George Clooney and Renée Zellweger Rock W

November 9, 2007

Leatherheads costars George Clooney (one of my quintessential F.B.D.’s) and Renée Zellweger totally rocked the cover of W’s December issue, which hits stands nationwide on November 23rd. Here are some of the highlights:

George on backing Barack Obama in the next presidential election: “I spoke to him two days ago for a half hour. I think that he’s in that sort of doldrums, that midelection run, where you’re still trying to define what it is that you want to be.”

George on borrowing shots from directors he admires: “I sent apology letters to Mike Nichols and Sidney Lumet after Confessions because I just directly stole shots. But then I told Joel and Ethan that I’ve stolen shots from them, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, we stole that shot from Capra.’”

George on rewriting the script of Leatherheads to accomodate his age: “You can’t try to hide your age and you can’t try to pretend it isn’t there. You have to use it as a tool.”

George on Renée’s role in the upcoming film Leatherheads: “In movies, so often the guy gets to be the one with all the answers. In this one, she’s the smart one. Which was incredible acting on her part.”

George on directing Renée: “She’s my friend, so I can be really direct. I can say, ‘That’s not a good angle,’ and not try to manipulate her, saying, ‘Well, maybe you’d be looking off over there because the moon is shining.’”

George on encouraging gawker readers to post fake sightings of him: “They had 6,000 locations for me in the first day.”

George on working with master directors like Joel and Ethan Cohen and Steven Soderbergh: “[They] taught me everything I know. If you plan it out and work really hard, then it’s much easier to make films.”

Renée on her fear of letting George down in Leatherheads: “…He doesn’t even know how important his opinion has been to me over the years. I don’t want to disappoint him.”

Renée on George’s direction in Leatherheads: “I just get so proud that my head pops off. George is such a confident director, and he has no idea. And he’s a nice person. It gets boring hearing that, but it’s true. Every once in a while you get the real good guy. You’ve got your Jimmy Stewart. You’ve got your Paul Newman. Now you’ve got your George Clooney.”

Renée on gawker encouraging readers to post stars’ precise whereabouts: “Oh, I log on every day to see where George is. Oh my God, get your things! He’s at Barneys!…The problem with that is with his schedule these days, the sightings were all true. He was in all 6,000 places that morning—before lunch.”