The indestructible and now sixty-something George Clooney and Brad Pitt presented “Wolfs,” their new film together, on Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, out of competition. This marks a return as a duo to the Lido for the stars, sixteen years after the Coen brothers’ comedy “Burn After Reading.”
Arriving by water taxi and then happily signing autographs on the Lido before the screening of their “buddy movie”: George Clooney and Brad Pitt honored their reputation as the coolest sixty-somethings in Hollywood in Venice.
Smiles were also abundant at the film’s press conference, where the two actors exchanged jokes. Clooney, especially, who is 63, compared to Pitt’s neat 60, joked about his age. The biggest difference between these two stars? “I’m much younger than him! You wouldn’t think it, but it’s true,” Clooney quipped while pointing at his partner. “He’s 74 and is still lucky to be working!”.
“On the decline!”
This action comedy, “Wolfs,” was denied a wide theatrical release at the last minute in favor of a streaming launch on Apple TV+ starting September 27. Clearly, this decision shows that the Brad Pitt-Clooney duo “is in full decline!”, joked Clooney at the press conference.
He added more seriously: “We need online video. Our industry needs it; it’s part of what we do. But (streaming services) also profit from movies being released in theaters. That’s why Brad and I have worked so hard for there to be a theatrical release.”
According to George Clooney, the rise of streaming is, in any case, positive for actors: “I’m very excited for young actors because I feel there are many more opportunities than when I was young, at least.” “We’re always romantic about the cinema experience, but I love that streaming exists because we can see more stories, more talents, for more viewers. It’s a delicate balance,” added Brad Pitt.
Cleaning Up the Traces of a Crime
Far from possessing the comedic strength of the Coen brothers or the energy of the “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001-2007) heist trilogy, “Wolfs” (the plural, incorrectly, in English for the word wolf, which is normally “Wolves”) is an action comedy that plays on the complicity and self-deprecation of the two stars.
The director, Jon Watts – known for three “Spider-Man” films – assigns them the roles of two “lone wolves,” outlaws tasked by their clients with cleaning up any traces of a crime. But the two characters find themselves assigned to the same job: disposing of the body of a young boy found in his underwear in the hotel room of an influential magistrate. Clooney and Pitt, reluctant colleagues, are caught up in a wild night, where everything goes off the rails.
“As soon as I read the script, as soon as we arrived on set, I felt that way of joking between us, of bickering all the time, it was so obvious,” George Clooney stated at the press conference.
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