Hollywood’s Mr. Nice George Clooney dropped his usual charm in a new interview where he ignites his feud with Russell Crowe and criticizes Leonardo DiCaprio.
In the interview with Esquire, Clooney says Crowe gave him a half-hearted apology after the “Gladiator” star accused Clooney of being “a sellout” in an interview with GQ and questioned the star’s decision to appear in ads such as Nespresso, igniting a war of words. Clooney also took exception to Crowe calling him a “Frank Sinatra wannabe.”
Clooney told Esquire, “The truth is that [Crowe] did send me a book of poems to apologize for insulting the s–t out of me, which he did. He picked a fight with me. He started it for no reason at all. He put out this thing saying, ‘George Clooney, Harrison Ford, and Robert De Niro are sellouts.’ And I put out a statement saying, ‘He’s probably right. And I’m glad he told us, ’cause Bob and Harrison and I were also thinking about starting a band, which would also fall under the heading of bad use of celebrity.’ And that’s when he really went off on me. ‘Who the f–k does this guy think he is? He’s a Frank Sinatra wannabe.’ He really went after me. And so I sent him a note going, ‘Dude, the only people who succeed when two famous people are fighting is People magazine. What the f–k is wrong with you?’
“But then I had a year. Then I had ‘Syriana” and “Good Night, and Good Luck,’ and he was gonna see me at the Golden Globes ’cause he was nominated for ‘Cinderella Man.’ So he sends me a disc of his music and a thing of his poetry. I think he said, ‘I was all misquoted,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah. Whatever.’ I did take it with me to the BAFTAs, but I didn’t win. I might have used it if I had won. I was nominated for four!”
Clooney also describes playing basketball with Leo DiCaprio and his crew. He said, “I’m not great, by any means, but I played high school basketball, and I know I can play. I also know that you don’t talk s–t unless you can play. And the thing about playing Leo is you have all these guys talking s–t. We get there, and there’s this guy, Danny A I think his name is. Danny A is this club kid from New York. And he comes up to me and says, ‘We played once at Chelsea Piers. I kicked your ass.’ I said, ‘I’ve only played at Chelsea Piers once in my life and ran the table. So if we played, you didn’t kick anybody’s ass.’
“And so then we’re watching them warm up, and they’re doing this weave around the court, and one of the guys I play with says, ‘You know we’re going to kill these guys, right?’ Because they can’t play at all. We’re all like fifty years old, and we beat them three straight: 11–0, 11–0, 11–0. And the discrepancy between their game and how they talked about their game made me think of how important it is to have someone in your life to tell you what’s what. I’m not sure if Leo has someone like that.”
During the interview, conducted at his home in Beverly Hills, Clooney admits he doesn’t approve of Twitter. He explains. “If you’re famous, I don’t—for the life of me—I don’t understand why any famous person would ever be on Twitter. Why on God’s green earth would you be on Twitter? Because first of all, the worst thing you can do is make yourself more available, right? Because you’re going to be available to everybody.
“So one drunken night, you come home and you’ve had two too many drinks and you’re watching TV and somebody pisses you off, and you go ‘Ehhhhh’ and fight back.
“And you go to sleep, and you wake up in the morning and your career is over. Or you’re an asshole. Or all the things you might think in the quiet of your drunken evening are suddenly blasted around the entire world before you wake up. I mean, when you see, like, Ashton Kutcher coming out going, you know, ‘Everybody leave Joe Paterno alone,’ or whatever he said, you just go, ‘Fifteen minutes longer and a thought process and probably you wouldn’t have done that.’ ”
Clooney, who according to the story owns a Lexus, a Porsche Carrera and 1959 red Corvette convertible, said he wasn’t impressed with the Tesla, despite the firm’s long list of celebrity admirers.
He said, “I had a Tesla. I was one of the first cats with a Tesla. I think I was, like, number five on the list. But I’m telling you, I’ve been on the side of the road a while in that thing. And I said to them, ‘Look, guys, why am I always stuck on the side of the f–king road? Make it work, one way or another.’ ”