Clooney Says Politics is Seductive, But Not for Him

Peter Mayer - Denver Post

VENICE, Italy -- With The Ides of March, which opened this year's Venice Film Festival, George Clooney probes the role that seduction plays in politics. The Hollywood heartthrob however, rules out any personal ambition to run for elected office.

"I have a great job ... I get to hang out with a lot of seductive people," Clooney said of his acting and directing, both of which are on display in The Ides of March, for which he also contributed to the screenplay.

Intrigue, betrayed loyalties and sexual impropriety are the main ingredients of the film in which the protagonist, Canadian actor Ryan Gosling, plays Stephen Meyers, a young, idealistic press secretary to US Democratic Party presidential hopeful, Governor Mike Morris, played by Clooney.

The film's strong cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei and Paul Giamatti, who were also in Venice for the film's world premiere. The film is one of 22 competiting in this year's edition.

"Seduction plays a big part in the story," Clooney said of The Ides of March.

Yet, as for entering the political fray himself, the 50-year-old actor said: "I have no interest."

Clooney was speaking after a morning screening of The Ides of March, one which drew applause from an audience consisting of media and movie industry representatives attending this year's 11-day long edition of the Venice Film Festival.

The film's title is a reference to March 15 in the ancient Roman calendar -- historically notorious as the date of Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 B.C. by his former political allies Brutus and Cassius.

But the politically engaged Clooney, one of Hollywood's most outspoken left-wing voices -- he has condemned the Iraq war, campaigned against genocide in Darfur, Sudan and endorsed US President Barack Obama -- denied that his film was an indictment of government power.

"I don't think this is a political film," he said, adding that the scenario depicted could also be one unfolding "in Wall Street."

"It deals with issues of morality. Trading your soul for an outcome," Clooney added.

However, he notes that the idea of the film -- which is adapted from the play Farragut North by Beau Willimon -- was first mooted together with fellow screenwriter Grant Heslov in 2007.

"People were in a good mood then," Clooney said recalling the atmosphere that led him and his collaborators to temporally ditch the idea.

With the current global economic crisis and bitter disputes in Washington over the US's future, Clooney indicated that the time was now ripe for his film.

"It is a difficult time to govern. Cynicism is winning over ideals right now, but I hope this will change," Clooney said, defining himself an "optimist."

Clooney is still best know for his roles in the television series ER and blockbusters such as the Ocean 11, 12 and 13 movies. However, as an actor and a director he has also tackled topics such as press freedom in 2005's Good Night and Good Luck and global terrorism and conflicts around oil in Syriana, which won him an Oscar for best-supporting actor.

Describing The Ides of March as one of the films of which he is most proud, Clooney said: "I want to do stories that ask more questions than they answer."

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