Rupert, Chill... Come on, Baby

Rupert Everett has a bone to pick with Hollywood, specifically George Clooney and other A-listers. Is it sour grapes? You be the judge:

RUPERT Everett, one of Hollywood’s favourite British luvvies, has bitten the hand that feeds him with an outspoken attack on some of the biggest names in movies. He savages Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Robert Redford, Woody Allen and Diane Keaton as “parodies of themselves”. But Everett...reserves his sharpest venom for George Clooney and his Ocean’s series of crime capers. ... Everett, 48, claimed the cult of celebrity was “devaluing the currency” of good acting. Everett, himself no stranger to playing the prima donna, said: “Clooney thinks that, provided he does films which are politically committed, he’s allowed to do Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13. But the Ocean’s movies are a cancer to world culture. They’re destroying us. “People in America can’t think about Iraq now – all they care about is Jennifer Lopez’s bottom. We are responsible for the blob-i-sation of the world by entertainment. “[Clooney] is not the brightest spark on the boulevard. He’ll be president one day. Mark my words, if he’s straight, he’ll be president.”... He said: “Our world is terribly promiscuous. The other day I saw a film called Because I Said So with Diane Keaton, and I thought, here’s one of the women we loved most in 1970s cinema, debasing and humiliating herself in this load of trash.” He added: “It’s just part of the huge amount of product that’s put out now that’s really bad. And it’s our fault. We’re all responsible for how the culture is. You can’t draw a distinction between the celebrity nonsense on television and the major players in the film industry: De Niro, Redford, Keaton, Allen, Pacino. “They’re all tragic parodies of themselves. Al Pacino looks like a mad old freak now. I say, give it a rest, or go and do some serious stuff.” [times online/uk]

ooof. Them's fightin' words. I agree in part about the dumbing down and promiscuous end of it. But, and I know you're gonna think I'm biased here, the bit about Clooney is a little unfair. I think you're allowed to have a sense of humor and be politically aware. There's no reason why George needs to be one or the other. Frankly, he's doing important work. But just because he likes to have a little fun time and again doesn't negate his message when he decides to do something serious. Jesus, if that were the case Jerry Lewis would have never raised all the awareness and cash he has for MD. Come on, Rupert... lighten up, baby.