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George Clooney has decried reports about his and Brad Pitt’s salaries in their latest collaboration, Wolfs.
The Jon Watts film, which follows two stubborn professional fixers who find themselves forced to work together after being hired for the same job, premiered at Venice Film Festival over the weekend.
During a press conference at the event, Clooney took issue with “an interesting article” by The New York Times that reported he and Pitt were each paid more than $35m for the movie.
“Whatever her source was for our salary, it is millions and millions and millions of dollars less than what was reported,” Clooney claimed. “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.”
Wolfs will have a limited theatrical release on September 20, followed by its streaming debut on Apple TV+ on September 27.
Elsewhere during the press conference, Clooney commented on the streamer’s decision to give the film just a week in theaters.
“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,” Clooney added.
“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.”
The Ocean’s Eleven star was also asked about the impact of the damning op-ed he wrote for The New York Times in July titled: “I Love Joe Biden, But We Need a New Nominee.”
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The essay was seen as one of the key turning points as momentum built to urge the president to step aside in favor of a younger candidate. Less than two weeks later, Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris – who was also quickly endorsed by Clooney.
“The person who should be applauded is the president who did the most selfless thing that anybody has done since George Washington,” Clooney told journalists.
“All of the machinations that got us there, none of that’s going to be remembered, and it shouldn’t be,” he continued.
“What should be remembered is the selfless act of someone who did the hardest thing to do. You know we’ve seen it all around the world, and for someone to say, ‘I think there’s a better way forward,’ he gets all the credit, and that’s really the truth.”
Wolfs is out in theaters on September 20 and will be released on Apple TV+ on September 27.
