Actor and filmmaker George Clooney was rushed to the hospital just four days before he was
supposed to start shooting his new film, according to a report by the Mirror report in early
December 2020.
Clooney experienced severe stomach pains before he was due to report to the set of The Midnight
Sky, which he is both starring in and directing. In the movie, Clooney plays an astronomer
who survives an apocalyptic event.
"I have to warn them about the conditions on Earth."
"I don't know all the details. It started as a mistake."
He told the Mirror he lost 28 pounds for the role, which likely was a catalyst for his
hospitalization and eventual pancreatitis diagnosis. He elaborated, saying:
"I think I was trying too hard to lose the weight quickly and probably wasn't taking
care of myself."
"Give me the fast drip, I need the hydration."
Clooney isn't the only actor in Hollywood who's committed to a major weight loss for
a movie. Tom Hanks has taken this challenge on twice, once for 1993's Philadelphia and
again in 2000 for Cast Away. The actor revealed that he believes his weight loss led to his
type 2 diabetes diagnosis, saying:
"The gaining and the losing of weight may have had something to do with it because you
eat so much bad food and you don't take any exercise when you're heavy."
Meanwhile, Anne Hathaway lost 25 pounds for her role in the movie adaption of Les Misérables,
which won her an Oscar. She told Vogue:
"I had to be obsessive about it — the idea was to look near death. Looking back on the
whole experience — and I don't judge it in any way — it was definitely a little
nuts."
Christian Bale lost a whopping 63 pounds for his role in 2004's The Machinist, telling
MovieWeb:
"Interestingly, I did find that mentally it was very, very calming being that skinny,
because you really didn't have any energy for expending on unnecessary things, so you
just kept it simple. Life became very simple."
The Midnight Sky marks George Clooney's seventh endeavor as director, but he told the Mirror
that he considered it to be his biggest project yet. He said,
"It took a few weeks to get better and as a director, it's not so easy because you need
energy. We were out on this glacier in Finland, which made it a lot harder work. But it certainly
helped with the character."
Along with the massive weight loss, the role required Clooney to grow out his beard, much
to the dismay of his wife, Amal. His son on the other hand, loved it. Clooney told the
Mirror:
"I grew a big ugly beard and my son loved it because he'd hide things in it, which I
wouldn't know about until I got to work and I'd be like, 'Oh, there's a popsicle stuck
in my beard.' But my wife and daughter were really happy when it came off because it was
very hard to find a face underneath all that mess."
The couple — who got married in Venice, Italy in 2014 — has spent the last 10 months
at their home in the Hollywood Hills with their 3-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella.
Clooney told the publication that it was the best spot for his family because of the weather,
saying:
"We really haven't moved since February. It's easier in Los Angeles because it's not raining
and snowing, so it's a lot easier to walk out in the street."
"Are you enjoying being home all the time?"
"Hmm… well, look. No."
He did, however, talk about the joys of spending extra time with his kids during the ongoing
pandemic, saying:
"There's nothing more fun than sitting there in the morning with my kids singing in Italian
and us making breakfast for them. I picked right when I picked Amal. It's just the two
of us having dinner together every night and we never run out of conversation. We couldn't
be happier with our lives and we couldn't feel luckier."
Not only can Clooney act and direct, he's a regular handyman, too. He told the Mirror
he's been spending his time at home rediscovering a talent for housework.
"It's all laundry and mopping and dishes, and I wood stained the entire house."
"You did?"
"Yeah."
"Did you do a good job?"
"Probably not."
Clooney's film The Midnight Sky — which also stars Felicity Jones and David Oyelowo
— comes out Dec. 23, 2020.
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