George Clooney explains what drew him to The Boys in the Boat
“I like stories that are about ordinary people doing something extraordinary.”
George Clooney has explained what drew him to his latest movie The Boys in the Boat.
The two-time Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker co-produces and directs an adaptation of Daniel James Brown’s book about the US men’s rowing team at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
The story contrasts the inspiring story of a University of Washington crew succeeding against the odds, under the spectre of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party’s rising control over Germany.
Speaking to Digital Spy ahead of the movie’s UK release, Clooney spoke about how the conflict at the centre of The Boys in the Boat remains a vital message nearly a century later.
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“I like stories that are about ordinary people doing something extraordinary. I like that. I think it’s always fun,” he told us.
“Sports stories in general are almost always like that. Jesse Owens’ story is like that, quite honestly. It’s a pretty nice, fun, inspiring film to remind us that we’re all in this together and actually our differences aren’t all that different. We all kind of like each other and we all can root for one another. I think that wouldn’t be a bad thing to take away.”
Clooney has profiled this period in world history at several points throughout his career, including in 2014’s The Monuments Men about the US Army’s quest to recover art stolen by the Nazis.
He also directed the acclaimed film Good Night, and Good Luck, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and Best Picture for his gripping portrayal of the Blacklist in the US.
One of The Boys in the Boat’s stars, Joel Edgerton, also touched on why this period in history is so vital for today’s viewers to understand.
“It’s one of those stories that’s so perfectly built to make a movie of because each step of the way, you’re like: ‘Oh wow, oh wow’,” he said. “The fact that ends, not just the Olympics but the German Olympics in front of Hitler, it adds an exciting ending to the movie strangely, even though it doesn’t necessarily change what the boys did.
“It was just interesting to look at those Olympics in a way that I hadn’t really looked at before, just out of curiosity more than anything else. Where was the world’s opinion about Germany at that point and what hadn’t happened yet? The signs and the iconography was all there, terrifying.”
The Boys in the Boat is released in UK cinemas on January 12.
