Paul Fenton / Zuma Press, Jun Sato/WireImage.comYou'd think George Clooney would be gearing up to hit the campaign trail for President Barack Obama, right?
Nope. He's not going to do it.
Why? Read to find out...
"I've never campaigned—even when my father ran for Congress," Clooney told me last night at the Critics' Choice Awards at the Hollywood Palladium. "I do fundraisers, but I don't think it looks particularly good to have actors out there on stage."
Even if said actor is someone like Clooney who is well schooled on the issues. "You can still be polarizing," The Descendants star said. "You can still actually bring as much harm as good and there's no point to it. Why take the chance?"
But that doesn't mean he won't express his opinion on hot button issues. As you may have heard, Clooney is headlining an L.A. benefit stage reading of 8, Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black's play about the trial to overturn Prop 8 and make same-sex marriage legal in California.
Clooney tells me he will play attorney David Boies, who teamed up with onetime political adversary Ted Olson to fight for gay marriage.
"I think the world is changing and it's becoming less and less of an issue and I think it shouldn't be long now," Clooney said. "I think younger people are looking at this like, 'Who cares?'
"I do believe it's generational, much like the civil rights movement," he continued. "Young people started taking to the streets and things changed. This really is the final leg of the civil rights movement."
Bravo and thank you, Mr. Clooney!