George Clooney is ready for a fight. The Hollywood star thinks his new movie 'The Descendants' has what it takes to topple Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 at this weekend's box office, despite talk that the latter could take around $140 million.
Speaking to E! Online's Marc Malkin at The Descendants premiere in Beverly Hills on Tuesday (November 14, 2011), Clooney says he's ready to take down the vampire competition, saying, "There's a lot of talk that we're going to beat them.We are going against Breaking Dawn, but the big headlines come Monday morning will be, Descendants Kicks the Hell Out of Breaking Dawn". When Malkin suggested the headline would instead be, "George Clooney Kicks the Hell Out of Robert Pattinson", the Hollywood star laughed, quipping, "Oh, I hope so". Although there's no doubt Twilight will win the box-office battle this weekend, taking the franchise's worldwide gross closer to the $2 billion mark, Clooney can rest assured his movie will take all the plaudits, with most bookmakers installing him as the favorite for Best Actor at next year's Oscars. The movie, directed by Sideways filmmaker Alexander Payne, follows a wealthy land baron who attempts to reconnect with his daughters following the death of his wife. Writing in the New York Times, critic A.O. Scott noted, "To call The Descendants perfect would be a kind of insult, a betrayal of its commitment to, and celebration of, human imperfection", while Peter Travers of Rolling Stone echoed the remarks, saying, "The Descendants is damn near perfect".
When asked about his Oscar chances, Clooney responded with typical nonchalance, saying, "Does anyone really remember who won three years ago? You really don't. But I remember All The President's Men and I remember Network and I remember Taxi Driver. I pay attention to the stuff I really love, which is making films. The rest of it, I don't worry about so much"