CLOONEY GETS HAMMERED

by Sam Alipour

On April 4, actor-director-writer George Clooney unveils Leatherheads, set in the rough-and-tumble world of 1920s pro football. Today, he talks about it.

The movie is a screwball romantic comedy, which is rare for a sports film. Was that on purpose?
When you do a sports film—or a comedy—you want to offer something audiences haven't seen before. Early pro football had very loose rules. I thought there was a funny version of it to be shown, sort of a Slap Shot-meets-football.

What did you do to replicate the game play of the time?
We got football historian T.J. Troup to run a training camp. He taught us plays and stances. Of course, some stuff we made up as we went along. It felt appropriate.

How'd you hold up, old man?
While I wrote the script, I didn't think about the fact that I was putting myself on a football field for four months. On the first day of shooting, I was dropped by this 21-year-old. He just floored me. I haven't been hit that hard in 30 years. I quickly instituted a new rule: Don't hit the director.

More painful—that hit or Batman and Robin?
Batman and Robin. For the audience as well.

Anything else you want to say about Leatherheads?
Actually, yeah. I made the right call by not shooting in HD, because of how bad John Krasinski's skin is. Make sure you write that. It's important that everyone knows.

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