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Thursday
28Aug2008

Clooney's Future is 'Up in the Air' with Jason Reitman

DateThursday, August 28, 2008 at 9:38AM
There's no question that Jason Reitman has fashioned a career for himself the right way. He's chosen smart, offbeat projects that have exceeded critical and commercial expectation with Thank You for Smoking and Juno. Smoking made back about four times its budget in the U.S. (nearly seven times what it cost worldwide), and snagged Aaron Eckhart a much-deserved Golden Globe nomination.

Juno, as we're well aware, is one of the biggest independent movies ever made. How many other $7.5 million flicks have produced over $200 million at the box office? I'm going to say not many. And it won a Best Screenplay Oscar while receiving nominations for Best Actress, Picture, and Director for Reitman.

For his next trick, Reitman will fly the less-than-friendly skies with an adaptation of the Walter Kirn novel Up in the Air. According to Variety, Reitman has been infatuated with the novel for some time, working on his own adaptation on and off since before Smoking. Now it's moving forward, Reitman finished his script, and he may have scored a pretty good leading man: George Clooney.

In a role that sounds perfect for Clooney's well-honed comedic chops, he would play "an unapologetic corporate downsizer whose untethered life is consumed by collecting air miles." What often goes overlooked in evaluating Clooney's career is the lack of surefire hits with which he aligns himself. Outside of the Ocean's movies - which even he cynically says exist purely so he, Brad Pitt, and Steven Soderbergh can afford to work on smaller, riskier projects - Clooney hasn't made a blockbuster since The Perfect Storm. I suppose Leatherheads could have qualified if you want to throw it in there, although I'd argue that it was never supposed to make $100 million or more.

Instead, Clooney has historically looked for interesting roles and great stories. Combine that with Reitman, who hasn't picked a bad story yet (and has built his movies around fantastic main characters), and this sounds like a pretty good fit for everyone.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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