For Cineville Magazine, I did an interview with none other than George Clooney. We talked his new film Gravity, life in outer space and… being George Clooney.

Thank you for the amazing opportunity to have this interview with you, I know how hard it must be for you to squeeze this kind of thing into your busy schedule.

‘Not a problem, my schedule is pretty much empty right now anyway’.

You now hold the record for the longest spacewalk. Any other records you hold?

’

I was voted sexiest man alive twice. That’s gotta be more than any other living human being on earth’.

Not exactly. Your good friend Brad Pitt was voted sexiest man alive twice, too.

‘Brad’s a fraud.’

Now that we’re on the subject: you must be an expert when it comes to flirting in tricky situations. I recall Out Of Sight (1998), where you, being all smelly and badass and trapped in the trunk of a car with Jennifer Lopez, made her character fall for you instantly. And now Gravity: I mean, you throw some of the best lines at Sandra when, in fact, it looks like you have only seconds left to live.

‘Think of it. You don’t want your final words to be boring or, worse, fall into oblivion. If you know that you could die any moment, you’d better make the most of it and have some fun. And nothing is more fun than flirting! Especially when you catch fire and the woman flirts right back at you: don’t you love it when they give you this sensual look and say: I want you right here, right now, George Clooney!? You ever had that?’

No. My name isn’t George Clooney.

‘Good point’.

But it’s not just that. Frankly, you’re just pretty damn good at it. What inspires you?

‘You’d better ask who inspires me. Because I have to admit that, even though flirting kind of comes naturally to me, I do some research now and then. I sometimes watch other movies with cool actors and then copy their lines when I go out with women’.

Such as?

‘I’m not going to tell you the names of the women I date’.

No, I mean which lines, which actors, which films? I could use some good pointers.

‘Humphrey Bogart has some pretty good lines in In A Lonely Place (1950). I believe he said: ‘I was born when you kissed me, I died when you left me, I lived a few weeks while you loved me.’ Not bad huh? Marlon Brando, too, was great at flirting, mostly off stage. But Marlon’s eager style of flirting would be too much for me, and perhaps also too corny nowadays. Always have a ’take it or leave it attitude’, that’s my tip for you. Go see some of Sean Connery’s films, he’s the personification of coolness. And take a close look at the guy who plays Danny Ocean in the Ocean’s series. He’s pretty smooth too. But mind you, my lines to Sandra were all my own. I was in fine form. And she was in the mood for it, anyway’.

Because of the view, I guess?

‘Definitely. Women find nothing more romantic than watching the sunrise together from the orbit. I would recommend it to any other couple if you have the chance. If you don’t, go see this movie together. Director Alfonso Cuarón did a great job in letting you experience what it actually feels like to be out there. By the way, my talkative mood was also to make sure that Sandra was a little bit more comfortable with the whole life-threatening situation, a situation Alfonso Cuarón himself put her into in the first place.’

Makes sense. Though, I must admit the whole ‘George Clooney adds some comic relief to an otherwise frightening scenario’ almost put me off the movie. The comic note undermined the peril and suspense.

‘I am sorry to hear that, it’s just how I deal with things. Maybe it’s also because I have dealt with so many life-threating situations in my films that I am able to put things into perspective when it comes to my own death. I was shot and left for dead in The American (2010); a couple of years earlier I was almost beheaded in Syriana (2005) by angry Hezbollah’s and in 2000 I was this close to drowning in the middle of the fucking ocean in The Perfect Storm. I can’t even remember the other threats, there must be plenty of them, but I tell you this: what doesn’t kill me makes me… funnier, I guess. I don’t know. But hey, you must admit you think Gravity is a great film in the end, right?’

I do!

‘Mission accomplished then!’.

Just curious: did you experience the overview effect* while out there?

‘Glad you ask. Yes, I did! I saw the Earth from up there and thought of it as such a tiny, fragile ball of life. I immediately felt the obvious and imperative need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this pale blue dot. That’s why I want to continue what I do best: inspire the world with great storytelling and acting. And be a better person. That’s why I want to continue my work for the UN. Do good, you know’.

So for 2014: an Oscar for best actor in a leading role, a Nobel Peace Prize and sexiest-man-alive-award number three. How does that sound?

‘Terrific’.

Good luck with that and thanks again for this interview.

‘Again, not a problem’.

Oh, by the way: did you know your voice sounds exactly like Tim Allen’s? I watched Toy Story 3 recently, all the time thinking it was you who did the voice for Buzz Lightyear!

‘There you go, another great space hero who knows how to flirt! This interview has come full circle’.

* The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts and cosmonauts during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from orbit or from the lunar surface. It refers to the experience of seeing the earth in space as a tiny, fragile ball of life and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this ‘pale blue dot’ becomes both obvious and imperative [Source: Wikipedia].