March 29, 2018
'Michael Clayton'
The Ringer's Chris Ryan, Justin Charity, and Lindsay Zoladz are not miracle workers, they're janitors looking to delve into 'Michael Clayton,' the 2007 legal thriller starring George Clooney and Tilda Swinton and directed by Tony Gilroy.
Cast
George Clooney as Michael Clayton
Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens
Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder
Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach
Michael O'Keefe as Barry Grissom
Denis O'Hare as Mr. Greer
Merritt Wever as Anna
Directed by: Tony Gilroy
Written by: Tony Gilroy
Notes
- Tony Gilroy's fascination with 1970s American cinema is the heart of the film: Parallax View, All the President's Men, Klute, Point Blank, the films of Sidney Lumet, Hal Ashby, Frank Perry, and Sydney Pollack. Gilroy said: '70s movies are the heart of where my movie-going obsession really began... muscular filmmaking with great subject matter and ambiguity.'
- The film made only $49 million at the box office despite starring George Clooney. The marketing sold it as a John Grisham-style legal thriller, but it's much more complicated – a film about midlife crisis, addiction, complicity, and moral bearing.
- Denzel Washington turned down the role and later said it was one of his two biggest regrets (the other being 'Se7en'). He was scared off by Gilroy being a first-time director. Denzel would later work with Tony's brother Dan Gilroy on Roman J. Israel, Esq.
- The hosts debate whether 'Michael Clayton' is more rewatchable than 'No Country for Old Men' and 'There Will Be Blood', which came out the same year and overshadowed it at the Oscars. Tilda Swinton was the only person from the film to win an Oscar (Clooney lost Best Actor to Daniel Day-Lewis).
- Sydney Pollack died about six months after the film came out. Though his actual final film role was in the 2008 rom-com Made of Honor, the hosts choose to count 'Michael Clayton' as his real final performance.
- The film's obsession with identity and occupation – 'these cops think you're a lawyer and these lawyers think you're some kind of cop,' 'you're a bag man, not an attorney,' 'I'm not a miracle worker, I'm a janitor' – reflects a broader post-9/11 cynicism about how systems define and constrain people.
- Lindsay notes this feels like an amazing Trump-era movie about 'the futility of fighting a corrupt system and how entrenched systems of power are.' The hosts see parallels between the film's themes of complicity and the political moment of 2018.
- Brian Koppelman ('Rounders' writer, Billions co-creator, friend of the Ringer) appears as the poker player roasting 'Michael Clayton' at the Chinatown table, subjecting himself to a joke about hair plugs.
- Katherine Waterston's first feature film appearance is in this movie – she's the lawyer in the Milwaukee hotel room when 'Michael Clayton' arrives looking for Arthur.
Categories
Casting what-ifs
- The role of 'Michael Clayton' was originally offered to Denzel Washington, who turned it down because he was scared off by Tony Gilroy being a first-time director. Denzel later said it was one of his two biggest career regrets alongside 'Se7en'.
- Mark Wahlberg as 'Michael Clayton' – suggested as a comedic alternative. 'Hello, what do we do?'
- Chris Cooper as Marty Bach – Justin maintains a running list of movies that either have Chris Cooper or should have had him. 'This is a classic Chris Cooper movie.' But Sydney Pollack is too perfect in the role to give up.
Most re-watchable scene
- Lindsay picks the Michael/Karen confrontation at the end – 'I'm not the guy you kill, I'm the guy you buy.' The seamless shift to him in the cab with the final line: 'Give me $50 worth.'
- Justin picks the baguette scene – Arthur out-lawyering Michael in Times Square while holding a bag of 12 baguettes. 'I have great affection for you and you live a very rich and interesting life, but you're a bag man, not an attorney.'
- Chris picks the Westchester hit-and-run consultation – 'There is no play here. There is no angle. There's no champagne room. I'm not a miracle worker. I'm a janitor.' His all-time most YouTube'd scene from the movie.
What aged the best?
- The Trump-era resonance of complicity within corrupted systems. Lindsay: 'It's an amazing Trump-era movie about the futility of fighting a corrupt system.'
- The dialogue and legal jargon – despite being rooted in a specific industry, it still feels authentic and lived-in.
- The post-Enron, pre-financial crisis mood – a vibe of paranoia and money that feels cyclically relevant.
- Clooney in cabs and his Mercedes – the flip phones, the unadulterated footage of a pre-iPhone New York. 'One of the last great American thrillers pre-iPhone.'
What aged the worst?
- The car bomb – Lindsay finds the mechanics implausible. The hitmen are surgically precise with Arthur's murder but then use a car bomb for Michael? Why not blow it up in Westchester or on the Lower East Side?
- The U-North corporate conspiracy middle section – on repeat viewings, the actual poisoning-the-town plot feels like the most conventional, Erin Brockovich-adjacent part of an otherwise unconventional film.
Half-assed (internet) research
- Both George Clooney and Michael O'Keefe played boyfriends of Laurie Metcalf on Roseanne.
- Katherine Waterston's first feature film appearance is as the lawyer in the Milwaukee hotel room.
- The poker player roasting 'Michael Clayton' at the Chinatown table is 'Rounders'/Billions writer Brian Koppelman.
- Sydney Pollack's actual final film role was the 2008 rom-com Made of Honor, not 'Michael Clayton'. Lindsay saw Made of Honor in theaters but not 'Michael Clayton'.
Best "heat check" performance
- Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach – unanimous selection. 'Born to play Marty Bach.' Acclaimed director giving one of his last and best acting performances with maximum lived-in gravitas.
- Denis O'Hare as Mr. Greer (the hit-and-run driver) – 'In the truest sense of the Dion Waiters award.' Goes incredibly over the top in the Westchester consultation scene.
Apex Mountain
- Tony Gilroy – easily his Apex Mountain over the Bourne movies. Lindsay is a big fan of The Bourne Legacy but this is clearly Gilroy's peak.
- George Clooney – the hosts agree this is his best performance. Justin: 'There's a precision to Clooney as 'Michael Clayton'... he's really riding a line that seems like it should make that role defined by ambivalence but he just nails it.' Lindsay calls it 'peak phase-two Clooney' and the beginning of him playing Sad Sacks.
- Tilda Swinton in America – the beginning of her peak American film career. Won the Oscar for this and delivered a speech making fun of Clooney's 'Batman' nipples.
Picking nits
- The car bomb logistics – the hitmen follow Michael all the way to upstate New York, wait for him to finish a consultation, then detonate the bomb at the exact moment he happens to be outside looking at horses. Why not blow it up earlier?
- The memo copies at Kinkos – Arthur left 25 boxes of memos there for $50, and it's unclear whether the hitmen retrieved all of them or just a few.
Who won the movie?
- Lindsay picks Clooney – 'There's something underrated both about this movie and about this Clooney performance that's baked into the movie itself. He kind of embodies the 'Michael Clayton' sense of disappointment and loserdom in the afterlife of this movie.'
- Justin picks Tom Wilkinson – 'The movie should be called Tom Wilkinson. Not even the character. Just Tom Wilkinson.'
- Chris thinks Tilda Swinton is the curveball – she may not win the movie, but it wouldn't be as good without her otherworldly quality. 'You don't want the money' is the best line delivery in the film.