Read Online George Clooney by Mark Browning - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mark Browning
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the evolution of a new species, the sports agent, is seen as exploitative (taking a 25% cut from Dodge), unprincipled (threatening the
Chicago Tribune
with legal action, using a false witness), and opportunistic (he leaves the narrative, declaring âThereâs always baseball,â before being seen framed among the corrupt New York Yankees team in the closing snapshots). A deleted scene would have shown C.C., like brutal boss Bob Brown in
A Perfect Storm
(Wolfgang Peterson, 2000), shrewdly but callously dividing up the take, leaving the individual players with very little to show for their work (see chapter 3). Corporate sponsorship is also waking up to the commercial opportunities in sport with Carterâs face even appearing on the huge clock, next to the sports field.
In terms of staging sporting action, Clooneyâs camera often gives us a tight shot on the ball carrier, increasing the sense of speed and avoiding the need to choreograph complicated plays (as well as suggesting the chaos of the opening game in a field). Individual plays and final scores are important but there is little sense of a play-by-play drama. Commentators are present but we hear their words only in the final game with Chicago. Shots of Carter tend to be reverse tracking shots as he runs at the camera and then forward tracking shots like a defender who cannotcatch him (similar patterns are used in
Forrest Gump
, Robert Zemeckis, 1994). Shots of Clooney in particular tend to be tight so as not to emphasize his relatively diminutive size. The idea that his character could earn a living in his mid-40s in a fairly brutal sport, without obvious size or speed, is something the film does not dwell on, but the fact that Clooney had to cast extras who would not dwarf him, and order extras not to hit the director during plays, does tend to suggest a slight awkwardness here.
A Changing World
There is a strong parallel here between the increasing regulation of football with restrictions on those aspects of life that represent fun (players smoking while warning up or Dodge drinking and fighting until dawn the day of a big game, for example). Alcohol is ubiquitous, from Dodge taking a swig from a hip flask at the end of the game to Lexie getting drunk alone at the bar in a speakeasy to the whole notion of Prohibition (the ineffectiveness of which is stressed as Dodge greets the mayor). Dodge on his classic bike (a 1918 Indian replica custom-built for Clooney by specialist Eddie Paul), with goggles but no helmet, personifying the pleasure of biking, feels like a 1920s version of
Easy Rider
(Dennis Hopper, 1969) and also anticipates similar shots of friend Brad Pitt in
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
(David Fincher, 2009). This is not allowed to be too inflated, however, as the following shot shows Dodge pumping up a flat tire as a car passes him. The exterior shots have a crisp autumnal brightness, creating a fondly nostalgic view of an era on the verge of professionalism and the loss of something in the process.
Along with provision of better equipment, Carter summarizes the ethos of the new era, âAll that matters is that we win,â reflected in the booing of the big crowd at the climactic game.
The final game is played cleanly but is described as a âmuddy snoozefestâ by the commentator. The challenge here is to make a game that is described as âboringâ not seem so for viewers of the film, a challenge it does not entirely meet. The two teams, indistinguishable in the mud, are not playing for a title, a trophy, or money, and there is no sense that the heroes are really pitted against one another (although this is part of the hype around the game). There is little sense of a spectacle here (possibly bearing out C.C.âs earlier skepticism), and Dodgeâs gag of swapping sides is funny in its absurdity but it is fairly unbelievable that no one in the crowd, aside from Lexie, would notice.
The ragtime-style piano
Chicago Tribune
with legal action, using a false witness), and opportunistic (he leaves the narrative, declaring âThereâs always baseball,â before being seen framed among the corrupt New York Yankees team in the closing snapshots). A deleted scene would have shown C.C., like brutal boss Bob Brown in
A Perfect Storm
(Wolfgang Peterson, 2000), shrewdly but callously dividing up the take, leaving the individual players with very little to show for their work (see chapter 3). Corporate sponsorship is also waking up to the commercial opportunities in sport with Carterâs face even appearing on the huge clock, next to the sports field.
In terms of staging sporting action, Clooneyâs camera often gives us a tight shot on the ball carrier, increasing the sense of speed and avoiding the need to choreograph complicated plays (as well as suggesting the chaos of the opening game in a field). Individual plays and final scores are important but there is little sense of a play-by-play drama. Commentators are present but we hear their words only in the final game with Chicago. Shots of Carter tend to be reverse tracking shots as he runs at the camera and then forward tracking shots like a defender who cannotcatch him (similar patterns are used in
Forrest Gump
, Robert Zemeckis, 1994). Shots of Clooney in particular tend to be tight so as not to emphasize his relatively diminutive size. The idea that his character could earn a living in his mid-40s in a fairly brutal sport, without obvious size or speed, is something the film does not dwell on, but the fact that Clooney had to cast extras who would not dwarf him, and order extras not to hit the director during plays, does tend to suggest a slight awkwardness here.
A Changing World
There is a strong parallel here between the increasing regulation of football with restrictions on those aspects of life that represent fun (players smoking while warning up or Dodge drinking and fighting until dawn the day of a big game, for example). Alcohol is ubiquitous, from Dodge taking a swig from a hip flask at the end of the game to Lexie getting drunk alone at the bar in a speakeasy to the whole notion of Prohibition (the ineffectiveness of which is stressed as Dodge greets the mayor). Dodge on his classic bike (a 1918 Indian replica custom-built for Clooney by specialist Eddie Paul), with goggles but no helmet, personifying the pleasure of biking, feels like a 1920s version of
Easy Rider
(Dennis Hopper, 1969) and also anticipates similar shots of friend Brad Pitt in
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
(David Fincher, 2009). This is not allowed to be too inflated, however, as the following shot shows Dodge pumping up a flat tire as a car passes him. The exterior shots have a crisp autumnal brightness, creating a fondly nostalgic view of an era on the verge of professionalism and the loss of something in the process.
Along with provision of better equipment, Carter summarizes the ethos of the new era, âAll that matters is that we win,â reflected in the booing of the big crowd at the climactic game.
The final game is played cleanly but is described as a âmuddy snoozefestâ by the commentator. The challenge here is to make a game that is described as âboringâ not seem so for viewers of the film, a challenge it does not entirely meet. The two teams, indistinguishable in the mud, are not playing for a title, a trophy, or money, and there is no sense that the heroes are really pitted against one another (although this is part of the hype around the game). There is little sense of a spectacle here (possibly bearing out C.C.âs earlier skepticism), and Dodgeâs gag of swapping sides is funny in its absurdity but it is fairly unbelievable that no one in the crowd, aside from Lexie, would notice.
The ragtime-style piano
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