George Clooney claps back at criticism that he only plays himself

George Clooney has a blunt response for anyone still questioning his acting abilities.

Lately, the 64-year-old movie star has been defending himself against criticism on all ends — including commentary from Oscar-winning filmmakers, movie critics, the President of the United States and, most recently, Hunter Biden. So when Vanity Fair pointed out that his versatility as a performer has come under fire, Clooney didn’t hesitate to clap back.

“Do people say that I only play myself? I don’t give a s—,” Clooney said flatly. “There aren’t that many guys in my age group that are allowed to do both broad comedies like O Brother [Where Art Thou?] and then do Michael Clayton or Syriana. So if that means I’m playing myself all the time, I don’t give a s—.”

He added, “Have you ever tried playing yourself? It’s hard to do.”

Clooney is next set to appear in Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, which sees him play a world famous movie star who faces a personal reckoning when he travels to an Italian film festival to receive an award. The actor noted that while he was onboard with the project within hours of reading the script, he did have a request for the director, who famously demands several takes from his actors.

“I literally said to him, ‘Noah, look, I love the script. I love you as a director, but I’m 63 years old, dude—I can’t do 50 takes,'” Clooney said. “I don’t have it in me. I’ve got the acting range from A to B.”

Elsewhere, Clooney came to the defense of his costar, Adam Sandler, noting that oft-comedic actor has been pigeonholed, and doesn’t always get recognized for his impressive dramatic turns.

“This film, more than any film Adam has done, shows what a beautiful, heartfelt, soulful actor he is,” Clooney said. “I kept telling the cast, ‘Don’t call him Sand Man. Don’t talk to him like he’s just some goofy comedian. He’s actually a really beautiful, wonderful actor.'”

He continued, “Because of what his paycheck is, which is doing big goofy comedies, when he does these other, beautiful, Uncut Gems kinds of movies, it reminds people of that. He’s not just a good comedian.”

Clooney is, at this point, no stranger to defending his reputation as an actor. In 2023, Quentin Tarantino was chatting with Deadline columnist Baz Bamigboye when he declared that while actors like Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are certainly movie stars, Clooney definitively isn’t. 

“It’s been a long while since I think George Clooney has drawn anybody to an audience,” Tarantino said at the time. “When was the last time that he had a hit in this millennial?”

Clooney responded a year later, when the director’s name came up in the midst of a GQ interview with Pitt, his Wolfs costar.

“Quentin said some s— about me recently, so I’m a little irritated by him,” he complained. “He did some interview where he was naming movie stars… And then this guy goes, ‘Well, what about George?’ He goes, ‘He’s not a movie star.'”

Clooney continued, “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—ing career.'”

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Indeed, Clooney has had several hits since the turn of the century, including the immensely successful Ocean’s trilogy, not to mention Oscar-nominated turns in 2007’s Michael Clayton, 2009’s Up in the Air, and 2011’s The Descendants. He won in 2005 for his supporting role in Syriana.

But none of those accolades stopped Hunter Biden from going after the actor in a recent interview that saw him slam Clooney for penning an op-ed criticizing Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election.

In the midst of his tirade, condemning Clooney for getting involved in Biden’s campaign, Hunter said, “I agree with Quentin Tarantino. F—ing George Clooney is not a f—ing actor. He is f—ing like… I don’t know what he is. He’s a brand.”