YOU RUN TOWARDS FAME LIKE A BUG... AND GET ZAPPED

As he plays an ageing movie star reconsidering his life choices, George Clooney on whether he's similar to his character, the perils of stardom.. and why the odd film flop isn't always bad

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He says now that making Jay Kelly has made him think long and hard about the nature of fame.

"Fame is a funny thing," he comments, "because fame offers you the opportunity to be able to do the projects you want to do. But there's another side of it because you run towards it like a bug into the light and then, when you get there, you get really zapped! I mean, you do want it, but holy sh*t, there's a lot of other pieces that come into play!" Do not for one second, however, think that he is complaining.

"When I was a young guy, I had a job cutting tobacco for $3 an hour, and I used to watch ...do you remember the TV show Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous?" he nods of the popular 1980s documentary series, hosted by Britain's own Robin Leach, that probed the private lives of the wealthy and the privileged.

"And I'd watch it and I'd hear some famous actor complaining about their life and I'd be, like, "F*ck you, I'm cutting tobacco!" I don't find any reason to complain about anything about being famous and I don't find anything I have to complain about.

"I caught that brass ring. I got very lucky in my career and in my life, and a lot of what fame has afforded me is the ability to make films like this.