Grant Heslov

IT'S been an odd and brilliant sort of year for Grant Heslov. The awards, the reviews, the nominations, the interviews, the endless hours spent standing in a tuxedo watching women, and men, elbow past him to get to George Clooney -- it's all been very dreamlike, as if he were watching it happen to someone else. "It's an emotional rollercoaster," he says, totally non-tuxeoed in a temporary production office in Burbank.

The Ides of March Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $35.99 Writer-director-producer-star George Clooney's adaptation of Beau Willimon's play "Farragut North" stars Ryan Gosling as an idealistic political consultant who believes deeply in his candidate (played by Clooney) until he discovers that even doing what's right in politics requires too much compromise. Clooney has assembled a terrific cast (including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood), and "The Ides of March" goes down easily, with a sophisticated bustle and a strong third-act twist.

It all started with an unlikely pairing of two unknowns. Back in the '80s, a couple of struggling actors named Grant Heslov and George Clooney were in Milton Katselas' famed acting class. Clooney asked Heslov, then a student at USC, if he wanted to do a scene from Neil Simon's Depression-era play "Brighton Beach Memoirs." Heslov agreed, playing the younger nerdy Eugene to Clooney's older sibling Stanley. Their chemistry worked, and shortly after, when Clooney was invited to audition for ABC, he brought Heslov along to repeat the scene.

Politics may make strange bedfellows, but in these hyper-partisan days, just how many motion picture academy members and other award voters are raring to snuggle up to a politically themed film, particularly one focused almost entirely on Democrats, such as "The Ides of March"? And, really, how truly liberal is Hollywood — and, in turn, the academy — at this point? When it comes to "Ides," these questions may be compounded by the fact that the profitable, well-reviewed film (85% "fresh" on the Rotten Tomatoes meter)

When a political thriller is called "The Ides of March," it's safe to presume it's not going to celebrate the gracious pleasures of good government. Referencing the betrayal and assassination of Roman emperor Julius Caesar lets us know that darker forces are going to be given free rein, the darker the better. Directed by George Clooney (who headlines along with a powerhouse cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei and Jeffrey Wright)

The Dow Jones industrial average was plummeting and President Obama was on the air, seeking to calm the nation and the markets. Inside the Studio City offices of his production company Smoke House, George Clooney searched the TV screen, looking for the charismatic senator the actor had supported in the 2008 election. But Obama this August morning looked defensive and a bit gassed; life in the White House, it seemed, was grinding him down. "I think he's getting beat around," Clooney said, the way a Little League dad might cheer on a son struggling on the pitching mound.

The Ides of March Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $35.99 Writer-director-producer-star George Clooney's adaptation of Beau Willimon's play "Farragut North" stars Ryan Gosling as an idealistic political consultant who believes deeply in his candidate (played by Clooney) until he discovers that even doing what's right in politics requires too much compromise. Clooney has assembled a terrific cast (including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood), and "The Ides of March" goes down easily, with a sophisticated bustle and a strong third-act twist.

Mt. Oscar: To scale the heights of the Oscars -- to reach the top of that golden O -- wrap yourself in raves and pack lots of buzz. This week's altitude readings are by Rachel Abramowitz, Greg Braxton, John Horn, Elena Howe, Susan King and Tom O'Neil. TEARFUL: What was already a magical night for "Precious" star Gabourey Sidibe turned emotional at the premiere's after-party. As Mary J. Blige performed a ferocious version of the film's "I Can See in Colors," Sidibe wiped away tears.

"Good Night, and Good Luck" couldn't be more unlikely, more unfashionable -- or more compelling. Everything about it -- its look, its style, even its sound -- stands in stark opposition to the trends of the moment. Yet by sticking to events that are half a century old, it tells a story whose implications for today are inescapable. An examination of the stand CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow took in 1954 against Sen.

"The Men Who Stare at Goats" sounds like some ethnographic documentary about the bushmen of the Kalahari or the Bakhtiari herders of old Persia. Anyone expecting anything like that, or even a Disney family film like "Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar," is going to be surprised. Instead, first-time director Grant Heslov has come up with something wackier and more whimsical, a quirky comedic drama about one of the stranger aspects of the modern American Army, a time when certain high-ranking officers felt that the New Age techniques and beliefs of the counterculture could transform military practice as we know it. As the intertitle that begins the film succinctly puts it, "more of this is true than you would believe."

The movie business is predicated on predictability. Studios churn out sequels and remakes, directors rarely stray from their preferred genres and actors gravitate to the same sorts of roles. It's a pattern most everyone in Hollywood understands and accepts -- but apparently not George Clooney, who's wrapping up a career year. And precisely when he couldn't be more admired as an actor, Clooney says he is pulling back from the very job that brought him renown. At a point in his life when it would be easy to play safe -- he's 51, has a supporting actor Oscar for "Syriana" and can pay the bills with his international TV commercials -- Clooney instead placed two speculative and not insubstantial bets on himself this year.

With a raft of Golden Globe nominations Thursday for A-list stars like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Madonna in a range of categories, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. once again confirmed its affection for celebrities, leaving some of the year's darker and more challenging films and performances off its list. Instead, it was largely lighter, more accessible fare like "The Descendants," "The Artist" and "The Help" that got multiple nods one day after the Screen Actors Guild showered the same trio of movies with nominations.

George Clooney will suffer a blow from an imposing robot at the box office this weekend. "Real Steel," a PG-13 action film starring Hugh Jackman, is expected to collect around $30 million in U.S. ticket sales upon its debut, according to several people who have seen prerelease audience surveys. Disney and DreamWorks, however, are expecting a softer opening of $23 million to $25 million. Either way, that should be enough to crush the other new film in wide release, the Clooney-directed political drama "Ides of March," which also stars the actor and will probably gross around $11 million.

When a political thriller is called "The Ides of March," it's safe to presume it's not going to celebrate the gracious pleasures of good government. Referencing the betrayal and assassination of Roman emperor Julius Caesar lets us know that darker forces are going to be given free rein, the darker the better. Directed by George Clooney (who headlines along with a powerhouse cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei and Jeffrey Wright)

The Dow Jones industrial average was plummeting and President Obama was on the air, seeking to calm the nation and the markets. Inside the Studio City offices of his production company Smoke House, George Clooney searched the TV screen, looking for the charismatic senator the actor had supported in the 2008 election. But Obama this August morning looked defensive and a bit gassed; life in the White House, it seemed, was grinding him down. "I think he's getting beat around," Clooney said, the way a Little League dad might cheer on a son struggling on the pitching mound.

George Clooney and Grant Heslov were all ready to make "The Ides of March" — and then Barack Obama was elected. The actor-director and his longtime producing partner had adapted Beau Willimon's play "Farragut North," a story of backroom betrayals during a critical moment in a fictional presidential race, significantly ratcheting up the play's realpolitik. Willimon's unsentimental drama, under Clooney and Heslov's revisions, became a somber, provocative thriller. "Grant and I were sitting at lunch, saying, 'We need to do this, we need to do that,'" before shooting started, Clooney said.

Politics may make strange bedfellows, but in these hyper-partisan days, just how many motion picture academy members and other award voters are raring to snuggle up to a politically themed film, particularly one focused almost entirely on Democrats, such as "The Ides of March"? And, really, how truly liberal is Hollywood — and, in turn, the academy — at this point? When it comes to "Ides," these questions may be compounded by the fact that the profitable, well-reviewed film (85% "fresh" on the Rotten Tomatoes meter)

George Clooney will suffer a blow from an imposing robot at the box office this weekend. "Real Steel," a PG-13 action film starring Hugh Jackman, is expected to collect around $30 million in U.S. ticket sales upon its debut, according to several people who have seen prerelease audience surveys. Disney and DreamWorks, however, are expecting a softer opening of $23 million to $25 million. Either way, that should be enough to crush the other new film in wide release, the Clooney-directed political drama "Ides of March," which also stars the actor and will probably gross around $11 million.

Mt. Oscar: To scale the heights of the Oscars -- to reach the top of that golden O -- wrap yourself in raves and pack lots of buzz. This week's altitude readings are by Rachel Abramowitz, Greg Braxton, John Horn, Elena Howe, Susan King and Tom O'Neil. TEARFUL: What was already a magical night for "Precious" star Gabourey Sidibe turned emotional at the premiere's after-party. As Mary J. Blige performed a ferocious version of the film's "I Can See in Colors," Sidibe wiped away tears.

It all started with an unlikely pairing of two unknowns. Back in the '80s, a couple of struggling actors named Grant Heslov and George Clooney were in Milton Katselas' famed acting class. Clooney asked Heslov, then a student at USC, if he wanted to do a scene from Neil Simon's Depression-era play "Brighton Beach Memoirs." Heslov agreed, playing the younger nerdy Eugene to Clooney's older sibling Stanley. Their chemistry worked, and shortly after, when Clooney was invited to audition for ABC, he brought Heslov along to repeat the scene.