By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
October 5, 1999
Yup, George Clooney is on the cover of just about every magazine now, thanks to the hype machine behind his latest film “Three Kings.” But it turns out that the publicity surrounding the critically acclaimed movie is well warranted. In this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, writer Chris Nashawaty does a succinct job of getting past Clooney’s happy-go-lucky facade.
“There’s an element of David (O. Russell, the movie’s writer-director) that was in way over his head, as brilliant as this film is,” Clooney says. “He was vulnerable and selfish, and it would manifest itself in a lot of yelling.”
Oooh, tell us what you really think, George.
“(David) went nuts on an extra,” he continues. “So I went over and I put my arm around him and I pulled him aside, away from everybody, which seemed fair. And I said, `You can’t do that. . . .’ And he basically said, `(expletive) you! Worry about about acting!’ . . . We started pushing against each other with our heads. And I was yelling at him and he was screaming at me and we were at it.”
Clooney says in the cover story that he’s embarrassed by the incident (but apparently not too shy to retell it to anyone who’ll listen) and that he will never work with Russell again, but that he thinks the director is “tremendously talented.”
Co-star Mark Wahlberg adds that he had his own apprehensions about working with Clooney. “Before `Three Kings’ I had never seen anything that (Clooney had) done,” Wahlberg tells Entertainment Weekly. “So when we were talking about him, I didn’t really know what he could do. It was weird because people always cringe when they hear I’m up for a part. But then I saw him in `Out of Sight’ and I was like, `What’s my problem? Where do I get off thinking like that?’ ”
This week’s issue of Newsweek offers a compelling report about the Korean War. “South Korean villagers from the town of No Gun Ri have alleged for years that on July 26, 1950, early in the Korean War, American soldiers massacred hundreds of civilians in their hamlet, located about 100 miles from Seoul,” the article starts. “Over the years, both the U.S. and South Korean governments vigorously denied the tale, rejecting all claims for compensation – and demands to construct a memorial to the victims.”
The report features essays by Chung Goo Ho, one of about 20 Koreans who survived the massacre, and former U.S. soldier Edward Daily, who is still haunted by that day.
Now 62, Ho remembers, “When it got dark, the soldiers aimed searchlights on us. Then they began shooting at the crowd. . . . To dodge the bullets we tried to hide behind the corpses. . . . My mother was shot. At the time, she was hugging me and my younger sister to her breast to protect us from the gunfire. She was killed by four bullets to her head and her back. My sister and I could do nothing but wait. We had nothing to eat and we drank bloody water out of a nearby stream.”
Daily, 68, tells what it was like being an American trying to differentiate friend from foe: “Reports had filtered down that North Korean Army regulars were masquerading as civilians, donning the traditional white clothing worn by peasants. It was impossible to tell friend from foe. We had been told that the North Koreans might be armed. But with so many people walking everywhere, on the roads and through the rice fields, it was impossible to identify the enemy soldiers. . . . Sometimes when it is quiet, on a still night, I can hear the women and children still screaming. I’ve made my confession to God and have tried to repent. But the dreams and the memories of that day will not go away. . . . War is hell, and in war, it’s the innocent people who suffer the most.”
