George Clooney is not one to hide his political preferences. The Oscar-winning actor is a lifelong Democrat who speaks out on global issues. In a new interview with The Guardian , Clooney reveals he’s supporting Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, but has great admiration for Clinton’s rival, Senator Bernie Sanders. Clooney appreciates Sanders’ contribution to the national debate.
“I am a Hillary supporter. I am doing a fundraiser for her.
“I really love Bernie Sanders, and am really glad he is in the debate. He is forcing the conversation to things that never get talked about in US politics: disparity between the rich and the poor, which is getting worse and worse every day.”
The Guardian noted that Clooney’s fundraiser for President Obama’s campaign in 2012 raised $12 million in one evening. Clooney’s relationship with the president goes back at least to 2006, when Clooney and then-Senator Barack Obama joined forces to speak about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur .
Last month Clooney met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and expressed support for her policy of accepting refugees from Syria. While in the city promoting his film Hail! Caesar , Clooney admitted Hollywood often fails at addressing international issues, especially on screen, as The Guardian reported.
“I’ve struggled to find ways to make a film about Sudan, about Darfur, something very close to me, and which I spend a lot of time on – but I haven’t been able to find the proper script. It’s hard enough to find a good script for anything, and you don’t want to do it badly – because if you do you only get one chance.”
Clooney addressed the issue of diversity in Hollywood in the Guardian interview published Thursday. He admitted he could have made different casting choices as a director, such as opting for an African-American lead instead of Ryan Gosling for The Ides of March . But he said film financing is largely driven by who is committed to star, even if big names on a marquee don’t fuel ticket sales as they once did.
“The studios give you a list of five names on a piece of paper. If you don’t put one of those names in your film, it doesn’t get financed. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing; that’s the list of names.”
Nonetheless, Clooney said diversity is an issue that warrants attention. Recently, as The Inquisitr reported, Clooney said those who make movies should work harder to create roles for women. Sandra Bullock starred in Clooney’s movie Our Brand is Crisis , but only after the gender of the lead character was changed from male to female. Bullock, unable to find plum roles, had started asking around Hollywood to see if there were any existing scripts featuring male leads that could just as easily be female characters.
Despite his public activism, Clooney has faced tough questions about the effectiveness of his political work. Deadline reported that during a press conference for Hail! Caesar in Berlin, a reporter pressed Clooney about “concrete” ways he has helped Syrian refugees.
“I spend a lot of time working on these things, so it’s odd to have someone stand up and say, ‘So, what do you do?’”
Deadline reported that Clooney turned the question back to the reporter, asking what she had done to help.
Hail! Ceasar is in theaters now.
[Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images]