George and Amal Clooney were in Australia for a stretch there starting last fall while he was working on Ticket to Paradise co-starring Julia Roberts. However, like so many recent productions, they’ve been shut down due to COVID. And shut down for long enough that the Clooneys have returned to LA. This is a significant detail because if it was just a ten day or two week thing, they would have stayed, considering how far away it is from Los Angeles to Australia and all the quarantine requirements on the return. Reportedly they’ve suspended production for at least several weeks, which is an indication that the outbreak is likely extensive and the surge pretty concerning, considering that whenever any productions are delayed, the costs accumulate. Deadline is saying that they hope to bring people back next month but seeing that both George and Julia and their families are back in Hollywood, that my be an optimistic ambition.
Here are George and Amal reconnecting with their best friends last night after not seeing each other for a while. They met up with Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber for dinner last night. Will be interesting to see what other connections George will be setting up, and I’m referring to award season.
George wasn’t expected to be around right now – and there’s campaigning happening behind the scenes. I just wrote in the previous about Ben Affleck and his award chances. Ben Affleck was just nominated for a Best Supporting Actor SAG in a film that George directed. George has been a big advocate for Ben’s performance, and now he’s back in Hollywood at a critical time where awards are concerned.
The Oscar nomination voting period begins next Thursday, with nominations scheduled to be announced on February 8. It’s possible that with George back in town, he could spend some time giving Ben a late game assist.
