NEW YORK — George CLOONEY had been working since 5 a.m. and was due back on the set of Joel and Ethan Coen's "Burn After Reading" at 8 the next morning. It was approaching midnight and the Upper East Side restaurant was all but empty, as was the fantastic bottle of Italian Barolo he'd shared over dinner.
But Clooney wasn't done yet.
He was eager to talk about Sen. Barack Obama, whose presidential campaign he supports and with whom he talks regularly. He was impressed by new French President Nicolas Sarkozy's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner. He was worried that not enough is being done for the refugees of Darfur, Sudan -- even though he's helped raise more than $10 million for relief, Clooney fears as many as 2 million more may die.
But nothing that Clooney said over the course of a two-hour dinner resonated like the story he told about his aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney.
"She said she was a better singer when she got older," Clooney says, picking at some berries for dessert. "And I said, 'Why are you a better singer now? You can't hold the notes like you used to. And you can't hit the notes like you used to.' And she said, 'I don't have to prove I can sing anymore.'
"And there is that as an actor too. Where you say, 'I don't have to prove I can act anymore.' Or at least I don't feel the need to prove it. Which is incredibly liberating."
That liberation hasn't made Clooney go soft. Rather, he's working harder than ever, all in different directions. After the critical success of "Syriana" (for which he won the best supporting actor Oscar) and his "Good Night, and Good Luck" (nominated for six Academy Awards, including best director for Clooney and best picture), Clooney might very well have steered clear of danger and could easily do nothing more taxing than, well, "Ocean's 13" ad infinitum.
In the next few months, though, Clooney not only will star for a rookie director -- playing a troubled law firm "fixer" in writer-director Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton," which opens Friday -- but also will direct himself as a 1920s football player opposite Renée Zellweger in the long-gestating romantic comedy "Leatherheads."
Although "Michael Clayton" and "Leatherheads" are miles apart in plot, they share one thing: Had it not been for Clooney's participation, both would probably be stuck in development hell. And Clooney is well aware that with that kind of clout comes much greater accountability.
