The Essentials: The Best George Clooney Performances

“Up In The Air” (2009)
For his second Best Actor Oscar nomination (he didn’t win, but looked great losing), Clooney teamed with Jason Reitman, hot off “Juno,” to play Ryan Bingham, a corporate hatchet man who does the dirty work for companies uninterested in the messy business of firing people. He flies out to Wherever, USA, and drops the axe, and because of this, he’s amassed a truly ridiculous amount of frequent flyer miles, as well as a level of chilliness that prevents him from engaging in real relationships with other human beings. That is, until he falls for the similarly travel-prone Vera Farmiga. It’s arguably the most archetypal Clooney role, playing more than any other into his public persona — the eternal bachelor, keeping all and sundry at arm’s length. Clooney can do charm in his sleep (spotted the recurring theme yet?), and while he does so here, it’s not what drives the performance — instead it’s the layers of sadness, of desperation, of cheap, soul-draining frivolity that add dimension to the role and to the whole film. His transformation from efficient, attachment-free loner to a man whose longing for something more significant in his life is almost tangible, is a subtle one, ably supported by Anna Kendrick’s turn as his wunderkind colleague. But it is a transformation so complete that by the time his love interest reveals her secret, Clooney may just break your heart. He’s one of modern cinema’s great reactors, and watching him on the phone, listening to Farmiga, is something of a masterclass in screen acting.

“The American” (2010)
Controversial, surprise choice warning! Unfairly marketed as a kind of high-octane thriller (although it meant the film was something of a surprise hit), “The American” is instead a contemplative, leisurely paced European-style suspense piece about a “weapons specialist” played by Clooney, who flees to a small Italian village after a job goes horribly awry. Following swiftly on from his firmly Clooneyish performance in “Up in the Air,” this is arguably his most atypical role, playing Jack, with an internalized blank slate. He interacts with villagers and falls for a comely prostitute (in a genuinely sexy sex scene, he goes down on her – as he ducks out of view, we are left to focus on the pleasure on her face), but he only utters a handful of words and remains taciturn and resolute throughout. Director Anton Corbijn‘s background in still photography and music videos suits the movie well, as Clooney nimbly makes his way through picturesque backdrops and creaky alleyways, the eerie placidity conjuring up unseen threats around every corner. But as beautifully as Corbijn frames the Italian landscape, it’s always his protagonist who is at the center, and he takes on the role with a discipline and stillness that’s almost frightening. It’s the film that confirmed that Clooney isn’t just a movie star, he’s also an Actor, and suggests that, as he enters his 50s (he hit the milestone on May 6th this year), even greater things may be on the way. And as for the film, while it left the average moviegoer (and a surprising number of critics) baffled and upset, it’s hard not to respect a movie for sticking to its guns the way “The American” does.

Honorable Mentions: There were more than a few additional contenders for the final five, and we’d be remiss in not mentioning them. The most obvious is Clooney’s Oscar-winning turn in “Syriana,” in which he’s terrific, dignified and impassioned, but it strikes us as one of those performances that won more out of a recognition of general achievement — and of the bulky frame the star put on for the part — than for the merits of the performance itself. He’s always good value in his trilogy of idiots for the Coen Brothers, but the best is the first, “O Brother Where Art Thou,” where Clooney nails the tone as a dummy of a prison escapee, toeing the line between slapstick silliness and human feeling, and coming across as the great grand-pappy of Nicolas Cage in “Raising Arizona.” He’s never been cooler than as Danny Ocean in the first “Ocean’s Eleven,” something you only realize isn’t as effortless as it looks once you start to think about how few other actors could have played the part. And finally, while “Three Kings” might have been a tumultuous shoot, the end product is a classic, and Clooney a strong centerpiece; dignified, heroic and conflicted.