George Clooney: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Everett McGill - O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Despite Clooney's cool on-screen persona, and the genuine assumption that he probably enjoys being a star more than being an actor - something that his Ocean's Eleven co-star Julia Roberts has been accused of frequently also - he has a habit of playing it less straight occasionally, and attaching himself to braver, stranger roles like his grotesquely humorous lead in the Coen Brothers' beautifully odd O Brother, Where Art Thou? On similar form to his curious performance in The Men Who Stare At Goats, McGill is a ludicrous caricature for Clooney, with perversely personal undertones - or at least some reflecting the typical image he commands on film. McGill is the extreme end of the same scale as Danny Ocean and Seth Gecko - a luridly charming, definitely snake-like bad guy with a heart, but still driven by greed, and unable to cast off his criminal leanings. Pushed through the quaint, but still dark Coens filter, the character is a self-imagined lothario, believing himself to be the brains of the outfit, and unable to read the obvious sign that intellect only by comparison is not always intellect. Clooney picked up the Golden Globe for Best Actor in A Comedy or Musical Performance for the ridiculous performance, commanding as much attention as he had smouldering in straighter roles to date, but also announcing himself firmly as an actor capable of such comic turns. It's a hugely under-rated performance, and one that would have been lauded more highly had it been committed by a more traditional method actor like Daniel Day-Lewis.