One of Hollywood’s most prominent and charismatic stars, George Clooney is a renowned filmmaker and actor with a magnificent silver screen repertoire. The performer has appeared in countless films and television shows, captivating audiences since his breakthrough role as Dr. Doug Ross on the mega-hit medical drama series, ER. Though he’d headlined the film The Magic Bubble (and starred in Return of the Killer Tomatoes, of all things), his first big movie was in Robert Rodriguez’s 1996 action horror flick From Dusk Till Dawn, in which he appeared as the short-fused antihero Seth Gecko alongside Quentin Tarantino, starring rather than directing.
From Dusk Till Dawn helped Clooney transition from TV to the big screen, going on to headline movies like the crime comedy Out of Sight, star-studded comedy heist trilogy Ocean’s Eleven, and the legal thriller masterpiece Michael Clayton. The actor continued dominating the entertainment world, becoming one of the most bankable actors while becoming a fan favorite leading man.
Clooney has gone on to become a jack of all trades in show business, acting in blockbuster hits like the sci-fi thriller Gravity while also maintaining credibility with more independent and artistic films, like Solaris and Fantastic Mr. Fox. He’s continuously put on the director’s hat with critically-acclaimed films like Good Night and Good Luck, The Monuments Men, and The Ides of March. The star has won four Golden Globe Awards and two Oscars, and in 2018 became the recipient of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. Clooney’s next project will be the upcoming romantic comedy with Julia Roberts, Ticket to Paradise. These are the best George Clooney movies.

9 From Dusk Till Dawn

In the 1996 Robert Rodriguez action horror flick From Dusk Till Dawn, the then-television star appeared alongside famed director Quentin Tarantino as a pair of criminal brothers who take a family hostage in order to cross the Mexican border; their seemingly fool-proof plan takes a turn for the terrifying when the group find themselves trapped in a saloon crawling with vampires. The electrifying picture is a star-studded extravaganza featuring many famous Hollywood faces, including Harvey Keitel, Salma Hayek, and Juliette Lewis, and proved to be a breakthrough for Clooney, showcasing his talented range as an actor and ability to tackle edgier parts.
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Clooney portrayed the antihero Seth Gecko with immense bravado and thrilling flair, and was excited about the opportunity to leave his scrubs behind to work alongside Tarantino, having said, “I was playing a pediatrician on a hospital show and all of a sudden I get to murder people? I thought that was pretty great. I got to spend eight weeks or so in the Titty Twister, what was the downside?”

8 O Brother, Where Art Thou?

O Brother, Where Are Thou? is a fun and exciting Coen brothers comedy from 2000, but takes place in the deep south in the 1930s and follows a trio of escaped convicts who set out in search of freedom and buried treasure while being pursued by a ruthless sheriff. George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson star as the fortune-seeking criminals, with Clooney portraying leader Ulysses Everett McGill, who helps devise a plan to escape the chain gang in order to retrieve a treasure he claims was buried before the Mississippi area was flooded to make a lake.
The quasi-musical is a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s epic Greek poem The Odyssey, incorporating social features of the American South while utilizing folk music as a major component of the story, not merely as a background or a support. O Brother, Where Are Thou? was one of the first films to extensively use digital color correction to give the flick a sepia-tinted look. The film’s soundtrack even won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 2002, becoming the only motion picture soundtrack to ever receive the accolade.

7 Three Kings

Hollywood heavy hitters George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and even director Spike Jonze star in the 1999 satirical black comedy war film Three Kings, which centers on four American soldiers who set out on a gold heist to steal Saddam Hussein’s hidden gold in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War. When one of their own is captured and tortured by Iraqi intelligence, the three men agree to fight Hussein’s Elite Guard and rescue their fellow soldier. Clooney leads the charge as cynical Sergeant Major Archie Gates, an officer close to retirement who is disillusioned with the war but rallies to help the Iraqi rebels and save his friend.
Director David O. Russell was initially hesitant to cast Clooney in the role, unconvinced that the handsome TV doctor could deliver; the star rallied for the part, even sending Russell a humorously self-deprecating letter signed “George Clooney, TV actor.” When Nicolas Cage dropped out of the project, Clooney was ultimately cast, with Russell stating that he “was meant to play the part,” even if the two ultimately engaged in frequent shouting matches on-set. Three Kings proved to be a box office success and garnered critical acclaim upon its release.

6 Out of Sight

George Clooney teamed up with Jennifer Lopez to star in the sharp and sexy 1998 crime comedy Out of Sight, an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel of the same name that follows career bank robber Jack Foley as he breaks out of jail and kidnaps U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco; the duo share a mutual attraction and must decide whether the law or their hearts will come out on top. The film marked the first collaboration between Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh, who would go on to become a frequent actor-director duo.
The character of Foley appealing to the actor from his love of bank robber heroes as a boy, citing, “the Cagneys and the Bogarts, Steve McQueen and all those guys, the guys who were kind of bad, and you still rooted for them. And when I read this, I thought, ‘This guy is robbing a bank, but you really want him to get away with it.’” Out of Sight was heralded by critics, with Clooney’s performance earning glowing reviews; film critic Roger Ebert declared, “Clooney has never been better. A lot of actors who are handsome when young need to put on some miles before the full flavor emerges… Here, Clooney at last looks like a big screen star; the good-looking leading man from television is over with.”

5 Michael Clayton

Tony Gilroy (who wrote Syriana, for which Clooney would win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) made his feature directorial debut with the 2007 legal thriller Michael Clayton, in which George Clooney plays the titular former prosecutor who works as a “fixer” at a corporate law firm and takes care of all his employer’s dirty work. Swimming in debt from gambling and bad decisions, Clayton has no choice but to do as the firm says, but he finds it difficult when a guilt-ridden attorney and close friend has a breakdown while representing a chemical company he knows is guilty.
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Denzel Washington was initially approached to portray the lead, but the actor was apprehensive to work with a first-time director; Clooney himself was also skeptical and passed on the role, but after meeting with Gilroy found they were both on the same page, and he signed on to the project. Featuring the additional talent of Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton went on to earn seven Academy Award nominations, with Swinton winning for Best Supporting Actress. The thriller would go on to appear on many critics’ top ten lists of the best films of 2007.

4 The Descendants

For the 2011 comedy-drama The Descendants, George Clooney stars as attorney and land baron Matt King, a family man who struggles to reconnect with his young daughters after his wife is tragically injured in a boating accident. Matt must not only contend with his wife’s possible death himself but also help his children cope with the profound loss of their mother, all the while facing mounting pressure from his family to sell his enormous Hawaii land trust. Despite the heavy plot, it’s a surprisingly gentle and light movie about family love.
On what attracted Clooney to do the picture, the actor told Time Out, “I thought it was the best screenplay I’d read in a long, long time. There’s not much that happens in the film, in a weird way. When you look for trailers of the film, it’s very hard to explain it, because it unfolds so slowly, so beautifully… You start reading it, and you’re involved the minute you start.” Clooney’s poignant performance garnered rave reviews, with the star earning an Academy Award nomination and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama.

3 Up in the Air

Jason Reitman’s 2009 comedy-drama Up in the Air tells the story of traveling corporate “downsizer” Ryan Bingham, as he enjoys living out of his suitcase and traveling around the country firing people; his seemingly simple life gets complicated by the arrival of a motivated new hire and the presence of a potential love interest. Based on the Walter Kirn novel, Reitman wrote the picture and the part of Ryan Bingham specifically with Clooney in mind, with the director having revealed, “If you’re going to make a movie about a guy who fires people for a living, and you still want to like him, that actor better be damn charming and I don’t think there’s a more charming actor alive than George Clooney. I was very lucky he said yes.”
Up in the Air was met with critical acclaim, and became an important film for being released closely after the 2008 financial crisis. Praise went towards Reitman’s screenplay and direction, as well as its outstanding performances; the Los Angeles Times commended Clooney for his portrayal, writing, “It’s hard to think of an actor who’s better at projecting the professional smoothness that’s essential to make this character palatable, but Clooney turns out to be willing to take that persona further.”

2 Gravity

George Clooney teamed up with close friend Sandra Bullock for the epic 2013 sci-fi thriller Gravity, in which the duo portrays American astronauts who become stranded in space after the mid-orbit destruction of their Space Shuttle, chronicling their terrifyingly tense attempt to return to Earth. Director Alfonso Cuarón had an affinity for space programs as a child and dreamed of becoming an astronaut, drawing inspiration for the breathtaking film after watching live moon landings on television and being drawn to pictures featuring the technology of space exploration.
Cuarón wrote the screenplay with his son, and would discuss survival scenarios in hostile, isolated places during the creative process; he ultimately decided to take it to an extreme place where there is nothing: “I had this image of an astronaut spinning into space away from human communication. The metaphor was already so obvious.” Gravity was a blockbuster hit, grossing over $720 million while being heralded for the realism of its premise and overall adherence to physical principles; astronaut Buzz Aldrin called the visual effects “remarkable” and expressed how he hoped the stunning film would encourage public interest in space again.

1 Ocean’s Eleven Trilogy

For Ocean’s Eleven Steven Soderbergh enlisted the help of some of Hollywood’s most dazzling A-list stars for his 2001 remake of the Rat Pack classic heist flick, snagging a superb cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould, and Don Cheadle. For the comedy caper, Clooney appears as gentleman-thief Danny Ocean, the ringleader and idea man who joins forces with fellow friend Rusty Ryan (Pitt) to plan a heist of $160 million from casino owner and adversary Terry Benedict. Clooney smoothly stepped into the massive shoes originated by Frank Sinatra for the role, delivering a suave and effortlessly cool charm to the famous character while displaying sensational chemistry with Pitt and the rest of the cast.
Clooney raved about the filming experience and camaraderie he developed with the stars during production, having told BBC, “Brad, Matt, and I were talking about it. It will never be better than this. No one went to their trailers. We just sat around the set and laughed and told stories.” Their dynamite chemistry helped make Ocean’s Eleven become Clooney’s most lucrative lead role, grossing $451 million worldwide and leading to the mega-successful follow-up sequels.

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