Awards Shows Could Suffer in WGA Strike

Without the quips between celebrity presenters, inside jokes about the entertainment industry and skits that poke fun at stars behaving badly, awards shows would be little more than shiny trophies and long lists of names.

That could be the case for some of the shows in Hollywood's fabled awards season this year if the Writers Guild of America remains on strike for several months.

Things get under way Sunday with the American Music Awards, which will air live on ABC. The script was written before the strike began last week, but without writers to make revisions, it won't include any topical quips from host Jimmy Kimmel.

"We were aware of the impending WGA strike and planned accordingly," said producer Larry Klein in a statement.

They were also lucky to be the first out of the gate.

December is nominations month and therefore writing time for the Grammys, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards, with the Oscars nominations coming Jan. 22.

People behind awards shows say it's too soon to say how the strike will affect their programs, but they're likely to feel the pinch when nominations are announced. That's because writing typically begins once the nominees are known, said Ken Ehrlich, who has produced more than a dozen Grammy and Emmy shows.

"With the Grammys, it comes down to who's performing on the show. Same thing with the Emmys; it depends on who you're going to book to present," he said. "It can't really be canned because it's got to be tailored to the people who are saying it."

During the writers strike of 1988, the Oscars still went on but that situation was different from today. Back then, the show's script had been written before the strike began and remained essentially unchanged throughout the telecast. Writers Guild members who appeared on the show were allowed to ad-lib, but were cautioned against writing any new material.

It would be impossible, though, for an Academy Awards script to have been written before the 2007 WGA strike began, as the year's Oscar-qualifying films are still being released.

Spokeswoman Leslie Unger said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hasn't even reached the planning stage yet. "Our show is a number of months off and we have no way of knowing if or how (the strike) will impact us," she said.

It also may be difficult for the Academy Awards to "find people who will perform on the show who aren't members of the Writers Guild," said veteran writer Bruce Vilanch, who has worked on the Academy Awards for the past 18 years. "Most standup performers write for themselves and when they have shows, they get a writing credit."

Nominees for the Golden Globe Awards will be revealed Dec. 13, and the script begins the following day, said executive producer Barry Adelman.

"We're hopeful the issues pertaining to the ... strike will be resolved to everyone's satisfaction before then," he said in a statement. "We intend to explore all of our available options in the upcoming weeks."

Some shows employ a dozen or more writers, Vilanch said, with starting "a couple months" before showtime and continuing until the final curtain falls.

"You're responding to what happens during the course of the show, so there's writing going on all evening long," he said, adding that nearly every part of the program is the work of the writers "anything basically except an acceptance speech."

"If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage," he said. "The contribution the writers make is the same contribution every other creative element makes. It's important."

The Screen Actors Guild could find itself writer-less, too. Nominees will be announced Dec. 20, and "the majority of writing is done after we have the nominations announcement," said spokeswoman Rosalind Jarret.

Jon Stewart, whose "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central has been in reruns since the strike began, had no comment on how it might affect his duties as host of the 80th Academy Awards.

Even the Writers Guild is unsure about the strike's impact on the upcoming awards season.

"Many of the awards shows are written under WGA contracts," said spokesman Neal Sacharow, "and how the strike will affect those shows remains to be seen."

However, Vilanch is sure of one thing: Awards shows would be dull without writers.

"There might be a show where people just kind of come out and read the names and give the awards, and in between you have some lovely production numbers," he said. "I bet choreographers are just champing at the bit."

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Bush Tops Film Threat's Frigid 50 List

He's not exactly a movie star. He doesn't even play one on TV. But President Bush nonetheless has been named the coldest person in Hollywood.

The online magazine Film Threat placed Bush at the top of its "Frigid 50," an annual ranking of the "least-powerful, least-inspiring and least-intriguing people in Hollywood" in contrast to the "hot" lists that celebrity magazines often compile.

Film Threat's editors point out that Bush has been parodied in movies like "Transformers" and "American Dreamz" and scrutinized in documentaries such as "Sicko" and "No End in Sight."

"With all due respect to Hollywood," they wrote, "the mighty W is as much a cinema celebrity as the next despotic tyrant."

Coming in at No. 2 is someone who's a perennial fixture on those lists of the hot, sexy and powerful: Angelina Jolie.

"Traveling the Third World with a small army of stylists and publicists, the one-time Lara Croft feels like an unholy mix of Mother Teresa and Paris Hilton: Look at the poor, but make sure you get me in my best light," the magazine says. "Ironically, more people saw her in Cambodia or Namibia than in `A Mighty Heart.'"

Also making the "Frigid 50" are Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Hilary Swank for their less-than-stellar film choices of late, and Jon Heder who "hasn't made a single good movie" in the three years since "Napoleon Dynamite" made him a cult figure.

The "winners" in previous years include Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Michael Moore and Freddie Prinze Jr.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Openings a Casualty of Broadway Strike

No talks. No comment. And no opening nights.

Wednesday was to have been the New York premiere of "The Farnsworth Invention," the eagerly anticipated return to Broadway of playwright Aaron Sorkin, the creator of such television shows as "The West Wing" and "Sports Night."

Instead, the Music Box Theatre, one of Broadway's most elegant playhouses, sits dark along with 26 other theaters as Local 1, the stagehands union, and the League of American Theatres and Producers remain deadlocked in the fifth day of an acrimonious contract dispute.

Neither side is talking to the other. Silent pickets stand in front of locked theater lobbies. Other unions, including Actors' Equity and the musicians' local, have lined up in support of the stagehands. Even Broadway press agents, instructed by their own union to honor Local 1's picket line, are silent.

"The Farnsworth Invention," Sorkin's look at the birth of television starring Hank Azaria, wasn't the only opening scheduled this week. "The Seafarer" by Irish playwright Conor McPherson had been set for Thursday. It, too, is shut, and its opening uncertain.

McPherson, author of "The Weir" and "Shining City," says the challenge now is to psychologically stay ready even though the actors aren't allowed to rehearse at the theater. "We'll be doing our best to sort of get together and talk about it and keep our chin up," he said.

Previews, which began in late October, stopped after last Friday's performance.

"I'm confident that if we get a chance to open, it should be all right," the playwright said. "We'll just keep our fingers crossed and pray pray that the testosterone levels drop on both sides of the strike and see how it goes."

"August: Osage County" imported from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, had an opening planned for next Tuesday. But the play by Tracy Letts also went dark in mid-previews, and its producers have offered to fly the Chicago actors home for the duration of the walkout.

In a gesture of support, Second Stage Theatre has offered a little bit of off-Broadway hospitality to the Steppenwolf actors. Carole Rothman, its artistic director, has set aside 15 tickets for the Wednesday matinee performance of "Edward Albee's Peter and Jerry" for the Chicago performers who remain here.

The contract dispute has focused on how many stagehands are required to open a show and keep it running. That means moving scenery, lights, sound systems and props into the theater; installing the set and making sure it works; and keeping everything functioning well for the life of the production.

The existing contract requires theaters to use at least four stagehands for plays: a carpenter, a property master, an electrician and a fourth, either a sound technician, a fly man or a second stagehand. A musical also requires four stagehands, and a fly man is mandatory. This is the person in charge of scenery, props and other things that move up or down, or from offstage for example, the "bubble" that transports Glinda in the musical "Wicked." The fly man also raises and lowers the curtain.

The league wants to have flexibility in how many stagehands are hired for shows, and does not want to use four if all are not needed.

The union also has cost of living and pension concerns. The annual salary for stagehands ranges from $67,500 to $88,500, according to the union, which would not disclose what increases it seeks.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Comic Marilyn Martinez Dies at 52

Marilyn Martinez, a sassy standup comic who performed with the Original Latin Divas of Comedy and other Latina troupes, has died, her husband said Friday. She was 52.

Martinez died Nov. 3 of complications from colon cancer at a Hollywood hospital after being diagnosed nine months earlier, said her husband, John David Crowder.

"Marilyn was out there to make the fans excited. She wasn't out there for stardom and fame," he said. "And she didn't want to be remembered as a dirty mouth."

"She used to tell me she was a triple minority. She was fat, she was a woman, she was Hispanic," he said.

Raised in Denver, Martinez tap-danced on a local television show as a child before funneling her love of acting, and food, into standup routines, according to her longtime manager, Scott Montoya.

She moved to Los Angeles around 1989, he said. Her routines often included frank talk about sex and men.

"She was getting away with saying a lot of crazy stuff," said comedian Carlos Mencia, who performed alongside Martinez and knew her for more than a decade.

"It wasn't like, 'I'm a woman and let's talk about flowers and shopping.' ... But she could do clean if you wanted her to."

In L.A., Martinez connected with her Mexican roots and in the mid-1990s joined Latina troupe the Hot and Spicy Mamitas, Montoya said.

She also became a member of the Hot Tamales with Eva Longoria and was "the anchor" of the Latin Divas of Comedy, with a Showtime special earlier this year in the same vein as the hit Latin Kings of Comedy, Montoya said.

Martinez also toured solo with comic Paul Rodriguez from 1996 to 2003.

Her screen credits include parts in 2003's "Pauly Shore Is Dead," 2002's "For Da Love of Money," the ABC television series "My Wife and Kids" in 2001, and the 2004 reality TV show "Urban Jungle" on SiTV.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

What Do Writers Do? More Than Just Write

In the entertainment industry, there's more to writing than putting words on the page.

The thousands of Writers Guild of America members who walked out in a contract dispute Monday didn't drop just movie and TV scripts they were crafting answers for "Jeopardy!" and banter for "Dancing with the Stars." They edit the work of their colleagues, livening things up as a movie "script doctor" or getting a soap opera's sprawling relationships back on track as a script editor.

They may work on their own, or be part of a freewheeling brainstorming session. Workweeks may be an orderly 40 hours or a manic 80-plus. Pay can be $50,000 for an original screenplay, or soar past $1 million for a top screenwriter or writer-producer in charge of a hit TV show.

And contrary to conventional wisdom, writers are not all ensconced in sun-drenched Los Angeles: of 12,000 total guild writers, about 4,000 belong to the WGA East.

Most reality shows are nonunion, and independent films can be made outside the guild's purview, but much of what consumers see is the work of union writers. Their efforts also appear online or on DVDs, with the wide compensation gap for old vs. digital media at the heart of the contract dispute.

The career path writers take can be as disparate as their jobs, demonstrated by the following five writers.

___

Bill Scheft, longtime monologue writer for CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman."

A Boston native, Scheft majored in Latin at Harvard ("I thought the church was going to come back," he quips) before embarking on a brief career as a sportswriter and a longer one as a standup comedian in New York.

He applied five times to Letterman's show, then at NBC, meeting rejection each time. On his sixth try, when the show needed a monologue writer, Scheft was in. That was 16 years ago.

His goal was to "sit in a room alone and write jokes, and that's what I was doing," said Scheft, 50.

That's a literal description of his working conditions.

"I love the `Dick Van Dyke Show' but it cemented a preconception in people's minds about how it works," he said. Sitcom writers bat ideas around together; that's not the model for late-night, where writers generally work solo.

"Five guys in a room working on a piece is not generating as much material as five guys in five separate rooms would," said Scheft, one of a quintet of writers who help produce Letterman's monologue.

Writers work on a 13-week contract; if it's not renewed, a month's notice is given. To get health insurance they must reach a salary threshold of $35,000.

"A lot of guys have passed through the hall since I've been there," Scheft said.

___

Courtney Simon, script editor for "As The World Turns."

Simon studied theater at Indiana University and followed her dream of acting to daytime drama, with a long stint on "Search for Tomorrow." When a fellow actor decided to try her hand at writing for TV in 1980, she pulled Simon along.

"I enjoyed it and I pretty much worked from that point on," said Simon, with writing and editing jobs on some nine shows, among them "All My Children," "General Hospital" and "Guiding Light."

As a script editor on "As the World Turns" in New York since 2000, Simon is responsible for reading every script for continuity, quality and the "usual copyediting that one does," she said. In a pinch, the studio will call on her to write scenes.

Working mostly at home, Simon travels to the studio once a week for a meeting with the show's executive producer, a network representative and the head writer.

A team of "breakdown writers" produce outlines for a week of shows, with each outline turned over to an individual scriptwriter. The script then ends up in Simon's hands, a process that has to keep moving smoothly to produce an hour of angst for every weekday of the year.

Vacations are rare.

"I try and take the weekend off," Simon said, "when I can."

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Andrew Price, writer for "Jeopardy!"

Price, 45, was advised by his mother to become an accountant because he was good in math.

"That was the last time I listened to my mom," he said.

A post-college job in a New York photo lab led to a video shoot for performance artists, then production assistant work on features film and commercials. He was recommended for a job at MTV, where he worked as a series writer and script supervisor and gained more in training than salary (topping out at about $850 weekly).

Heading to Los Angeles in the early '90s, he began writing on a freelance basis, selling scripts to series including "Star Trek: Voyager" and a Disney Channel movie, "The Luck of the Irish."

When a producer he'd worked with joined "Jeopardy!" one of the few guild-covered game shows as head writer 10 years ago, Price followed, starting as a researcher. Three years ago, he became part of a 10-person writing staff.

"Whatever interests you that day" can end up being a category on the show, Price said. If his daughter is studying amphibians, he said, "Jeopardy!" viewers could get the same lesson.

While the $75,000 to $100,000 pay range is relatively modest by Hollywood standards, there are other benefits, including a kid-friendly atmosphere. "It feels like home there," he said.

___

Devon Shepard, writer for "Weeds" and "Everybody Hates Chris."

When Dennis Miller's syndicated talk show was canceled, Shepard, a production assistant, decided to turn to standup comedy, testing his material on customers at a south-central L.A. barbershop.

Rob Edwards and Bennie Richburg, writers for "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," stopped in, got a taste of Shepard's wit and invited Shepard to join them on a new Patti LaBelle show, NBC's "Out All Night" as a writer's trainee. He jumped from there to Will Smith's "Fresh Prince" sitcom.

"I haven't looked back since," said Shepard, a guild member for 16 years.

Shepard's other credits include "The Wayans Bros.," "Mad TV" and, most recently, "Weeds." He was a consulting producer on the Chris Rock-produced sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris."

In the beginning is the story idea. Both for "Weeds" and "Chris," writers and producers gather at the studio to introduce possible plots and subplots. When an idea is locked down it goes to a staff writer.

Series writers earn a minimum of $75,000 per season and typically have in their contract a guarantee of getting to write one or two scripts, which can earn them about $17,500 per script.

"I like to write at home," Shepard said. "I can't write at the office at work. Too many distractions."

___

Warren Leight, executive producer, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

Leight, 50, of New York studied communications at Stanford University under "the delusion I would graduate and become a working journalist." Instead, he freelanced articles, wrote for a comedy group, TV and some "bottom-feeder" filmmakers before turning to the theater.

His 1999 play "Side Man" was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and a Tony Award-winner.

Tapped to join the "Law & Order" drama in 2003, Leight started out as a staff writer and because "nobody wanted to move up through the ranks" eventually become a producer and the showrunner, the person with primary daily responsibility for the production.

"I'm the buck-stops-here guy," he said. In his average 65-hour workweek, down from the 80 or so hours at the beginning, he watches rehearsals and crafts instant rewrites, plots future episodes with the designated scriptwriter and puts out various fires.

A location, for instance, may have fallen through or "one of the stars may be having a day and I have to ameliorate their concerns," Leight said.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Unions Offering Support to Writers

Major Hollywood unions were lining up behind TV and film writers Tuesday as last-minute contract talks resumed amid fears of a possible strike.

A powerful branch of the Teamsters union told its 4,500 members they can honor picket lines if TV and film writers strike after their contract expires at midnight Wednesday.

Teamsters Local 399 said in a Web posting that as a union, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts with producers.

But the local, which represents truck drivers, casting directors and location managers, said the clause does not apply to individuals, who are protected by federal law from employer retribution if they decide to honor picket lines.

"As for me as an individual, I will not cross any picket line whether it is sanctioned or not because I firmly believe that Teamsters do not cross picket lines," union local secretary-treasurer Leo Reed wrote.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild have also voiced strong support for writers, but officials with that union have said its 150,000 members were obligated to report to work if writers strike.

Negotiations between the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America and the group representing producers adjourned Tuesday without a deal, and both sides agreed to meet again Wednesday.

A federal mediator joined the talks in an effort to break a stalemate. The mediator will return Wednesday, when the WGA is expected to present an updated proposal.

A key issue involves giving writers more money from the sale of DVDs and the distribution of shows via the Internet, cell phones and other digital platforms.

Early Tuesday, writers visited studio lots to distribute leaflets to Teamster truck drivers urging support of their cause.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents networks and studios, sent a letter to craft unions representing electricians, drivers and other trades, reminding them of the "no strike" clauses in their contracts.

"We expect each union to comply with this no strike obligation and order your members to work," alliance president J. Nicholas Counter wrote.

A strike by writers would not immediately have an impact on TV or film production. Most shows have enough scripts in hand to get them though early next year.

After that, networks might turn to reality shows, news programs and reruns to fill the airwaves.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

The Five Sexiest Funny Girls in Hollywood

This week we're bringing to you the five funniest yet sexy girls of Hollywood. So not only will they make you laugh, but they'll definitely get a rise out of you. Sit back and enjoy.

Anna Faris

 

Why she's funny: She is pretty good at stealing most of the scenes she's in when playing opposite the main character.

Why she's sexy: Her girl next door looks help, but when you've been cast as a Playboy bunny -- and can legitimately pull it off -- you know you've got to be hot.

Her notable credits: Scary Movie (the first one), The Hot Chick, Waiting, Just Friends

Sarah Silverman

Why she's funny: She has the guts to say the snarkiest/most outlandish jokes possible at any given moment.

Why she's sexy: She can joke around with the guys and look hot while making fun of you. What more can you ask for?

Her notable credits: Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, Greg the Bunny, Heartbreakers, Seinfeld

Kristen Wiig

Why she's funny: Imagine Molly Shannon and/or Cheri Oteri. Now imagine them being actually funny. That's what you get with Kristen.

Why she's sexy: Aside from being the hottest woman ever on SNL, she is actually even hotter in real life. I know this because we almost banged. Sorry babe, couldn't keep that a secret forever.

Her notable credits: Saturday Night Live, Knocked Up

Elizabeth Banks

Why she's funny: Very versatile with her comedy including the ability to play a funny tramp to perfection.

Why she's sexy: Let me put it this way. She would have made for a better Mary Jane than Kirsten Dunst. Her latest GQ photo shoot only proves that she is insanely hotter than all the other girls on this list.

Her notable credits: Spider-Man series, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Scrubs

Isla Fisher

Why she's funny: Because she's a nut and she writes quite a bit of material herself. Not to mention most of her candid interviews are genuinely funny.
Why she's sexy: She's a cute red head with a great body. 'Nuff said.

Her notable credits: I Heart Huckabees, The Wedding Crashers, Hot Rod

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Naomi Watts Joins Bay's Birds Flock

Finally, something truly terrifying has come out of Hollywood. Make sure you're sitting down, and don't say we didn't warn you -- this news is not for the faint of heart.

That long-threatened remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds is on its way, and Michael Bay is still involved.

Okay, okay -- don't jump off those ledges just yet. Bay will be in the producer's chair for the new Birds; as Variety reports, his Platinum Dunes shingle will be working with Mandalay Pictures and Universal on a "reimagining" of the Daphne du Maurier short story that inspired Hitchcock's 1963 classic.

The updated Birds isn't being rushed out pre-strike, but it's already got a pair of names attached -- Naomi Watts has agreed to star, and Martin Campbell is in talks to direct. Variety's report names Stiles White and Juliet Snowden as having written a "script that is still being developed" and says that "new scribes may be brought aboard."

 

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Magazine Celebrates Women in Hollywood

Some of Hollywood's leading ladies gathered at a magazine ceremony marking the achievements of six actresses and a director.

Guests at Elle magazine's annual "Women in Hollywood" celebration Monday night included 14-year-old acting newcomer Keke Palmer and 83-year-old screen legend Lauren Bacall.

"It's great that the focus is on women, who are functioning, who are all working, who are productive," Bacall told The Associated Press. "I've always been in favor of that, and I've always known that women are capable of going as high as they want to go."

The seven honorees were: director Julie Taymor ("Across the Universe"), and actors Bacall, Diane Lane ("Unfaithful"), Kate Bosworth ("Superman Returns"), Jennifer Connelly ("A Beautiful Mind"), Amy Adams ("Junebug") and Scarlett Johansson ("Lost in Translation").

"There's this idea (Hollywood) is this deep, dark place. In reality, I think that it's a reflection of society in general," said Johansson, 22, when asked how she has avoided running into trouble like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

Like Johansson, Diane Lane, 42, started her career early on (as a teen in 1979's "A Little Romance"). Over the decades, she has seen improvements for Hollywood women of all ages, she said.

"There's a lot more opportunity for young women, and that's great, and I like to think that I was there to help pave a few stones," Lane said. "It's wonderful to have all the different stages of a woman's life acknowledged and appreciated."

Each honoree, perhaps not coincidentally, has at least one major movie coming soon. Amy Adams has two: the Disney romance "Enchanted" and the action-drama "Charlie Wilson's War" with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. She said both films are spoils of her 2005 Oscar nomination for "Junebug."

"The opportunities that it presented are really fantastic," she said of the Oscar experience.

The honorees are profiled in November's Elle magazine.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Chavez-Funded Movie Hits Screens

President Hugo Chavez is taking on Hollywood with the first major film produced by his government.

The historical saga about Venezuelan independence hero Francisco de Miranda was produced by Venezuela's new state film studio. At the Thursday night premiere, Chavez called it an effort to counter Hollywood's global domination.

"There is no revolution if we don't recover our culture, our own values," Chavez said. "It's part of the fight against (U.S.) imperial hegemony."

"Miranda Regresa," or "Miranda Returns," is directed by Luis Alberto Lamata and features Jorge Reyes as the hero who led Venezuela's independence struggle against Spain before dying in prison in 1816.

American actor Danny Glover, a supporter of Chavez, also plays a minor fictional role as a Haitian who meets Miranda in New York and joins his struggle.

The movie includes vivid battle scenes with cannon fire, and a meticulous wardrobe from the period, though flaws are apparent in details like music that at times drowns out softly spoken dialogue. The audience that joined Chavez and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa at the screening received it with applause.

The film was produced with a budget of $2.3 million by the state-run Cinema Town, which Chavez founded last year. It was shot in Venezuela, Cuba and the Czech Republic.

The studio is producing three dozen other movies, documentaries and TV programs, including a film about Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative who is accused by Venezuela and Cuba of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner.

Critics say that a heavy government hand in filmmaking may put politics before art. But Lamata denied serving political aims, saying "we tried to take an objective view of Miranda" to teach viewers about a historical figure.

He said the movie will be shown at international film festivals.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Orlando Bloom in Minor Car Crash in LA

Orlando Bloom was involved in a minor car crash on a Hollywood street early Friday morning, police said.

Witnesses told police the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star was driving alone on Fountain Avenue when another vehicle cut him off and he hit a parked car, said Officer Ana Aguirre.

Bloom, 30, wasn't injured and filed a report with police, Aguirre said.

"No alcohol was involved, and he wasn't speeding," Aguirre said. There was minor damage to his car and the parked car, she said.

Aguirre didn't know the exact time or location of the crash.

A phone message left early Friday at the office of Bloom's publicist, Robin Baum, wasn't immediately returned.

Bloom's screen credits also include "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "Troy."

 

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Clooney Does Hollywood on the DIY Plan

If there's a do-it-yourself movement in Hollywood, George Clooney could be its leader. After years of taking what was offered, including bad movies such as "Batman & Robin," Clooney took charge of his career. The result has left the former star of TV's "ER" an Academy Award-winning actor and Oscar-nominated filmmaker who uses his stardom to do films he truly cares about, including the new legal drama "Michael Clayton," opening Friday.

Clooney, 46, now can look back on a post-Batman decade of wild success on far-flung projects as an actor, writer, director and producer, sometimes handling all four jobs at once.

He has traded on his commercial clout from such hits as "The Perfect Storm" and the "Ocean's Eleven" flicks to make demanding dramas like 2005's "Syriana," which earned Clooney a supporting-actor Oscar, and "Good Night, and Good Luck," a best-picture nominee that brought him directing and screenwriting nominations the same year.

It's a major turnabout for a man who hated the publicity tour he had to do for "Batman & Robin" in 1997.

"It was really hard, because I knew it wasn't a very good film, and it makes you a liar, sort of, but you have to, because it's your job to promote a film," Clooney said in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, where "Michael Clayton" played. "I was like, I don't want to tour again for a film that doesn't work on any level."

Clooney turned to more story-driven productions with such filmmakers as future producing partner Steven Soderbergh on "Out of Sight," David O. Russell on "Three Kings" and Joel and Ethan Coen on "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

He and Soderbergh have collaborated on the "Ocean's" romps and many other projects, while Clooney and the Coens reunited for the romance "Intolerable Cruelty" and the upcoming comedy "Burn After Reading."

The box-office returns can be modest to nonexistent compared to huge Hollywood franchises, but Clooney has felt good about going to work and even better about the movies created.

"You start going, OK, well these are films I would go see. I'm proud of them. I think they'll last longer than an opening weekend. I get it now. I have to focus on the script first and foremost, then I have to focus on directors. If that means working with Steven Soderbergh as often as possible or Joel and Ethan as often as possible, I'll do it. If it means directing them myself, I'll do it," Clooney said.

"Because at the very least, if I'm going to bomb, it's going to be my call, and I'm OK with that. If it doesn't work, then you go, `Hey, it was my decision.'"

Even his failures look noble. Soderbergh directed Clooney in two ambitious duds, the science-fiction saga "Solaris" and last year's film-noir throwback "The Good German." Yet both earned them admiration for the effort when they simply could have made another formulaic Hollywood yarn.

Clooney began directing with 2002's Chuck Barris fantasy memoir "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and continues with this December's football romance "Leatherheads," in which he co-stars with Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski.

"Michael Clayton" stars Clooney in the title role, a former prosecutor now on the verge of financial disaster and toiling as a fixer at a huge Manhattan law firm, a man who makes unseemly problems go away for high-rolling clients.

Clayton's dormant humanity is put to the test after a colleague (Tom Wilkinson) undermines a lawsuit involving a huge corporate client, prompting ruthless action by the company's in-house legal eagle (Tilda Swinton).

The notion of a handsome, charming middle-aged man staring failure in the face is not a huge stretch for Clooney, the nephew of singer Rosemary Clooney and son of TV newsman Nick Clooney.

The actor moved to Hollywood in the early 1980s after failed bids at baseball and journalism careers. Success did not come until he was in his 30s, following a long apprenticeship that included such TV shows as "The Facts of Life" and "Roseanne."

"It's not hard for George to envision if the road had turned the other way," said "Michael Clayton" writer-director Tony Gilroy, who felt that an actor who succeeded at an early age would be unable to get at the character's core. "There's something infinitely more sad about someone who you really feel has squandered everything. Here's a guy who has skated on his looks and skated on his charms, and you realize he's completely lost. He was perfect for that. ...

"We're putting the camera right up his nose in this movie, all the way through. You can't front a performance like this, you can't front successfully that kind of fear of failure and that kind of self-loathing. He's really there in this role."

Co-star Swinton said Clooney is an easy screen counterpart, a performer who has figured out "what works for him, this sort of landscape within where he can be sincere and comfortable."

Clooney is working again with Swinton on the Coens' "Burn After Reading," which also co-stars his "Ocean's Eleven" chum Brad Pitt.

There's a comfort factor in collaborating with trusted friends, including other frequent co-stars such as Matt Damon and Don Cheadle, also part of the "Ocean's" gang, Clooney said.

"There's a bunch of actors who can be really good in a film, but they will make everyone suffer, or the director suffer, because it becomes about them. Some of them thrive in this world where things have to be going wrong, other people have to be unhappy, for you to get your performance out. When you find people who aren't like that, you tend to like to work with them.

"Also, there's a funny thing that people tiptoe around you when you get famous, but we don't have to tiptoe around each other. So Matt gives me a really hard time all the time. I give him a really hard time. But that's because that's also fun."

Fun was the idea behind "Leatherheads," Clooney's latest directing effort, a lighter affair than his previous two. A revival of old screwball comedy, the film is built around a romantic triangle that Clooney jokes he stole from "The Philadelphia Story"

Set in the 1920s, "Leatherheads" stars Clooney as a pro football player who recruits a college star (Krasinski) for his team, the two ending up contenders for the affection of a reporter (Zellweger) doing a story on the sport's new golden boy.

Though once married and divorced, Clooney is considered one of Hollywood's most-eligible bachelors. He said getting married again and having a family are not conscious priorities, preferring to leave that to fate.

"I don't actively pursue any of that stuff, because I think if it turns around and finds you then it turns around and finds you," Clooney said.

His focus is on work, and a lot of it. Clooney knows from his own family how fleeting fame can be, so he views his time now as a narrow window of opportunity to make the sort of films he wants.

"My aunt Rosemary was the biggest star on Earth, and then she was a flop because rock 'n' roll came in and pop music went out. She didn't become less of a singer. In fact, she became a better singer, but it didn't matter. Things change. So understanding that is a really important element to what it is I do," Clooney said.

"I'm going to force people to make films they don't want to make. Believe me, no one's encouraging us to make `Good Night, and Good Luck' or `Syriana' or `The Good German' or `Solaris.' To me, the idea is there's a period of time that I have where I'm able to force-feed films down people's throats, and I don't know how long that lasts. So I've been sort of on a mad rush to try and slam films down that I'd like to see made."

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com