George Clooney once ended up in the hospital after dropping 25 pounds for his role in The Midnight Sky. The actor was so determined to nail his part as a cancer-ridden scientist that he pushed his body to the brink. Clooney was rushed to the hospital just days before the shooting started, and it turns out he had pancreatitis—a fancy word for a seriously inflamed pancreas.
The Ocean’s 11 star admitted he was “probably not taking care of myself” while trying to lose weight too quickly. Maybe it’s not the best move, but hey, dedication, right? The actor-director revealed to Daily Mirror that he was too focused on shedding those pounds fast. But in doing so, he ended up weak and in pain, a lesson learned the hard way.
“It took a few weeks to get better, and as a director, it’s not so easy because you need energy,” Clooney said. And when you’re out in the cold, icy wilderness of Iceland and Finland shooting, energy is pretty much everything. He may have been struggling physically, but the whole experience added to the intensity of his character.
More About George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky Role
The Midnight Sky was a challenging ride for George Clooney, too. The film, shot in Iceland (and Finland), had him trudging through icy glaciers, adding to the difficulty. Still, he said the grueling conditions helped him get into character. “It certainly helped with the character,” Clooney admitted, referencing his time spent in the freezing cold.
Despite the physical toll, his role as the lone scientist trying to warn astronauts about a global catastrophe in a post-apocalyptic world brought a new level of reflection. For Clooney, fatherhood played into that deeper connection to the film’s themes of legacy and the state of the world.
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Of course, this isn’t the first time Clooney’s committed to an extreme transformation for a role. But the 25-pound loss left him feeling “pretty weak,” and he had no fitness trainer to help. “I did not need a fitness trainer,” Clooney laughed.
“At that point, I was trying to stay at that spot, which is not eating.” As any actor who underwent a drastic transformation will tell you, the older you get, the harder it becomes. It was a real struggle for Clooney—losing weight at 59 was no walk in the park.
But amid all the physical sacrifices, Clooney couldn’t help but reflect on the bigger picture. He said having kids made him more aware of the world he’s leaving behind, and the themes of The Midnight Sky hit home. Clooney shares twins, Ella and Alexander, with wife Amal Clooney. “When you are having children, it makes you think infinitely more about what we are leaving them,” Clooney said.
“What legacy are we leaving them, if we are going to deny science, if we are going to have a world of divisiveness and anger?” He even went on to say that his kids made him more aware of the importance of the story, which echoes the global catastrophe in the film.
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