George Clooney praises Biden’s 'selfless act' in dropping out of presidential race against Trump

George Clooney has addressed his New York Times op-ed for the first time, where he suggested that Joe Biden should step down from the presidential race.

“I’ve actually never had to answer that question so I suppose I will do it here,” Clooney said when asked about it at the Venice press conference for his new film "Wolfs."

Clooney praised Biden, saying, "The person who should be applauded is the president, who has done the most selfless thing a president has done since George Washington," and added, "What should be remembered is the selfless act of someone who, it’s very hard to let go of power — we know that, we’ve seen it all over the world — and for someone to say I think there’s a better path forward, all the credit goes to him. And that’s really the truth … I’m just very proud of where we are in the state of the world right now.”

In response to a question about Apple shifting the film's release from a wide theatrical run to a limited one, Clooney also referenced a recent New York Times report by Nicole Sterling that claimed he and Brad Pitt were each paid more than $35 million.

“It was millions and millions dollars less than what was reported,” he clarified. “I think it’s bad for our industry to have that be the standard.”

Regarding the evolving film industry and the role of streaming, Clooney acknowledged that streaming services are essential.

“We need it. Our industry needs this. And [streamers] also benefit from having films released,” he stated. “But we haven’t got it all figured out yet. This is a revolution in our industry. We need Apple and Amazon and they actually need distributors. They need to have Sony or Warner Bros, who have been doing this for 100 years."