George Clooney’s ‘Leatherheads’ Favor For Weekend
“Leatherheads,” the 1920s sports comedy directed by George Clooney, is set to score at the North American box office this weekend, media reported Friday. This film stars Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski as well as its director Clooney who also plays a professional football player in the sport’s anarchic early days.
“Leatherheads” is tracking well with older men and women, and interest seemed to be building this week among male youngsters.
Other openers include the family fantasy “Nim’s Island,” starring Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin and Gerard Butler, the horror film “The Ruins,” and the Weinstein Co.’s drama “My Blueberry Nights.”
Paramount Classics’ “Shine a Light,” a Rolling Stones concert film directed by Martin Scorsese, opens in 276 theaters, including 93 Imax venues.
And much depends on how “21,” Sony’s drama which topped the domestic box office last weekend, performs during its second round.
Industry opinion is mixed on whether April will be a help or hindrance in 2008’s struggle to outpace the year-ago box office totals.
‘Leatherheads’ the Clooniest George Clooney movie yet?
Opening Friday, comedy “Leatherheads” about 1920s footballers (George Clooney and John Krasinski) and Lexie Littleton reporter (Renee Zellweger) is Clooney’s third outing as a director, following “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
Those two films showcased the 46-year-old superstar’s inner rabble-rouser, while his last few as an actor played to other facets of his well-plumbed persona: “Michael Clayton” was a don’t-trust-the-Man thriller; “Ocean’s Thirteen,” a for-the-boys lark; “Syriana,” a dark political expose; “The Good German,” a nod to his old-fashioned movie-star image.
But “Leatherheads,” by its quirkiness, may be the forward pass that links them all. For despite his omnipresence in pop culture, and all those interviews trying to get to the bottom of him, Clooney refuses to be pinned down.
“The actual truth of it is, after ‘Good Night’ and ‘Syriana,’ for that matter - everything I was offered to direct was a political film,” says Clooney.
Leatherheads Movie Trailer
Universal has released the movie trailer for Leatherheads, a romantic comedy set in the world of 1920s football. The story follows the owner of a professional team who drafts a straight-laced college sensation in an attempt to legitimatize the sport, only to watch his new coach fall for his fiancée. Directed and starring George Clooney, co-starring John Krasinski, Renée Zellweger, and Stephen Root.
Seems a little zany to me, but I keep telling myself that this is the same guy who directed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Good Night and Good Luck. Click on picture and watch the trailer. What you you guys think?
