CREW GRIT

George Clooney and Callum Turner tell Total Film about the hard work (and play) that went into recreating a historical sporting moment in The Boys in the Boat. Ready all, row...

- JANE CROWTHER

If George Clooney likes you, he’ll give you shit. And as director of the true story of a plucky University of Washington rowing team making it all the way to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin with the spectre of war hanging over proceedings, he joshed with his lead, Callum Turner, playing underdog sculling star Joe Rantz. That banter continues on a drizzly December day in a suite in London’s Corinthia Hotel as the duo discuss their project with Total Film, with diversions into shared favourite films (All the President’s Men) and poring over a phone to look at pictures of recent co-stars mucking about on set. ‘Tough love,’ Clooney smiles when Turner complains about faint praise for his rowing skills, but the fraternal bond is evident in their easy chemistry and Turner’s admission that his director called him in for post-shoot ADR just to see him. ‘He brought me in just to say hello,’ he chuckles. ‘It was five minutes. He was like, “All right, see you later.”’

Clooney, casual in a black polo shirt and jeans, shrugs. He’s still, he says, after four decades in the business, like a kid at work. ‘What we get to do for a living is fun. It’s hard work. We’ll work 16-hour days. But it’s a privilege. I love walking onto set. I love watching. I’ll sit on set, and I’ll watch smart actors finding their way.’ Turner, rangy, and dressed in a green cardigan, nods. ‘With George it was a masterclass every single day,’ he says warmly of the experience. A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say. But back to the kidding…