Clooney gets prestigious award
2005-06-28 08:05
Los Angeles - Hollywood celebrated George Clooney with a career retrospective, shifting the spotlight from his swaggering superstar persona to his long-time support of emerging filmmakers and art-house cinema.
Among those cheering him at the Los Angeles film festival on Saturday night were Ocean's Eleven co-star Don Cheadle, Oscar nominees Virginia Madsen and Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Emmy winner Allison Janney.
Clooney said literally lying low following recent back surgery has kept him out of the tabloids. But he popped up again earlier this week, with news that he and English model Lisa Snowdon had ended their on-again off-again relationship.
Clooney arrived at Saturday's event to receive the festival's first annual Spirit of Independence Award with actor Sam Rockwell.
"I've got to tell you something," Clooney joked to AP Television News. "He's one of the worst dates I've ever had."
While Clooney is best known for his work on TV's ER and in such big-budget films as Batman & Robin and The Perfect Storm, Saturday's event honoured the 44-year-old actor's role in the world of independent cinema.
Behind the scenes, Clooney served as a producer of the Oscar-nominated Far From Heaven and he directed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind as well as the upcoming McCarthy-era drama, Goodnight, and Good Luck.
Clooney said his career has "always been a battle" between art and commerce.
"You try to do a little bit to make it so that you can afford to do the things you are most passionate about," he said. "It's a trade-off. If you do it well, if you're lucky, you sort of bounce back and forth and you're about to sort of constantly go back and touch the things that are important to you."
- AP