George Clooney took a moment on Sunday to address an unfounded rumor about himself and Brad Pitt. At the Venice International Film Festival, Clooney hit back at a claim that both he and Pitt had each negotiated $35 million payments from Apple to star in the upcoming film Wolfs. While he complimented the “really good” reporter behind the New York Times story, Nicole Sperling, Clooney clarified that the real number is much lower.
“She (Sperling) wrote an an interesting article and whatever her source was for our salary, it’s millions and millions and millions of dollars less than what was reported,” Clooney said, per footage captured by Getty Images. “And I am only saying that because I think it’s bad for our industry if that’s what people think is the standard bearer for salaries. I think that’s terrible — it’ll make it impossible to make films.”
Official promotional still from ‘Wolfs’ featuring Brad Pitt and George Clooney
– Scott Garfield / Apple TV+)
Clooney, 63, also noted that he and his co-star took a salary cut to ensure a theatrical release — and he wishes Wolfs was getting a full wide theatrical run instead of the limited one Apple settled on.
“We’ve had some bumps along the way, that happens,” Clooney said. “When I did The Boys in the Boat, we did it for MGM, and then it ended up being for Amazon and we didn’t get a foreign release at all, which was a surprise. There are elements of this that we are figuring out. You guys are all in this, too. We’re all in this industry and we’re trying to find our way post-COVID and everything else, and so there’s some bumps along the way.
“It is a bummer, of course its a bummer, but on the other hand, a lot of people are going to see the film and we are getting a release in a few hundred theaters, so we’re getting a release. But yeah, it would’ve been nice for it to have a wide release.”