George Clooney | No 9 | Film Power 100
Actor: Michael Clayton, Ocean's Eleven
Director: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night, and Good Luck
His new film, The American, topped the US box office despite subdued reviews ("the dreariest thriller of the year") which proves, if nothing else, that Clooney, 49, has still got it. Even with his charisma at half-mast, wearing dad slacks – as he does in The American – Clooney is undoubtedly a proper movie star in the broad-shouldered 40s tradition. To the outside world at least, he pulls off celebrity while managing to look like a fully paidup member of the human race without the control freakery of Tom Cruise or Will Smith. That could have something to do with him being a late bloomer; he was in his 30s when he found success on the TV show ER. But what makes Clooney so influential is his modus operandi: the way in which he has used his heartthrob status as a lever for engaged, intelligent film-making. He clearly knows the effect his presence will have on the box office of a Coen brothers movie. (He's done three of them so far, Intolerable Cruelty, O Brother Where Art Thou? and Burn After Reading.) In 2000, Clooney went into business with director Steven Soderbergh taking actor, executive producer and director credits (in various combinations) on a string of films. Starting with Ocean's Eleven, their output ranged from muscular political thrillers to quirky comedies (earning Clooney a best supporting Oscar for Syriana in 2006). The American is produced by the company he set up after calling it a day with Soderbergh. Its next project is Clooney's fourth outing as a director: a campaign trail drama loosely based on Howard Dean's stab at the presidency. Once again, it is the kind of liberal-leaning film that would struggle without a splash of his movie-star magic. This led one of our panellists to note that the Clooneyites will show up for any of his films, even if the suspicion is that they don't like much like them.