It looks like George Clooney’s own son didn’t even recognize him… as the Batman.
While attending the 78th Annual Tony Awards, the 64-year-old actor told Entertainment Tonight that his son, Alexander, whom he shares with his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, has recently become obsessed with the Dark Knight character.
Clooney told the host:
“My son, his new guy that he loves, is Batman. I said to him, 'I was Batman,' and he was like, 'not really,' and I was like, 'you have no idea how right you are.”
Clooney was cast as the Caped Crusader in the 1997 superhero flick Batman & Robin, directed by Joel Schumacher, also starring Chris O’Donnell as Robin, Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze.
Filled with awkward batsuit nipples and corny lines, the movie underperformed, becoming a box office bomb that put the Batman film franchise on ice until Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins premiered in 2005.
Funny enough, the actor reprised his Bruce Wayne persona in another 2023 box office bomb, “The Flash,” in a post-credit scene with Ezra Miller.
Assuring that the surprise cameo was only a one-time thing, he jokingly told the Hollywood Reporter:
“Oh yeah. Somehow, there were not a lot of requests for me to reprise my role as Batman, I don’t know why.”
Clooney is so embarrassed by the billionaire-turned-dark-vigilante role that he even forbade Amal Clooney from ever watching the movie.
On the red carpet for a special screening of “The Tender Bar,” Clooney told Variety in 2021:
“There are certain films I just go, ‘I want my wife to have some respect for me.’”
But that doesn’t mean his twin 7-year-old children, Alexander and Ella, can’t have a laugh at their father’s donning the bat cape and cowl. Joking about “trading one of them,” Clooney also talked about the box office success of his Broadway debut in Good Night, And Good Luck.
The play about the conflict between journalist Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist blacklisting campaign during the Red Scare premiered in April at the Winter Garden Theatre. Directed by David Cromer, critics praised Clooney’s performance, and he was nominated for five Tony Awards, including “Best Actor in a Play.”
Clooney told Entertainment Tonight:
“It was really fun to do. It’s fun to do that play, and it’s fun to have written a play on Broadway. That’s exciting too, so the whole thing has been a wonderful experience for us.”
Despite his Broadway success, fans still had time to roast (or praise) Clooney's portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne.
You can catch Clooney’s performance as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, And Good Luck on CNN properties and Max.
You can watch Clooney’s Entertainment Tonight interview below:
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
