George Clooney received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival’s opening ceremony on Wednesday, September 2, in an emotional tribute that brought both Clooney and his wife, Amal, to tears.
The award was presented by longtime friend Laura Dern, whose relationship with Clooney dates back more than 40 years to the 1980s horror sequel Grizzly II: Revenge, an early, ill-fated production the two worked on together in Hungary while just starting out.
Clooney has a deep history with the festival, having debuted major films there including Good Night, and Good Luck, Michael Clayton, Burn After Reading, Gravity and, most recently, Jay Kelly.
His 2005 directorial breakthrough Good Night, and Good Luck premiered in competition at Venice and went on to earn six Oscar nominations, including a screenplay nomination he shared with Grant Heslov.
Venice also holds deep personal significance for Clooney: he and Amal held their wedding celebrations at the Aman Venice Hotel in 2014.
Accepting the honour, Clooney reflected on his career and used his speech to emphasize cinema’s power to unite people across cultural divides, saying, “Nobody laughs in a different language. Nobody cries in a different language.”
He’d previously reacted to news of the award with characteristic self-deprecation, saying in a statement, “I’ve had so many extraordinary moments in Venice. This festival is without question my favorite and to be given the Golden Lion is a tremendous honor. It also probably means I’m old, but I’ll take it.”
Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera praised Clooney as “a complete and charismatic artist, impassioned and original, who has transformed a deep vocation into one of the most luminous parabolas of contemporary film.”
The honour adds to a résumé that already includes two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, four SAG Awards, a BAFTA, an Emmy and the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, earlier this year, Clooney also earned a Tony nomination for his Broadway debut in a stage adaptation of Good Night, and Good Luck.
