With a booming net worth of $500 million, George Clooney really doesn't seem like the kind of guy that struggled his way through life. However, that isn't exactly true.
He was cut from his baseball team when he tried to go competitive and later, he would work a slew of jobs which included, women's shoe salesman, cutting tobacco products, and even construction work.
Making the jump to acting certainly changed his life. Clooney started working as an extra in the early '80s, his big break took some time, taking place in the following decade as he scored big in the role of Dr. Doug Ross on 'ER'. Safe to say, his career took off from there.
Like so many other A-list actors, picking the right project can be quite the task, especially when scripts are coming your way on the regular.
Clooney has turned down some notable projects, especially on television. We'll take a look at one reboot George turned down, along with another one he likely wouldn't do, given his recent words.
In addition, we're going to look at some film roles he also rejected.
He Has Turned Down Several Projects In The Past
George is a man in demand, especially when it comes to working on the big screen. Let's be real here, George brings in the folks to the theaters, even if the film isn't a passable one.
Well, in some cases, the film was more than passable. However, Clooney just didn't feel like he was right for the role. The iconic film, 'The Notebook' is an example of that.
Despite its success, Clooney wasn't all that sold. "I was going to do a movie years ago called The Notebook, that Ryan Gosling actually did, and I was going to do it with Paul Newman. I was playing the flashback and Paul Newman was the old guy."
Although the script was a good one, Clooney just couldn't picture himself in the role of a 30-year-old at that point in his career.
"Paul and I talked about doing it, and we were sitting there one day and I was looking at him and I go, 'I can't do this movie, Paul,'" Clooney remembered.
"He was like. 'Why?' I was like, 'Because everybody knows what you look like at 30 years old. You got blue eyes, I got brown eyes. You're too famous at 30 for me to be playing you at 30, it's never gonna work.' And he's like, 'I guess you're right."
In the more recent circumstances, Clooney is saying no to TV. In this case, it was a reboot, dating back to his earlier days.
Turning Down 'Roseanne'
He played the part of Booker Brooks for 11 episodes, way back when. Given her interview alongside Howard Stern, Roseanne Barr made mention that there was a serious interest in bringing Clooney back for the reboot.
"George Clooney didn’t want to come on so that was a bummer,” she told Stern.
The two hit it off during their time together on the show. Though Roseanne did admit, Clooney got her into serious trouble, given that he was quite the prankster.
Clooney had her trash the set and send it to the network President. Given that the show was a rating leader, he said it would come across as funny...
Clearly, it did not. "That caused a lot of problems for me. I should not have sent that picture,” she said. “But it’s so funny.”
Roseanne shouldn't feel too bad as it seems like Clooney is quite selective when it comes to reboots.
Saying No To Another Potential Reboot
He took part in an 'E.R.' reunion and of course, the inevitable question came up, dealing with Clooney and the chances of the actor doing a reboot of the show.
Once again, he didn't seem to be too into the idea, "I don't know. The hardest part is that when you look at the show and consistently over so many years — it would be hard to say that you could do it at the level that we did it," he said of a potential reboot. "I'm not sure that that's available."
At the very least, he didn't squash the notion down completely and in truth, the other cast members seemed to be very open about the idea.
Who knows, maybe with some convincing he'll agree down the road...
