George Clooney consistently comes across as one of the most intelligent and humane actors around:
“Ides of March I did for scale — scale as a director, scale as an actor, scale as a writer. And I don’t have any back end on it. So I’m not going to make any money after that. I enjoy living in a nice house and having a nice life. So I do two or three commercials overseas a year to sort of fill in, because they pay pretty well.
The wedding one in Norway was great. I usually try to keep away from anything that would have to do with me personally. I always think the commercials should make fun of me, sort of as a personality, but I try to keep my personal life out of it. But they called and sent the script, and the idea was funny. This woman in Norway wakes up and she’s married to me. It makes a big difference when you’re working with the Carol Burnett of Norway. She’s great, and it turned out fantastic.
That commercial in particular helped fund a satellite project that keeps an eye on the Sudanese border to try to hold these war criminals in check. The satellite project costs about a million and two a year. So I’m always looking for a gig like that.”
[and it’s a pretty funny ad]