Actor George Clooney warned about political divisions Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival, lamenting that leaders are “telling us to fear one another.”
Clooney delivered his speech, which did not name any specific public figures, when accepting the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
“Stories are always dangerous to people who peddle in fear,” he said.
After reflecting upon his lengthy career, Clooney pivoted toward the current age of divisions.
“We’re living through a moment in time where the people in charge and people with the most money are telling us to fear one another,” the ER star said. “But we know better than that, don’t we? Because history does teach us a lesson.”
“The first people that authoritarians try to shut down are not politicians. They’re journalists who ask questions, they’re the artists who refuse simple answers, the filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians who insist that someone you never met is deserving of your empathy,” he added.
While Clooney acknowledged that movies “don’t stop wars,” he emphasized that they increase empathy.
“Stories are always dangerous to people who peddle in fear,” he said. “The people who are afraid of books and music and stories are never the heroes in history.”
“So yes, movies don’t stop wars, they don’t lower inflation, they don’t fix elections. But they do do something remarkable. They remind us that a stranger is never stranger, and that he might just be the hero in somebody else’s story. And if we can still sit together in the dark and care about people we’ve never met, I think we’ll be okay,” he added.
Prior to his speech, Clooney held a press conference where he defended actor Mark Ruffalo, who faced accusations of antisemitism when he said that Paramount’s David and Larry Ellison are “powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world.”
“I support Mark Ruffalo’s ability to speak freely,” Clooney said. “I don’t see how the merger financially ends up making sense for the people who are trying to do it. We’ll see.”
“I think maybe we have a kakistocracy right now, but we’ll get through it,” he added. “We will have an election in November that should be a check and balance. And then in 2028, we will have a restoration of some normalcy.”