George Clooney, alongside his wife Amal, has been an active participant in global justice issues through the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which they established with the mission of challenging injustice around the world. The couple recently shared insights into the impactful work their foundation is doing and discussed George’s creative processes, including his experience writing the 2005 screenplay for “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
While speaking at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England, George, who co-founded the foundation with Amal in late 2016, said, “The organization’s work is to hold people’s feet to the fire as it involved a lot of failing and then finally succeeding,” via Hello! magazine.
“You can’t guilt really human beings into being good people…You can’t get the Sultan of Brunei to act on his own. But what you can do is you can guilt the [expletive] out of people that do business with them,” stated the Ocean’s Eleven actor.
George explained, “You go to the cruise lines and gas lines and you go, ‘The same that’s happening to the hotels that the Sultan of Brunei owns is going to happen to you.’ And then they go to the Sultan of Brunei and go, ‘Dude, what are you doing? Knock it off!’ And that’s how you actually get it to change.”
“We use that verb very deliberately because it’s a fight,” remarked the barrister’s wife. Amal continued, “And we think of it as a process where we have to gather our forces and gather allies and be really determined like you do when you’re fighting a war.”
The Clooney Foundation for Justice, since its inception, has undertaken numerous initiatives aimed at promoting justice in regions where it is most threatened. Through their foundation, the Clooneys have worked tirelessly to combat human rights abuses, support marginalized communities, and advocate for fairness in legal systems internationally. Their efforts include monitoring trials of human rights abuses, aiding refugee resettlement, and fighting against hate crimes and school bullying.
I wrote because I was being called a traitor to my country by my own country for being against the war in Iraq. The idea was anybody who spoke out against the war in 2003 was a traitor, and it wasn’t really fun. They were picketing my movies, and all that kind of stuff,” mentioned the Gravity star.
George added, “So, we wrote it, because we liked the idea that it has to be entertaining, people have to be engaged.” “Storytelling is about finding a way to relate to people things that they can understand and not overwhelm them with peas and carrots,” he concluded.
George explained how the creative process of writing the screenplay in 2005 helped him understand the significant impact media can have on public perception and justice. He drew parallels between the challenges faced by Murrow and those the foundation addresses today, emphasizing that standing up for what is right is as crucial now as it was during the McCarthy era.
Amal Clooney, a highly respected human rights lawyer, also shared her perspective on the role of legal advocacy in achieving the foundation’s goals. She stressed the importance of legal interventions in upholding human rights and ensuring justice for those who are often silenced or overlooked by the mainstream legal systems. Her work, both within and outside of the foundation, serves as a critical component of their joint efforts to promote justice globally.
Together, the Clooneys’ discussion highlighted not only their personal commitments and professional undertakings but also their broader vision for a more just world. Their conversation provided insights into the synergies between George’s artistic endeavors and Amal’s legal acumen, demonstrating how both spheres can intersect and reinforce each other in the pursuit of a common cause.
Through their foundation and their individual careers, George and Amal Clooney continue to inspire many by showing how influential figures can leverage their platforms to effect meaningful change across the globe. Their ongoing commitment to justice and their efforts to raise awareness about critical issues facing today’s society underscore the potential for collaborative impact between the worlds of entertainment, law, and activism.
