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The big advice Paul Newman gave Ocean's Eleven star George Clooney, and how the actor is now patterning his whole career after it from here on out

George Clooney recently reminisced about meeting one of his idols, Cool Hand Luke star Paul Newman. And now, we get to imagine George Clooney and Paul Newman meeting in our heads... and kissing? No. Unless...?

News by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Wed Dec 31 2025

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You know, the more I go through life, the more I doubt that 'don't meet your heroes' thing. For example, George Clooney recently talked about meeting his hero (wild that George Clooney has heroes, right?), and the whole ordeal sounds like it went very, very well. In fact, still a Hollywood A-lister at 64, George Clooney is banking his entire career on the advice he got from one Paul Newman.

The story comes from a Variety interview Clooney did as part of the promotion of his new film, Jay Kelly, in which Clooney plays an aging movie star. During the chat, Clooney recounts a story from his days on ER, in which the future Ocean's Eleven star found himself on the same Warner Bros. lot as his movie star icon, Paul Newman. Naturally, he had to go up and meet him.

"I pulled up and I go, 'Hey, Mr. Newman,'" Clooney recounted to his interviewer. "And he clearly had no clue who I was. But he was friendly and we started talking. People would drive by going, 'George!' 'Hey, George!' 'Hey, man!' Bit by bit, he figured out that I was well known in some way. And as I started to leave, he goes, ‘Don’t let them keep you inside.'"

Maybe it's because I don't speak movie star, but that sounds like pretty cryptic advice to me. Fortunately, Clooney followed the story up with a translation.

"What he was talking about was fame," Clooney said, "And the tendency to surround yourself with managers and PR people who build these walls of security so that you don’t get caught doing something stupid [...] But what happens is you can divorce yourself from what’s really going on out there. You need people in your life that tell you the truth."

Now that, I can understand, and I have to say - it's pretty sparkling advice. Think about how the world would be different if, say, someone close to a certain reality TV host told him he would make a terrible politician. But I digress - for Clooney, being surrounded by people that were honest about his career means that there are a lot more Jay Kelly's in his future, and a few less Batman & Robins.

In other words, folks, go ahead and meet your heroes. You never know what great advice you might get.

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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.