well here we go ladies and gentlemen this is uh going to be exciting I think everybody likes
this fellow and we're always lucky to have him on the program he is an academy award-winning
actor he's starring in a brand new Motion Picture entitled The Good German it opens
December 15th in selected cities I just pray to God your city has been selected
George Clooney everybody welcome back George good to be back well you look great yeah I feel good
thank you for remembering how was your uh Thanksgiving good good I uh I had it at
uh in Los Angeles the epicenter of Thanksgiving holidays it really is another Plymouth Rock there
isn't it the palm tree kind of Christmas um yeah I cooked it up I Really they don't cook do you like
cooking you do that weird thing with the turkey don't you that's what I mean hey hey is this
now that's no small feat for God's sakes no you could you could set fire to something that's right
uh and you have a some huge container of boiling oil is that right yes yeah that's I keep it at my
house over the year you know just for anybody who comes by how large is that um the turkey or the
uh both well the the pot the secret to it is that the pot has to be bigger than the turkey foreign
and uh so you boil the oil I think about uh 20 pound turkey in uh in
boiled the oil wow and how long does it take to cook six seven seconds
oh wow Happy Thanksgiving um you should see what I do with the stuffing but me uh beyond the turkey
do you know how to cook stuff do you know what you're doing I can cook Thanksgiving and and
subsequently Christmas right the exact same year they're similar I'll give you that they're very
similar yeah I do that and then you know I get the honey baked ham and you know do all that
stuff there's a promo I'll get free ham now is it is it uh and is the food good you know how
to make delicious I think you know I cover it in you know everyone comes over and they think
it's great because it's you know 400 sticks of butter yeah so if you can't feel your left arm
it's probably good it's a good meal getting dark in here Grandma's waving to me oh no Grandma oh
my goodness so you really loaded up on the uh yeah I figured how many folks were there
um over the day probably about 30 or so kind of an open house thing people drop in and yeah I do
I put a sign out on the front of the lawn really only about 30 people showed up it's not going so
well for me lately Thanksgiving dinner here with an arrow is that what it is inside yeah eat with
George with George yeah that picture me like yeah I I think you'd do better than 30. rough year but
listen yes it has congratulations on winning your Academy Award that's a very nice thing
now I have it right here ah what I remember about this is you were nominated in a variety
of categories for I believe two different films is that what it was yeah that's right
and uh uh one was the syriana and that's the one you want for best supporting actor
that's right and the the other nominations came from uh good night and good luck yeah
uh that was tremendous what does that Duty it did not only be nominated and
win but be nominated in so many categories well it makes me uh exceptionally talented
wow yeah puts me right up there that's you know I never I never looked at it
like that you're exactly right that's what I was thinking when I sat down
here everybody's buying my house for Thanksgiving
this Award Best Supporting Actor is is early in the show it's the first the first award
it is there's a panic that sets in because you really you know you really can't get a drink in
you before and uh they started right up and the winner is you're like yeah I'm going out there
alone yeah but then it must make the rest of the night uh much more fun I would think it does it
makes it much easier because you know and also because I was fairly sure that uh someone else
is going to win the other Awards you know so I I felt that I could begin the drinking process
which was key I think to the situations yeah uh and and again the accolades keep
coming this is a number two sexiest man alive oh my God
yeah thank you I uh I worked hard for that one uh-huh now you the last one was win in the late
90s yeah 1997. really you know it's been a while well it shows that you still got it for God's sake
well that's the same picture unfortunately that was the problem yeah there you go
yeah it was um we felt bad for Matt Damon because he really wanted it and he he campaigned hard for
us is that right yeah we think he just you know came up short but you're uh
it wasn't what I am I think that wasn't a joke we understand what you're getting
yeah we know what you're saying wow you guys are but you're not your buddy uh
your buddy uh Brad Pitt yeah he had won uh two in a row but he has one too yeah so so
now there's two timers he was a little upset um this time too because it really sort of
knocked his thing down a notch he did get me back though he took out an ad well he was a good sport
about it he congratulated you and uh was this the the variety it was a variety of Hollywood
Reporter full page ads yeah that was nice so who is this uh Reverend Ted I think is a reference to
um Reverend Ted who got in a little trouble no I know that I know that who that is who
is that that's me this is you yeah I still wear that shirt too you you'll you'll laugh
this man alive yeah you're a friend well here's the thing if the thing about Brad
friend the Reverend Ted well you know the thing was I uh he ran such a good campaign this year
you know and I just think that at the end he started using maybe some of the wrong photos
to sell himself is that what we have here yeah he was taking out ads for his you know they take
him out for your consideration for sexiest man alive oh we can't work on it and uh Brad worked
hard but I think he got some bad advice with the photos he used a couple of earlier ones
yeah
this one worries me
yeah that's he's he's trying too hard I think there's too much effort this was when he was
in the Green Beret yeah so I uh I think he just sort of ran ran the got bad advice yeah that's
what a lot that's certainly what it looks like to me now I'm really glad you showed
those what I'd like to thank you for that we're happy to have to do what I can you
know what uh in terms of responsibilities that come with this award anything you have
to do you go on tour or what do you do you do go you tour with the other guys
it's Matthew McConaughey's bus and you go around and you visit other towns get a sash
and a scepter we don't like to call it Tiara but no I wouldn't call it that yeah uh well that's
that's darn exciting yeah thanks um thanks thanks for that I came across a story this afternoon and
I want you to tell it if in fact it's true it has something to do with yourself and uh the governor
of California the current governor of California and it's a bit of a competition and it's the
consumption of alcoholic beverages yes this was it's a true story this was before he was uh
Governor all right I'll take your word he was just um he was Mr Freeze and Batman at the time so you
know he's been on up you know yeah he was you know he liked to think he can drink I'm Irish so we
went to hear the bar that I think they partially owned and uh he was he he set up there's a bunch
of people having drinks and he says okay we're drinking and we've got shots of peach schnapps
so I did one of those and I was like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna last yeah
so I tipped the the waitress I don't know a couple hundred bucks to bring me shots of water ah
I've actually never told him now I don't know but about 15 shots just literally is like
to this day everything whenever you see him he's like dogs he can really drink
I didn't really want to tell him oh that's great though oh listen I uh I I saw this movie The Good
German and and then help me out here it's based on a book and it's a work of non-fiction or a
fictionalized account of an actual story or what's uh it's a it's a fictionalized account
surrounded in the Potsdam Conference when all of the um uh Americans and the Russians were sort of
battling over the German scientists right to and our hope and I guess the Russians hope as well was
to begin and and help establish what eventually became NASA for us Werner Von Braun and others
brought a nice guy and and scientists who came here and actually put us on the the moon really
right so this was the struggle but here's what I wanted to mention that Kate Blanchette oh my
God yeah she's something wow I mean she really is something yeah she's something she's really really
where did you shoot the film um uh we shoot shot most of it we shoot we shoot some of it
we
it's pretty there wherever it was we shoot it
um mostly in Burbank on the Sound Stage because we were shooting it it's uh Steven
Soderberg directed it it certainly has and an immediate post-war Europe feel about it
not not that I was ever in Europe the postal War but you know what you think of in terms of
films that were made in and about that time uh but this Kate Blanchard now did you uh
did you are you friends do you yes I think I would call us I don't know what she would
call us but I would call us friends well she's great in the movie and yeah and it's
really something and the lovely and and the Fantastic Toby Maguire oh yes he was in it
he's good you didn't even see him no no he's he's good I I remember
he hasn't seen where he floats down the river as I recall wow ruin the film oh
God go ahead give it all away Kate Blanchett assures that this film can't be ruined
uh so anyway did we want to show a clip let's show a clip of that film
but now we can just acted out the uh the it's interesting the the director wanted this to be
um different in feel and and look it's it's black and white but people shouldn't be deterred
by black and white no no it's appealing very appealing yeah I think and the idea of this was
it should feel like the third man if you feel like uh or Michael Cortese film it should feel
like and be shot like and that's what Stephen was really trying and and I'm afraid to say anything
now because I don't want it might ruin ruin more things about the film uh but there is a a very
obvious and nicely done homage to a a film of uh it wasn't post-war but certainly a pre-war
actually yes to to Wong Fu I think was the what we were doing yes I heard somebody laughing yeah
um yeah but anyway it was also so it went he wanted it to look like films of that age of
that topic of that subject and then the acting he wanted them the acting as well to be a little
different yeah it's a little different it's not so uh introspective it's you have to sort of
be right out on your front foot and do it it's hard to do it's uh you know we would Kate and
I would finish a take and Stephen would go perfect and we would sit there and you know
feel terrible for a couple of days it's really it's hard to do so the acting for this the style
that he was hoping for is is a is a little uh more uh is a little bigger than you would be
more presentational it's more like the the film uh acting in the 40s I mean that's basically the best
way to do it it's a little more sort of out there now did you you and Kate ever get to go to lunch
sure oh yeah we uh we ate a couple of times together we talked about you oh no
but see I'm sure I'm silly thinking oh they're over there in Germany having a great time but
you're in Burbank yeah yeah which by the way you can spin the Burbank they're very
very similar yeah yeah I guess so oh yeah uh let's show them a clip here George tell them
what we're going to see uh we're going to see a clip that I'm probably in okay
of uh I don't know which I don't know which clip we're seeing but I would imagine it's
black and white and it's Toby Maguire in this because I know it'd mean a lot to him
laughs
he's a career Bird yeah
it's a as you can tell from the clip it's a beautiful looking film uh now tell me about your
trip to Darfur uh that was a interesting trip my father and I went it was right after sort of all
of the um you know after the Oscars and sort of all that attention and you know get very sick of
hearing your own voice so uh I was reading all these articles that Nick Kristoff was writing
in the New York Times about the genocide that's going on in Darfur and I called up my dad who's a
journalist and said let's say we go over there and you know get a couple cameras to follow us and we
took some cameras and went over there and shot and spent about 10 days it's really uh you know it's a
it's a daunting task to try and solve but you know there's some hope but it's tough and then when you
came back you uh went to the United Nations the general assembly that that's intimidating I would
think so yeah that's a little um but I don't know I don't know how successful we're being right now
um there's there's a lot more work ahead and you know it's not simple you can't just say okay well
let's put an army together and go invade so you really need diplomatic uh help and we can use
it from some other countries hard to know in the year 2006 what is at the root of something like
that isn't it yeah it is because it it it starts out as one thing and it becomes you know it starts
out as sort of the north wanting to take over you know Land from the south and then it becomes uh
turbocharged with sort of racial violence and it becomes fed by a big a government that's making
a lot of money off of oil so it's a there's a lot of problems going on George to see again it's good
to see you have a great holiday good luck with the turkey if you do another one for Christmas
George Clooney ladies and gentlemen we'll be right back with The Decemberists