George Clooney has addressed rumors of he and Brad Pitt‘s salary for the upcoming action comedy Wolfs, which is set to release later this month.
As the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival this past week, a report from the New York Times came out that noted that both Clooney and Pitt had been paid around $35 million each to be in the film. Speaking about the report in Venice, Clooney denied the fact that the pair were paid that much, and even noted that he and Pitt gave portions of their salaries back after the film was unable to strike a theatrical deal that would see the movie play widely.
“[It was] an interesting article and whatever her source was for our salary, it is millions and millions and millions of dollars less than what was reported,” Clooney said (via THR). “And I am only saying that because I think it’s bad for our industry if that’s what people think is the standard bearer for salaries. I think that’s terrible, it’ll make it impossible to make films.”
As far as the film’s theatrical issues, Clooney said the pair did want the movie out in as many theaters as possible, and attributed the falling through of a deal as “bumps along the way.”
Clooney and Pitt wanted the film to be released in theaters
“Yes, we wanted it to be released [in theaters]. We’ve had some bumps along the way, that happens. When I did [Clooney-directed biographical sports drama] The Boys in the Boat, we did it for MGM, and then it ended up being for Amazon and we didn’t get a foreign release at all, which was a surprise,” said Clooney. “There are elements of this that we are figuring out. You guys are all in this too. We’re all in this industry and we’re trying to find our way post-COVID and everything else, and so there’s some bumps along the way. It is a bummer of course, but on the other hand, a lot of people are going to see the film and we are getting a release in a few hundred theaters, so we’re getting a release. But yeah, it would’ve been nice if we to have a wide release.”
“[Clooney] plays a professional fixer hired to cover up a high profile crime,” the official synopsis of the film reads. “But when a second fixer (Pitt) shows up and the two ‘lone wolves’ are forced to work together, they find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected.”
Outside of Clooney and Pitt, Wolfs also stars Austin Abrams, Amy Ryan, and Poorna Jagannathan. The film is written and directed by Jon Watts, who previously made 2014’s Clown, 2015’s Cop Car, 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
