George Clooney fires back at Quentin Tarantino, David O. Russell

George Clooney and Brad Pitt laugh on a night shoot for their film 'Wolfs' at the South Street Seaport in New York

By Nardine SaadStaff Writer

Aug. 14, 2024 2:06 PM PT

Clooney and Pitt! Together again! In one interview! Taking shots and naming names!

The superstars teamed up for GQ’s September cover story published Tuesday ahead of the release of next month’s buddy comedy “Wolfs” and the sit-down plays out like the literary version of that film’s premise: “Two men play rival fixers hired for the same job. It’s a comedy, it’s an action film, it’s an excuse for two guys who like to finish each other’s sentences in real life to do it in a movie again,” wrote GQ’s Zach Baron.

And the so-called Hollywood BFFs certainly did plenty of sentence-finishing in the interview, practically without a care in the world.

The seemingly mile-long Q&A is full of “rich-guy teasing,” multiple observations about aging (Clooney is now 63; Pitt is 60), talk of their 40-year fame, quarter-century friendship and endurance in Hollywood while coming up on the tail-end of the bygone studio era. It even includes a cameo by Amal Clooney and the 7-year-old Clooney twins whom they try to “protect,” a lengthy gazelle metaphor, unfettered fan-boying on the part of their interviewer and director bashing (we’ll get to that last one in a minute).

There’s also some fashion and a bevy of profile-photo-worthy portraits of the guys being silly but eternally picturesque. The camera still absolutely loves them, at any age, and they know it.

“We’ve been friends for a long time,” Clooney said. “And it’s fun because we also check in on each other every once in a while, which is an important part of this. Things get complicated in life and you always have to make sure everybody’s OK.”

“George is probably the best at understanding, seeing the chessboard and the potential moves. I’ll call George on numerous occasions when things get bumpy,” Pitt added. “George is going to understand something that no one else is going to understand, that we don’t even have to speak about. There’s a comfort in that.”

The “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Burn After Reading” co-stars’ rapport is front and center. They speak in shorthand with a few anecdotes peppered throughout. Surprisingly, or perhaps by design, there’s no mention of politics nor Clooney’s pivotal op-ed calling on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 election. Nor was there much talk of Pitt’s headline-making personal life except for a roundabout admission that he’s done “four or five dumb things, and just keep[s] going.” (Incidentally, the interview is set in the South of France at Pitt’s Miraval estate, which is at the heart of litigation with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

Meanwhile, Clooney fired back at fellow filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and took a shot at David O. Russell in the interview, readily sharing his unfiltered thoughts about his bad experiences with the directors.

“Quentin said some s— about me recently, so I’m a little irritated by him,” Clooney said. “[Tarantino] did some interview where he was naming movie stars, and he was talking about you [Pitt], and somebody else, and then this guy goes, ‘Well, what about George?’ He goes, he’s not a movie star. And then he literally said something like, ‘Name me a movie since the millennium.’ And I was like, ‘Since the millennium? That’s kind of my whole f— career.”

The “Pulp Fiction” and “Inglourious Basterds” director did indeed speak “somewhat unkindly,” per Deadline, of Clooney’s filmography last summer and as a clip of Clooney’s Tarantino impression went viral.

“So now I’m like, all right, dude, f— off. I don’t mind giving him s—. He gave me s—. But no, look, we’re really lucky we got to work with these great directors. Director and screenplay is what keeps you alive. And I learned that after doing some really bad films. You can’t make a good film out of a bad script. You can’t do it. You can make a bad film out of a good script. You can f— it up.”

Russell, who has weathered years of misconduct allegations, was not afforded that same grace. Later in the GQ interview, and seemingly unprompted, Clooney directed his ire at the “American Hustle” and “Joy” director, with whom Clooney worked on “Three Kings,” the 1999 war heist film.

“The older you get, time allotment is very different. Five months out of your life is a lot. And so it’s not just like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go do a really good film, like ‘Three Kings,’ and I’m going to have a miserable f— like David O. Russell making my life hell. Making every person on the crew’s life hell. It’s not worth it. Not at this point in my life. Just to have a good product.”

Added Pitt: “It’s also not worth it, really, to repeat ourselves. It’s just boring as f—. ... we’re both doing a lot of things outside film, which is really intriguing.”

Representatives for Tarantino and Russell did not immediately respond Wednesday to The Times’ requests for comment.