TORONTO—For a serious movie that The Ides of March presented itself to be, co-writer and producer George Clooney and his co-stars made for a lighthearted conference at the annual Toronto International Film Festival at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in downtown Toronto, on Friday, Sept. 9.
Clooney, a long time Hollywood A-lister, took up the role as director on The Ides of March and joked about the transition. “Pretty much the same guy as George Clooney the actor ... same height, same hair.” Alongside the responsibilities of director, co-writer, actor, and producer, Clooney added jokingly “choreographer” to the list of titles he took on for the movie.
The Ides of March is a modern day drama revolving around a political campaign of democrat Mike Morrison, played by Clooney, and his idealist assistant Stephen Myers played by Ryan Gosling. After a potential scandal is revealed, Myers needs to make decisions whether to stick to his ideals or to play the political game.
With years of experience on and behind the camera, Oscar winner Clooney bonded with the cast and crew as the group joked amongst themselves as if they'd known each other for years.
“Well it was really fun to work with George, right guys?” Gosling jokingly carried the atmosphere as he asked his costars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella, and writer Grant Heslov. As the cast fell silent and almost motionless, the press room erupted with laughter.
“It was more than fun,” Gosling continued into the microphone, “it was delightful,” the laughter grew louder.
Clooney played along by dishing it out towards Gosling. “Watching him work was like watching unicorns being born,” he explained with a smile.
Clooney, on a more serious note, appreciated Gosling’s performance on set. “Look,” Clooney lowered his gaze, “I think he knocks out the part. This is a very, very difficult role. You got to be the center of a hurricane, and you have to carry everyone and everybody’s point of view on your shoulders,” he said.
Gosling affirmed that Clooney was nothing short of a knowledgeable director, someone who knew the plot and characters completely and was always thinking about the film. “He knew the story inside and out,” Gosling said. “He would talk you through the scenes and he would even hum what he thought the music might be like,” Gosling said as he imitated a conductor.
It was a no-brainer for Canadian born Gosling to star in Clooney’s movie. He explains the process as: “George asks you to be in his movie, you just do the movie.” Gosling thought that if the story was to be translated into the Canadian sphere of politics, “the Canadian version would be too nice,” he reasoned with the laughing crowd. To add to the atmosphere, Giamatti added: “I bet it probably is just as dirty up here as it is anywhere else ... I think it’s time to blow the lid off of Canadian politics.”
Although when asked if Gosling would run for a campaign in Canada, Gosling let out a definite “No,” while Clooney joked that it would be a great idea. According to reports, at the recent Venice festival, Clooney himself declined the idea of running for presidency.
For Clooney, The Ides of March is not a film about politics or a campaign. “I didn’t think this was a political film, it was more a film about moral choices,” he said.“I just thought it was a fun moral tale, once you put it in politics it ramps up all the problems.”
“Everyone has their moral choices that better themselves and hurt someone else along the way, and whether or not the means justify the ends and that to me is universal and could have been literally in Wall Street, actually probably easier in Wall Street, it could have been anywhere, so that was our point.”
Behind all the political struggles onscreen, Clooney affirms that the film’s theme lends some truth to the current political affairs. “[Films] reflect the moods and thoughts that are going on in our country or around the world. This film reflects some of the cynicism that we’ve seen in the recent times,” he says.
Politics or not, good chemistry among co-workers are what make films like The Ides of March successful.
“I get to work with a great bunch of actors who elevate the projects,” Clooney said about his role as director.
“They’re all so funny, they’re just the best guys in the world,” Evan Rachel Wood confirmed the friendship among the cast.
