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October 15, 2003
George Clooney: Mr. Popular
Intolerable Cruelty is a good movie, full of great one-liners, spicy back-and-forth, and some very funny typical Coen Brothers weirdness. It's also one of their most conventional movies. Almost immediately after they took over the project from Jonathan Demme, who was originally going to direct (possible actors for the leads included Hugh Grant, Richard Gere, and Julia Roberts), they cast George Clooney in the lead. This strikes me as the latest iteration in an ongoing tug-of-war over the Love of George between the Coen Brothers and Steven Soderbergh, both of whom have been wooing him with great roles in which he gets to wear fantastic clothes, charm the pants off the audience, and make out with a succession of hot women. It's been going like this:
Steven Soderbergh: I'll give you great suits, zippy dialogue, tough-guy co-stars, and Jennifer Lopez!
Coen Brothers: Oh yeah? We'll give you down-home charm, musical numbers, and Holly Hunter!
Steven Soderbergh: George, George, OK, I'll give you an ensemble cast of adoring guys who love you almost as much as I do, and Julia Roberts, America's sweetheart!
Coen Brothers: Yeah, well, George, we love you so much, we'll give you ridiculously attractive clothes, a razor-sharp repartee unseen since His Girl Friday, and lots of action with Catherine Zeta-Jones! Now she is hot!
Those poor, lovelorn directors. The true object of George's affection seems to be Paul Adelstein, who plays his law firm associate in Intolerable Cruelty. Their scenes together are the highlight of the movie, and almost rival Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller's most tender moments.
categories:
Celebrities
posted by amy at 11:16 AM | #
