Did You Know George Clooney Is a Director? These Are His Films

Clooney's directorial debut was Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a flick about a game show host that doubles as a C.I.A. hitman. The movie, which premiered in 2002, stars Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, and Clooney.

A few years later, Clooney went behind the camera again to direct Goodnight, and Good Luck, a historical drama about American television news. The film's star-studded cast—Jeff Daniels, Patricia Clarkson, and Alex Borstein—and Clooney's directorial vision made this 2005 flick a box office success with many critics lauding Clooney for his acting and direction. The movie was nominated for several awards including six Oscars and four Golden Globes.

In 2008, Clooney joined forces with Renée Zellweger and John Krasinski for Leatherheads, a sports comedy film about a pro-football team in the 1920s. He directed the picture and starred in it, playing the role of Dodge Connelly, the failing football team’s captain. The movie received mixed reviews and only generated $41 million at the box office, even though it spent a budget of $58 million.

Clooney didn’t just direct The Ides of March, an Oscar-nominated political thriller; he was its writer, producer, and star, too. It debuted at the 68th Venice International Film Festival and boasts a renowned cast including Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Marisa Tomei.

Set during World War II, The Monuments Men tells the story of an unlikely group of individuals who work together to try and take back famous artworks looted by the Nazis. The film stars Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, and John Goodman.

In 2017, Clooney released Suburbicon, which features Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, and Oscar Isaac. Interestingly enough, Clooney was initially supposed to act in the movie's original version but later decided to skip the script and focus on the camera work instead.

The 2020 film Midnight Sky was adapted from author Lily Brooks-Dalton's novel, Good Morning, Midnight. The nearly two-hour Clooney-directed sci-fi drama starred Clooney, Felicity Jones, and Caoilinn Springall and was nominated for an Oscar.

One of Clooney’s most recent directing gigs was the 2021 Amazon original movie, The Tender Bar. Based on J.R. Moehringer's best-selling memoir centered around growing up in Long Island, NY in the 1970s, the film stars Ben Affleck as Uncle Charlie, a bartender with an affinity for literature, Ty Sheridan as J.R., and Christopher Lloyd (remember him from Back to the Future?) as J.R.'s grandfather.