MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
George Clooney met Paul Newman in the late '90s
Newman, who was working on Message in a Bottle at the time, offered Clooney advice on handling fame
Clooney, 64, reflected on the moment in a recent interview with The New York Times
WhenPaul Newmanoffered advice, you listened.
In a recent interview withThe New York Times,George Clooneysat down withJay KellycostarAdam Sandlerand revealed that Newman once gave him advice on how to handle life in the public eye in the late '90s.
"I'm not as good at getting out as you are," Clooney, 64, said to Sandler, 59. "I have a tendency to go, 'If I go out, that's going to be an extra hour of talking to people.' Paul Newman actually talked about this to me."
Moviestore/Shutterstock
"When I first met him, he was at Warner Bros. doingMessage in a Bottle,and I was onER,"he continued. "Newman was sitting outside smoking a cigarette, so I pulled up in the golf cart and was like, 'Hey, just wanted to say hi.' "
While Clooney said Newman "had no idea who I was," he eventually caught on to the fact that he was also an actor.
"Everybody who came by on golf carts was like, 'Hey, George.' 'George!'" Clooney recalled. "So bit by bit, he figured out I was successful in the industry in some way."
"Then he goes, 'George, don't let them keep you at home,'" he remembered. "He meant very specifically that tendency to isolate because you're trying to hold onto some privacy. My tendency at that moment was to stay in, and hearing Newman say that, it made sense immediately."
Sven Arnstein/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Even before then, theOcean's Elevenactor had followed and admired Newman's career for years, confessing toTimein 2008 that, though they were never in any projects together, he looked up to the Oscar winner and often tried to emulate him.
When asked if he mirrored his performance inMichael Claytonon Newman'sThe Verdict,he replied: "No, although I'm sure I've ripped every single guy like that, off. I've certainly ripped off Paul Newman three or four times, [though] not as well."
"Watch him at the end of the monologue in that film, where he's talking to the jury. Actors usually load up for a monologue. He finished it, and he starts to talk again, and then he walks away," Clooney continued. "To me, it's one of the great performances in any film, ever."
Newman died in September 2008 at the age of 83.
Clooney's latest film,Jay Kelly —which also stars Emily Mortimer, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough and Greta Gerwig — is now showing in select theaters and streams on Netflix Dec. 5.
Read the original article onPeople
