George Clooney Wants Male Roles To Be Rewritten For Women

Just when we thought we couldn’t love George Clooney any more… he goes and plays another ace card.

The heartthrob is calling on more male Hollywood roles to be rewritten for women in an effort to get more varied parts for females on the silver screen. It follows a study earlier this year by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, which showed that women made up just 12 per cent of protagonists in the top-grossing films of 2014.

George isn’t just talk though – he’s putting his money where his mouth is. At the Toronto Film Festival last week, he revealed that he and his producing partner Grant Heslov rewrote the script for their latest film Our Brand Is In Crisis after Sandra Bullock got in touch and said she was interested in the main male part. The movie, which is about an American who is brought in to advise a Bolivian politician about winning the 2002 Bolivian presidential campaign, was struggling to get out of the development stages at the time.

But according to George: ‘The minute she called and said she wanted to play the role that had been written as a man," was all the time it took for the two men to consider rewriting the script.

Casting Sandra clearly provided the magic touch needed to get the show on the road as the film has now been produced and will be released this Autumn.

Last month, Sandra revealed to Entertainment Weekly that she had become disillusioned with female roles a couple of years ago and decided to target some of the parts that had been written for male actors. She said: "About two and a half years ago I put out feelers saying, '"I’m not reading anything I’m excited about. Are there any male roles out there that [the filmmakers] don’t mind switching to female?"'

George is now calling on more people in Hollywood to start thinking outside the box when it comes to female roles, saying: "There’s a lot more out there if people just started thinking."

Hear, hear.

By Caroline McGuire

In this week's Grazia Magazine we report on why, as they approach their first wedding anniversary, George and Amal Clooney's marriage has become such a success. Pick up your copy, out Tuesday.