Academy Award winner GEORGE CLOONEY (Ryan Bingham) has gone from actor to producer to executive producer to screenwriter to director. 
The son of an anchorman, Clooney has also become a strong First Amendment advocate with a deep commitment to humanitarian causes.
In 2006, Clooney received three Academy Award® nominations: for Best Director, for Best Original Screenplay (Good Night, and Good Luck.) and for Best Supporting Actor (Syriana).  It was the first time in Academy history that an individual received acting and directing nominations for two different films.  Clooney won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar® and Golden Globe for Syriana, of which he was also an executive producer.  He was also nominated for SAG, BAFTA and Critics Choice Awards.
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2007 was Michael Clayton, for Warner Bros.  Clooney's performance earned him a Golden Globe and Academy Award® nomination for Best Actor.
In April of 2008, Clooney starred in Leatherheads, a romantic comedy he directed for Universal.  It was the first film produced by Smokehouse, the production company Clooney formed with Grant Heslov.  Next for Smokehouse Productions is The Men Who Stare at Goats directed by Heslov and starring Clooney as a former member of the U.S. Army's First Earth Battalion.
Clooney's most recent film was the Coen brothers' Burn After Reading, which reunited him for the third time with the filmmakers.  (He also worked with them on O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Intolerable Cruelty.)  Upcoming for Clooney is 20th Century Fox's animated feature Fantastic Mr. Fox, in which he voices the title character.
Heslov and Clooney worked together at Section Eight, a company in which Clooney was partnered with Steven Soderbergh.  Section Eight produced many films, including Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12, Ocean's 13, Michael Clayton, The Good German, Good Night, and Good Luck., Syriana, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Jacket, Full Frontal and Welcome to Collinwood.
In Section Eight's television division, Clooney was an executive producer and directed five episodes of Unscripted, a reality-based show that debuted on HBO.  He was executive producer and cameraman on K Street, also for HBO.
Clooney made his directorial debut in 2002 with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, for Miramax, winning the Special Achievement in Film Award from the National Board of Review.
For his second directorial project, Good Night, and Good Luck., in 2005, in addition to Oscar® nominations for writing and directing, he also won the Paul Selvin Award from the Writers Guild of America and the Freedom Award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association.  The film also earned Clooney nominations for two Golden Globes, two BAFTAs, a SAG Award, an Independent Spirit Award, two Critics Choice Awards, a WGA Award and a DGA Award.
In 2006, he won the American Cinematheque Award and the Modern Master Award from the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Clooney received critical acclaim for the award-winning drama Three Kings (Warner Bros.) and the Oscar-nominated Out of Sight (Universal).  His other film credits include Solaris (Fox), The Peacemaker (DreamWorks), Batman & Robin (Warner Bros.), One Fine Day (20th Century Fox) and From Dusk Till Dawn (Miramax). 
He has starred in several television series but is best known to TV audiences for his five years on the hit NBC drama ER.  His portrayal of Dr. Douglas Ross earned him Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, People's Choice and Emmy nominations.
Clooney was executive producer and co-star of the live television broadcast of Fail Safe, an Emmy-winning telefilm developed through his Maysville Pictures.  Fail Safe was nominated for a 2000 Golden Globe Award as Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.  The film was based on the early 1960s novel of the same name.
In 2006, Clooney and his father, Nick, went to Darfur to film the documentary Journey to Darfur.  His work on behalf on Darfur relief led to his addressing the United Nations Security Council.  He also narrated the Darfur documentary Sand and Sorrow.
In 2007, Clooney, along with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Jerry Weintraub, co-founded Not On Our Watch, an organization whose mission is to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities in Darfur. 
Among the many honors received as a result of his humanitarian efforts in Darfur was the 2007 Peace Summit Award given at The 8th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates at their annual meeting in Rome.  Among those presiding over the ceremonies were Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, Lech Walesa, Mikhail Gorbachev and His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.  In 2008, Clooney was designated a U.N. Messenger of Peace.  He was one of eight individuals chosen to advocate on behalf of the U.N. and its peacekeeping efforts.

CRUISING ALTITUDE
As in his previous two films, Jason Reitman knew that Up in the Air would hang on the bones of its tricky central character, a man who had to be charming, sharp and relatable while hiding an unrecognized sense of emptiness behind his confident swagger and his supposed joy at being "baggage-free." 
So, from the beginning, the story was written with Academy Award winner George Clooney in mind.  "If you're going to make a movie about a guy who fires people for a living and wants to live alone, he better be a darn charming actor.  And there really isn't anyone better at that than George Clooney," Reitman explains.  "The role was tailor-made for him and it was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life when he finished reading it and said to me, 'Jason, it's great.'" 
Clooney has demonstrated a broad range in roles, from the smooth convict Ulysses in the Coen brothers' screwball musical-comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? , to heist expert Danny Ocean in Steven Soderbergh's blockbuster Oceans Eleven and its sequels to his Oscar®-nominated performance as a "fixer" for a corporate law firm in Tony Gilroy's thriller Michael Clayton. 
Reitman says Clooney brought a diversity of shadings to Ryan Bingham, playing him with a humanity that keeps the character darkly funny without slipping into farce.  "At a moment's notice, George can jump right into any type of scene, be it emotional or comedic," he says.  "George and I have a very similar comedic sensibility.  We both believe comedy should be dealt with honestly, that you shouldn't try to make something funny.  The writing needs to be funny, but the acting needs to be honest."
Clooney also brought an air of excitement to the entire production.  "He's just a lovely guy to have on set," Reitman concludes.  "People say that a lot and you presume that it's gotta be hype, but it's not.  He's the real deal and he makes people comfortable.  That was an enormous asset." 
Adds Ivan Reitman:  "George has this wonderful charm and light humor about him so that he can take this man who finds himself in very serious situations and find just the right tonality to play that.  He manages to be both a charismatic movie star and to carry as much weight as he ever has in a movie before.  I think that's a very exciting combination for people to see." 
Many were struck by the chemistry between the writing and Clooney's delivery.   "Jason is able to write dialogue that is sharp and cutting, yet has real soul, and that's who George is," sums up Jeffrey Clifford. 
With Clooney cast in the main role, Reitman focused on the two unusual women who force Ryan to question the contours of his future as a perennial free agent.  For the vital role of Alex, whose elite travel program savvy seduces Ryan but who also triggers a desire for real sharing, he turned to award-winning actress Vera Farmiga, best known for her role in Martin Scorsese's The Departed. 
"The role of Alex is a tricky one," comments Reitman.  "This is the woman who captures George Clooney's heart and she's also a unique female movie character.  Vera came at it perfectly, with such charm, beauty and, frankly, balls that you fall in love with her as she's flirting over mileage status. What I love about these characters, and about how the actors including Vera played them, is that you don't judge them.  They're just real people." 
Farmiga was drawn both to the story and to working with Reitman.  "The writing in this script was sharp as a tack, and the characters brilliantly edgy and witty," says the actress.  "I think heroines in a Jason Reitman film are quicker, sharper, more intelligent and more eccentric than most other film female characters.  And that's what drew me to Alex.  The film also has such poignancy and enormous social relevance."
She also found it plain funny.  "Jason knows comedy - it's in his genes," she says.  "I had to trust him because I am terrified of irony, but he really has an excellent sense of how humor works."   
Naturally, she was not averse to a heated romance with George Clooney but, beyond that, Farmiga admits she was actually quite moved by the path that their relationship takes.  "Ryan thinks he's met his match in Alex, a woman he doesn't have to worry about, who won't ask more of the relationship than what they have.  She fits well into his philosophy of no attachments - only he's the one who becomes attached." 
As for working with Clooney, she summarizes: "George was exactly the partner I needed because I have never felt as insecure as I did coming into this role.  I had just given birth to my first child two weeks before my first costume fitting.  I really needed an ally and he was simply wonderful.  The most attractive thing about him is his wit.  He brings himself to this role, a wry, clever, cool, detached guy, and happily so.  Yet he's the consummate gentleman, extremely kind and loving.  And there was plenty of laughter on the set."
Just as Ryan Bingham meets Alex, another woman comes into his life - the young numbers-cruncher Natalie Keener, who arrives at Ryan's company only to threaten the freedom of his hyperkinetic lifestyle.  It is Natalie's budget-cutting idea to bring Ryan and his associates in from the road and have them work via remote video conferencing, a move that threatens to alter and complicate Ryan's life and de-humanize the firing process even more.  But when Ryan takes Natalie on a trip to show her the ropes, she gains new insight into how profoundly unsettling and challenging the act of laying someone off can be, and it proves to be more affecting than she can bear. 
Playing Natalie is Anna Kendrick, who became the second youngest Tony Award nominee ever when she was nominated as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Dinah in the Broadway revival of "High Society."  She has since gone on to a range of film roles from her debut in Rocket Science to her participation in the Twilight film series. 
"The secret is that I actually wrote Natalie for Anna Kendrick," Reitman confesses.  "I had seen her in Rocket Science, and thought she was simply incredible, different from any actress her age.  And when she came in to audition for Up in the Air, she proved it.  She has a completely unique voice that separates her from her generation."
He continues: "I'm very proud of the character of Natalie, I think she's different from most young female characters.  Usually if you have a female character in her twenties, she's some sort of romantic lead.  But Natalie is an unromantic, business-minded, bull-headed young woman who reminds me of several women I adore, including my wife." 
Kendrick was equally taken with Natalie.  "When I was first talking to Jason about the role, he said that it was based on several women he knew who feel frustrated because they're always the smartest ones in the room.  Natalie is smart but also uptight, uncomfortable in her own skin and socially awkward.  Now, I don't think I'm the smartest person in the room, but I did connect with the control freak aspect of it and I'm really an awkward person," she laughs.   
Kendrick was also intrigued by how Natalie tries to find within herself a person who can fire one employee after the next with business-like precision and equanimity.  "Natalie is such a funny character but she doesn't think she's funny and she certainly doesn't know she's funny," she explains.  "She so wants to be in control and she's been thrown into a place where she isn't.  This is probably the first time she feels completely lost, and she starts to realize she really can't do this job."
During the firing scenes, the reality of the story had a deep impact on the actress.  She relates, "I was doing one of the firing scenes and the woman that I sat across from told me that she really had just lost her job.  It was uncomfortable and I didn't know what to say to her.  It really hit home that this was a reality for so many people."
As much as she enjoyed the character, the irony for Kendrick being cast in this particular movie is that she finds airports a personal hell.  "I hate them and I find no pleasure in flying.  It was hilarious to me that we were going to be filming non-stop in airports.  For me, that is the essence of losing personal control."   
She also had her concerns about working beside George Clooney, but those were quickly put to rest.  "I was terrified, excited and nervous," she says, "not just because it was George Clooney, though obviously that is intimidating.  But also I was so excited about the role and so dearly wanted to do well.  Then I met him and understood why everyone had tried to calm me by saying, 'You'll be fine.'  He's just a great guy."
Jason Bateman, who previously portrayed the uncertain adoptive father to the unborn child in Juno, reunites with Reitman in the role of Ryan Bingham's boss Craig Gregory.  "Once I read the script, I knew that Craig Gregory was going to be a great character to play," says Bateman.  "He's your typical corporate bagman in suspenders, the kind of guy I hate.  It is very indicative of who he is that over each piece of dialogue, Jason used his full name whereas in most scripts, you only see the first name.  He is the prototypical guy you don't want to work for - sort of a soul-less Darth Vader."
Reitman was excited to have Bateman do something quite different in the role.  "Jason has played a lot of smarmy roles but he came up with a new approach to Craig Gregory," he says. 
Bateman in turn notes that he, along with the entire cast, was inspired to explore the character through the prism of Reitman's drama-comedy fusion.  "Jason's drama is filled with comedy, and vice versa, because he's interested in real people with real problems," sums up Bateman.  "His is a hysterical but heartbreaking kind of humor.  Not a lot of people know how to do that but Jason is certainly one of them."
 
FASTEN SEAT BELTS
Ryan Bingham's journey really starts to tilt when he is invited to his sister's Wisconsin wedding - forcing him to confront the family he has largely ignored his whole adult life and spurring his unexpected hunger for something deeper. 
Jason Reitman sees Ryan's encounter with his family as crucial to both the film's comedy and drama.  "One element I always loved about Walter Kirn's book was the idea that Ryan needed to go to his sister's wedding.  I hate weddings personally, so I really empathized with Ryan not wanting to go but, at the same time, I thought it was the perfect opportunity for Ryan to show that he had changed, that he wanted something more, and that he was ready to connect."
The director especially enjoyed casting the Binghams.  "I needed characters that were funny but very honest, and oddly heartbreaking.  And I got that particularly in Melanie Lynskey, who plays Ryan's sister.  She brings so much honesty, humor and sadness and sweetness.  When Ryan asks her, 'do you need me to walk you down the aisle,' before she even says no, you can see it in her eyes.  That breaks my heart every time I see it.  And Danny McBride is a guy I've been wanting to work with ever since I saw him in All the Real Girls.  He's so funny that people forget how good he is at just plain acting.  So it was just a thrill to give him a role where his job wasn't to be funny." 
McBride, an actor and writer who most recently starred in his own HBO comedy series, "Eastbound and Down," felt an immediate connection to the material.  "I just loved the tone of the script.  It was so mature.  Jason has such a cool tone and style," he says.  "Both Thank You for Smoking and Juno are such fun and also have an incredible heart at the center and that's the kind of comedy I gravitate towards."
He also enjoyed the surprise turn his happily engaged character takes.  "Jim is your typical, small town, 30-ish male who always assumed life is about getting married, buying a home and having a family.  Then, on the morning of his wedding, he flips out," McBride explains.  "It becomes a crucial moment not only for Jim but for Ryan, because it turns out he's scared of the same things Jim is scared of.  In trying to figure out the right things to say to Jim, Ryan sees another side to his own life." 
Lynskey, a New Zealand native who is well known for her role on television's "Two and a Half Men" and whose recent films include Sam Mendes' Away We Go and Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!, also could not resist the film's characters.  "I really, really wanted to be in this movie," she recalls, "and the casting director said to me, 'Don't let Jason know you have a New Zealand accent.  If you say anything, do it in an American accent.'  Unfortunately, I'm not very good at that when I'm talking as myself.  So I ended up being completely silent unless I was doing a scene.  He asked me to do an additional scene and I just nodded my head.  In the end, though, it worked out."
Hailing from a very big family, Lynskey says she could relate to Ryan barely knowing his sister, Julie.  "That's what appealed to me because it was such an honest portrayal of what families are really like," she explains.  "I really responded to the awkwardness of when, even though you're related to someone, there's a feeling of great distance."
Reitman decided early on that the way he wanted to film Julie and Jim's wedding and reception was to do it as though he'd been hired by the couple locally to document the happy day.  The entire scene, including the reception, was shot not on film but on video.  There was one rehearsal the night before with the cast in their own clothes and a real wedding coordinator and pastor advising Jason and the cast and crew on how it would proceed if real.
The result was surreal for Lynskey.  "Danny was so funny and that day was so bizarre.  We suddenly looked at one another and went, 'Whoa, I feel like we're really getting married.'  We'll probably have this strange bond for the rest of our lives.  I've been married in movies before, and also in real life, but this was Danny's first time so it was pretty funny."
McBride also got into the celebratory mood.  "It was all so perfect," he laughs.  "I thought about calling my fiancée to see if she wanted to rush out to St. Louis so we could knock out our own wedding.  She probably could have fit into Melanie's gown.  It would have been great."

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