George Clooney's Favorite Movie Of All Time Is A Classic Satire

Warner Bros

George Clooney might seem like a fun-loving sort, but he is a man who takes his movie stardom seriously. Yes, he's a notorious practical joker who once affixed a frame to Brad Pitt's license plate that read "F*** Cops," but, really, when he's not trying to get his "Ocean's Eleven" co-star arrested, he cares deeply about his craft. If you doubt this, you should perhaps read the book "George Clooney: Anatomy of an Actor," which examines ten of his most significant film performances in some detail — and, yes, I am just recommending this book because I wrote it.

Though Clooney does come from a long line of entertainers, most prominent among them his aunt Rosemary Clooney, he's more than earned his A-list stature. After struggling throughout the 1980s by appearing in past-their-prime sitcoms ("The Facts of Life") and literally unreleasable movies ("Grizzly II: Revenge"), he finally broke through on television via NBC's Nielsen ratings juggernaut "ER." Finding the same popularity in films took some time (the movie that should've made him a $20-million-per-picture man, "Out of Sight," was a box office disappointment), but by 2001 he was considered both bankable and genuinely talented. His coronation arrived in 2006 when he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his physically demanding performance in "Syriana."

Once his stardom was cemented, Clooney branched out into directing with the satirical biopic "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." Combined with his role as a production company co-chief (with Steven Soderbergh) at Section Eight, he was suddenly viewed as a major voice in American cinema. Naturally, this meant people began looking to him for wisdom when it came to matters behind the camera, or simply regarding what classic films they should be watching. And when it came time to ask him if he had a favorite movie of all time, Clooney had an answer.

MGM

During a 2017 red carpet interview with The A.V. Club, Clooney revealed that his favorite film of all time is the 1976 news media satire "Network." Directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky, the film about an anchorman who becomes a ratings sensation when he begins unleashing unscripted rants about the troubled state of the world on the air, hits Clooney, the son of TV journalist Nick Clooney, right where he lives. As Clooney told The A.V. Club, "'Network' is one of my favorite films of all time. I think Paddy Chayefsky was a genius. I think what he wrote about in 1976 at the time was just a comedy, and everything he wrote about came true."

Clooney's right. Now that the news is very much driven by ratings (which determines ad rates), the notion of a "mad prophet" like Peter Finch's Howard Beale getting canceled (i.e. killed) due to low viewership isn't that far-fetched at all. Certainly, the anchorperson as fiery truth teller — be it Bill O'Reilly, Alex Jones, or Sean Hannity — has been here for decades and isn't going anywhere. Sounds like the kind of subject that would make for a classic Clooney movie.