries. I think that’s terrible, it’ll make it impossible to make films.”
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His comments come after last years WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes shed light on how poorly the industry has paid talent over the years, as Clooney previously emphasized that “actors and writers in large numbers have lost their ability to make a living” in a statement last July.
“This is an inflection point in our industry,” said Clooney at the time. “For our industry to survive, that has to change. For actors, that journey starts now.”
In Wolfs, written and directed by Jon Watts, Clooney and Pitt star as two competing fixers who are hired to cover up the same high-profile crime and forced to work together as the night starts spiraling out of control.
The movie earned a five-minute, 35-second ovation during its world premiere on Sunday in Venice.
Clooney also commented on Apple’s decision to give the film a limited theatrical release on Sept. 20 before it premiere Sept. 27 on the streaming platform, admitting it’s “a bummer” the film won’t see a wider release. “Yes, we wanted it to be released [in theaters],” he said.
“We’ve had some bumps along the way, that happens. When I did The Boys in the Boat, we did it for MGM, and then it ended up being for Amazon and we didn’t get a foreign release at all, which was a surprise,” added Clooney. “There are elements of this that we are figuring out. You guys are all in this too. We’re all in this industry and we’re trying to find our way post-COVID and everything else, and so there’s some bumps along the way.”