George Clooney is at the Venice Film Festival for the premiere of his latest film, Wolfs , but the press took a moment to ask him about US politics and his publicly aired views on outgoing president, Joe Biden. Back in July, an op-ed by George Clooney, titled “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.” ran in The New York Times. In the piece, Clooney praised Biden’s character and morals and shared that he considers him a friend (in fact, Clooney had hosted a fundraiser for Biden just weeks before), but noted that Biden could not win the “fight against time” and asked that he step down as the Democratic nominee.
At a press event for Wolfs, which reunites Clooney with Oceans co-star Brad Pitt, Clooney was asked about the impact of his op-ed on Biden’s decision. While members of the audience could be heard applauding, Clooney redirected the attention and said that it was Biden who deserved the applause.
“The person who should be applauded is the president, who did the most selfless thing that anybody’s done since George Washington. All the machinations that got us there, none of that’s gonna be remembered, and it shouldn’t be. What should be remembered is the selfless act of someone who … you know, it’s very hard to let go of power. We know that. We’ve seen it all around the world. And for someone to say, ‘I think there’s a better way forward,’ all the credit goes to him, and that’s really the truth.”
Those “machinations” included several well-known names, both politicians and film industry professionals, who had previously backed Biden but were urging him to drop out of the presidential race. Calls for Biden to reconsider his re-election run amped up after his concerning performance on CNN’s June 27 debate. Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election on July 21. In a statement posted on social media, he shared:
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
George Clooney: Joe Biden is “Saving Democracy”
With the politics out of the way, Clooney then responded to questions about the movie he was there to promote, Wolfs, which will get a limited release in theaters before heading to Apple TV+ on September 27. The actor was asked about the release strategy for the movie, which changed from an originally planned full theatrical run. He told the audience:
“Yes, we wanted it to be released we’ve had some bumps along the way, that happens. You know when I did
Boys in the Boat
we did it for MGM and then it ended being for Amazon and we didn’t get a foreign release at all which was a surprise. There are elements of this that we are figuring out… It is a bummer, of course it’s a bummer. On the other hand a lot of people are going to see the film and we are getting a release in a few hundred theaters, but, yeah, it would have been nicer to have a wide release.”
Jon Watts’
Wolfs
, which follows the story of two lone fixers assigned to the same job, will land in limited theaters on September 20, before making its global debut on Apple TV+ on September 27.
