Here are some photos from Sunday night’s LA premiere of Suburbicon, the film directed by George Clooney and starring Matt Damon. I’m actually going to split up the photos into two posts, because both Matt and George made lengthy statements at the premiere and I want to deal with both men separately. First, some superficial stuff: George attended the premiere with his wife Amal and his mother-in-law Baria Alamuddin. I don’t have an ID on Amal’s gown yet but I kind of hate it. I know this isn’t an ikat print, but it reminds me of the ikat prints I hate, plus I dislike the “curtain” aspect of the gown, especially with the top part (which looks like the fringe found on many curtains).
As for George… in the first days of the Harvey Weinstein scandal exploding, George did an in-depth and surprisingly real interview with the Daily Beast. I still believe that the interview was one of the better “statements” to come out of the controversy, because it was a portrait of a man who so badly wants to see himself as a champion for the oppressed, but he was in the process of realizing that he had willfully turned a blind eye to the systemic oppression of women in his industry for decades. Anyway, on the red carpet last night, George once again addressed the Weinstein situation, with an eye on the future:
What he hopes for the future: “What we hope is this is a watershed moment for society where women feel safe enough to talk about this issue, feel believed and where men who are committing these crimes [and] violations don’t feel safe and feel as if they do these things they’re going to be outed, sued and may even get litigated and go to jail for it… If we can get to that point then we actually succeeded. This thing won’t end up just being Harvey Weinstein jokes in three months.”
On Woody Allen’s comment that this could start a “witch hunt atmosphere”: “That’s a stupid thing to say. The reality is it’s not a witch hunt to these women who were trapped in a hotel room and told they were going to get a part and then suddenly here comes Harvey Weinstein in his birthday suit. That’s an assault. It’s not just Hollywood it’s all of society and we’re going to have to come to terms with it because we haven’t yet.”
On the responsibility of the press: “It’s infuriating and it’s also infuriating when I read stories about reporters who did investigations and didn’t print it for ten years. Then you go, “Why didn’t you print that story? I would have liked to [have] seen it. And I would like to know who brought actresses up to Harvey Weinstein’s room and then left. I’d like to know that.”
I hope that “this thing won’t end up just being Harvey Weinstein jokes in three months” as well. And I appreciate that George is keeping his eye on collaborators and colluders too – how many people enabled Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault emporium? How many assistants, producers, agents, managers and directors? George told the Daily Beast weeks ago that he knew Weinstein hit on young women, that he cheated on his wife, but that he never knew Weinstein had assaulted anyone. Do you think that’s what many of the Weinstein collaborators will say too?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Not convinced George … Kevin Smith does it better
Kevin Smith took action. That’s what needs to happen, not statements. Men like George Clooney have power. Remember back in 1997, Clooney’s press conference after Diana died? That was an angry person looking for actions to create change. I’m not seeing that now. Instead he’s taking shots at his favorite target: the press.
This is just the beginning of all of this. He can still take action. I’m not taking a preemptive strike on Clooney, or Matt Damon, or Tarantino. Good on Kevin Smith for taking the lead in actually doing something. I have feeling the others will follow suit once they come to terms with their own inadvertent compliance to this f’ed situation women have been living basically since forever.
None of the three have had good responses. I can see actual change coming from Tarantino. Clooney will do … something, because his image is being “a good guy,” even though an actual good guy wouldn’t need public blowback to change his ways. Matt Damon is in too deep, I think. He’ll make some kind of token effort but mostly stick to being defensive.
I like that you said George wants to be one of the good guys but realizes he has a few skeletons in his own closet. I’ve never cared for George. His Rat Pack persona/comments all the way back to his early career always was creepy and offensive to me. But whatever, his statement sounds like a lawyer or his press agent wrote it.
Exactly. Also, Georgie wielded some power in Hollywood and Damon and Affleck, but they didn’t say a thing even when Ashley Judd came out. I would have a lot more respect for a lot of these people who say “they knew” if they supported her. I can only imagine how brave that was for her to do that ALONE. She is courageous, George, Ben and Matt are all playing dumb..yes, they are just soooo offended by HW. LMAO.
Also, I hope this terrible movie seals George’s fate as a director. Go home and change nappies! Your time would be better spent.
Totally agree with both of you. His time has came and gone.
I’m the opposite. I love love love that gown on her. She is tall enough to pull it off. The color and print of the dress is also so pretty on her. I really like the top part of it in the solid blue.
I give it a big thumbs up. She looks stunning. The earrings really work also.
It’s a none so blind as those who won’t see thing.
I’ll give George credit: it seems as though he has realised that. He might be dancing around it due to self-image as you point out, Kaiser, but the subtext does seem to be that he gets it, or at least is in the process of getting it.
Yes, that’s how I see it too.
Take a seat and do better, George…
Seriously! He needs to wake TF up. Hopes this moment sheds light yet he serial dated women under 35 and paid them for their silence afterwards. GTFO.
I really appreciate that he didn’t mince words on Allen’s statement. The other major people that have used the term “witch hunt” in 2017 are Trump and O’Reilly, so yeah. If I hear that phrase, you might as well come out say that you’re guilty of everything you been accussed of.
Has he talked to his wife who worked with Assange? Should we believe these women?
What about the woman who accused George of having her fired? Believe her or not, George?
Ask his wife about Assange and if you’re referring to Marquez, she said Clooney blacklisted her on the set of ER after she alleged harassment on set. She was clear that Clooney did not harass her nor was she fired.
I love the dress too! Vibrant and fresh.
Yeah…we will see George. We will see. But I agree that there’s a lot of enablers who need to be eliminated or at the very least put on a short leash.
On a side note this movie looks like yet another flop for Clooney, Damon, and (unfortunately) Oscar Isaac (although apparently he’s barely in it). Reviews range from bad to indifferent. At least Julianne Moore had a financial hit with Kingsman. George tends to get angsty when his director projects fail.
It’s hard to say. He did what he did only when he was alone with the woman. It is quite possible that people on staff just thought he was a sleazy cheater and really didn’t know what else he was up to. As long as the women stayed silent, how exactly would they know?
Men tend to think “hitting on” a woman is ok regardless of context. In a professional forum, we tried to explain why it was a bad idea in the workplace and why it changed the work dynamic, but one otherwise intelligent fellow said “well, how else am I going to know if I have a shot?”. They really don’t always understand that we don’t want to be viewed as a potential date when we are working with colleagues. Especially since some guys get so angry when they hear the word “no”. Really awkward if you have to share an office.
I don’t disagree with him here, and I think he’s right on about Woody Allen’s stupid comment.
I hope he walks the walk – he’s in a position of power, and has the ability to create sets that don’t allow harassment and sexism, and to hire men and women more equally.
I’m tired of parsing someone’s words to the point that whatever they say could be misconstrued! Let’s take Clooney at his word
he’s an ally! We don’t have nearly enough let’s not allienate ones that aren’t ” perfect”
You know what annoys me though? So George and apparently all of Hollywood knew that Harvey “cheated on his wife”. Even if it would have been just that – his wife is in business with most of them. All these people met her professionally and everyone was able to look her in the eye and pretend that everything’s fine. Talk about compartmentalisation!*
*and yes, I’m aware that this is my puny middle-class values speaking. Still, I would be mortified if I had to deal with the spouse of a serial cheater.
His wife knew he cheated on him. Come on. She wasn’t that naive.
Unfortunately that is the rule and not the exception. If I had a dollar for every person (male and female, mind you) that have cheated on their spouses…well…I’d be rich. And I’m as far removed from Hollywood and famous people as possible.
She might be the wife of a serial cheater, but she’s also a human being in her own right. I’m curious as to what you expected them to do?
If she didn’t know, telling her makes you the bad guy. Not fair, but that’s generally how that goes down.
If she did know and is out putting on a brave face, saying something to her is only going to humilate her. In those cases, it’s better to allow her to retain her dignity.
If on the off-chance the couple has agreed to an open marriage, then you’re putting your nose in someone else’s business that isn’t any of yours.
You are so on point Felicia. I remember a time back in my younger idealistic days when a friend of mine was being cheated on by her boyfriend. Thinking I’d want to know if it was happening to me (because, truly, I would!) I naively told her about it with pure intentions of being a good friend.
You know what happened next. She told me to mind my own business, they are now married as far as I know, and guess who she doesn’t speak to anymore? Me.
I like his response to Woody Allen’s witch hunt comment but his continuous bashing of the press bugs me. He’s already admitted that he was aware of part of Weinstein’s reputation, so I am not sure why he keeps insisting that the media is to blame for not publishing stories. It feels like deflection.
Every time I tell a cop I didn’t see that stupid sign, I get told, “That’s no excuse” and get a ticket. One would hope assaulting and raping women deserves more accountability than traffic violations.
Funny you said that, I did get out of a ticket because the sign was obstructed by overgrown bushes, and I gave a picture to the judge. I wish life was as black and white as that, but it’s not.
Just like there isn’t perfect victims there isn’t perfect witnesses or defenders. I am a bit perplexed at people in general. As a society just recently we have made the actual perpetrator pay any price, although not criminal. Yet we go to all the peripherals of other people who knew or maybe helped the abuser to issue blame, and change our focus from the biggest part of the abuse. I really would like to have a system that goes after the abuser and provides appropriate punishment to them first.
If the tolerance goes away the bad behavior goes away.
Yeah… If someone has to be tricked into a sexual encounter then it is not consensual cheating. Those people who led those girls and women to meetings and parties and then abandoned them are 100% complicit. You know if someone wants to be alone sexually with someone else. What these women have described is being tricked and then abandoned. Many of them must have been visibly nervous or even afraid. How anyone can live with themselves after doing that I do not know. No job is worth it.
His statement was not good, just an acknowledgement that he knew Weinstein was a dog so not to get his hands dirty that it was more. Bs. But his team is keeping an eye on how internet reacts and he is adjusting accordingly. Guy is still a phony.
I believe that some of these guys “didn’t know”. But it is their blindness to the pervasiveness of harassment that allows them not to know. Not to make this about Harvey’s looks – but did they actually think that a bunch of very young, gorgeous models and actresses were very attracted to him? No, in their mind it is all a quid-pro-quo and the pervasiveness of this “choice” was not something they analyzed.
To say nothing of the fact that these young women held no power and yet these guys thought there was some even trading going on? With the biggest name in Hollywood? Right, sure.
I love Amal’s dress. What’s that weird patch of different material at the bottom of her mother’s gown?
George looks older than his mother-in-law.
In that top pic, he looks 85, what is wrong with him, he also looks absolutely miserable.
Ok George so what will you now do to affect change? Just making a statement won’t cut it.
Amal looks beautiful. Her dress has a nice beach vibe too it. On the other hand, George looks hella old! I never noticed the length of his chin before.
What has happend to George, he looks like an old man who forgot to put in his false teeth in that top picture, he looks so old and shrivelled, I cant beleive how much he is going down the hill, and by the look of that film of his, his career on the way to the bottom aswell, oh well he always has his coffee adds to go back too.