George Clooney Directed “The Boys in the Boat” From iPad amid COVID Outbreak: ‘I Was Really Sick’ (Exclusive)
“We only had to do it for a week,” Clooney says of the remote arrangement on the historical drama, which hits theaters Christmas Day
Laurie Sparham/ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
George Clooney on the set of 'The Boys in the Boat'George Clooney faced challenges while directing the historical drama The Boys in the Boat, including a COVID-19 outbreak on set.
“I was really sick,” Clooney, 62, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview this weekend. “It was my first time getting COVID.”
As a result of contracting the virus, he was forced to temporarily run the movie — which was filmed in 2022 and stars Callum Turner as amateur crew team member Joe Rantz, who helps bring the University of Washington’s underdog team to the 1936 Olympics — remotely, though with the help of some modern technology.
“I'm on an iPad hacking away from my bedroom,” recalls Clooney, whose producing partner Grant Heslov helped him from the set. “Grant was sitting on the camera and they'd hold up the iPad to Cal and I'd go, ‘Ah, go fast.’ I'd rasp out ‘Faster’ whatever that was.”
Thankfully, the scenario didn’t last long. “We only had to do it for a week,” he says.
Several other people who worked on the movie also got sick, including Joel Edgerton, who plays stoic team coach Al Ulbrickson.
“He went down first, by the way, in fairness,” Clooney quips of Edgerton. “So if we're looking for ground zero…”
At a virtual press conference for the movie Saturday, Edgerton told reporters he “went down hard.”
Laurie Sparham/ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
George Clooney on the set of 'The Boys in the Boat'Remarkably, Turner and Heslov both managed to avoid catching the virus. “Yeah, everyone one by one went down around me,” Turner tells PEOPLE. “It was only me and Grant that didn't get it for some reason.”
“It was funny,” he continues. “George on his iPhone directing in his dressing gown from somewhere.”
Clooney joked at the press conference that directing via iPad is something “I’m going to continue to do.”
The Oscar winner suspects an intimate group dinner with key cast members was the culprit, even though he explains that “we've all tested, we've all been vaccinated.”
“We all landed in London. We're going to shoot the next day. And so we have a tiny dinner for the crew. Meaning the rowers, our kids, and [costars] Hadley [Robinson] and Courtney [Henggeler] and [Edgerton] and me,” he continues. “That's it. A tiny room. And out of that tiny room, let's say there were 18 people there, 17 people got Covid.”
Laurie Sparham/ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Callum Turner and Hadley Robinson in 'The Boys in the Boat'Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Clooney, who noted the polarized atmosphere of the country, said at the press conference he hopes the movie, about this group of eager, working-class college kids who bring home Olympic gold, sends a unifying message.
Related: George Clooney and Amal Clooney Step Out for Date Night at Seattle Screening of The Boys in the Boat
“[It’s] a film that talks about the idea that we're all in this together. And probably the only way we're going to make it out intact is with one another and in supporting one another,” he said. “And the better everyone else is, the better you will be. And so I liked that theme for this film.”
The Boys in the Boat, which is based on the New York Times bestselling book from Daniel James Brown, is in theaters nationwide Christmas Day.
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