The level of commitment that actor/director George Clooney showed while making The Midnight Sky is the stuff that makes for some of the scariest stories. Like that time that Clooney had to go to the hospital, all because he lost a lot of weight to get into the character of a fatally ill astronomer. Another interesting story has come to light, and thankfully, this particular tale doesn’t wind up with anyone else in the hospital. Rather, it starts, and ends, with George Clooney’s beard grossly being stored in the makeup trailer, in case reshoots ever needed to happen.
In a conversation between Felicity Jones and George Clooney, The Midnight Sky co-stars reminisced about the facial hair that protagonist Augustine Lofthouse sports in the film being kept on set. You’re probably wondering how, and that’s part of where the grossness stands out in the remarks made to USA Today. You may want to sit down and put away any rolls of Scotch tape that might be laying out for the time being, as the beard fiasco played out thusly:
Jones: [The beard] lingered on in the makeup trailer, stuck to a piece of sticky tape.Clooney: I shot all my stuff first and the day I finished -- because believe me, my kids wanted it (gone) -- I shaved it all off and kept it in one piece in case I had to come back for a reshoot. It was like something Jack Elam dug out of his naval. It was scary.
The ever dreaded reshoots: a land where many an actor has had to either wear a wig or pray for solid and accelerated hair growth to save them from their choices. Luckily, it doesn’t sound like The Midnight Sky needed a reshoot that requires George Clooney to don his removed facial hair for continuity’s sake. Reading his description of how it looked when all was said and done, it’s probably for the best, as the image of having to glue the hair back to Mr. Clooney’s face sounds rather disgusting.
It’s a process that probably would have taken several stages too, as it’s kind of hard to imagine shaving off a beard in such a manner that it can easily be reattached. The entire affair sounds like it would have been an extensive day in the makeup trailer, which would have put The Midnight Sky behind a little in its schedule. Swinging back around to the lighter side of things, one could imagine George Clooney calling the process something akin to a jigsaw puzzle being assembled on his face. Or at least, that’s how we’d like to think of it.
With there being only two films that George Clooney can show his kids from his filmography, their disapproval of his beard seems to emphatically put The Midnight Sky in the “do not watch” column for the time being. But lucky you, the action of George Clooney’s latest movie is now available on Netflix for your enjoyment. Unless you also have a thing against the Clooney beard; in which case… may we recommend some E.R. reruns on Hulu?
