George Clooney: You don't learn from succeeding
George Clooney thinks he's actually benefited from his past failures.
George Clooney has learned more from "failing" than succeeding.
The 64-year-old actor has enjoyed huge success in Hollywood, becoming one of the best-known and best-paid movies stars in the world - but George thinks he actually benefited from some of his notable flops, including 1997's Batman and Robin.
Asked which film he learned the most from, George - who starred alongside the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Uma Thurman, and Alicia Silverstone in the much-maligned movie - told People: "Batman and Robin! I learned a lot [from] that one.
"You don't learn from succeeding — you learn from failing, and then you have to figure it out along the way, so it’s helpful."
George played Batman in the Joel Schumacher-directed movie, which received generally negative reviews from critics. And the movie star has previously criticised his own performance in Batman and Robin.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2019, George explained: "I wasn’t good in it, it wasn’t a good film.
"What I learned from that failure was that I had to relearn how I was working. Now, I wasn’t just an actor getting a role, I was being held responsible for the film itself. So the next three films I did were Three Kings, Out of Sight and O Brother, Where Art Thou? That was a very specific choice for me to find better projects."
Earlier this year, George revealed that he's no longer in a "rush to succeed".
The actor feels he's already "had [his] career in many ways" and he's now happy to put his family before his own interests and ambitions in the movie business.
The Hollywood star - who has eight-year-old twins Ella and Alexander with his wife Amal - told Extra: "I’m not in that mass rush to succeed anymore.
"I’ve had my career in many ways and you know things were winding down in a way, so I get to be home with my kids a lot and it’s fun. I’m still young enough that I can run around with them. That’s going away quickly, but I can still do it right now."
George and Amal recently celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary, and the actor revealed how they marked the occasion.
He shared: "We had a nice dinner night before last."
Asked what the next 11 years will look like for the couple, George replied: "Mostly be me gumming bread because I’m 64, so I’ll be 75."
Prior to that, George claimed that he's been the "recipient of a lot of luck" in his life.
He told AARP: "I think the only life lesson is to bet on yourself. And when there’s opportunities, you gotta go.
"In my life, I have been the recipient of a lot of luck. But I also believe you create opportunity for luck. You create enough opportunity and, every once in a while, you’ll hit one."
