'The Boys in the Boat': Director George Clooney praised Joel Edgerton for being a 'ballsy actor'

The Boys in the Boat director George Clooney has nothing but praise for the cast of his new movie, based on the bestselling non-fiction book "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics," by Daniel James Brown.

The Boys in the Boat release date: In theatres Dec. 25
Director: George Clooney
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Jack Mulhern, Hadley Robinson, Thomas Elms, Luke Slattery, Courtney Henggeler, Joel Phillimore, Sam Strike, Tom Varey, Wil Coban, Bruce Herbelin-Earle
Runtime: 124 minutes

Like the book, Clooney's film tells the story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that made it to the Summer Olympics in Berlin.

Set during the Great Depression, Callum Turner's character, Joe Rantz, can barely afford to be in school, so trying out for the rowing team means an opportunity for him to have somewhere where live, some money and the ability to remain a student.

He does make the team and we meet the very serious Coach Al Ulbrickson, played by Joel Edgerton, who shows very little pleasure in his job.

"I just loved, when I first talked to George [Clooney] and [producer Grant Heslov] about the script, and read the script, that he was described as one of those coaches that I think we're all familiar with, who seems to derive zero pleasure from his job," Edgerton said during a press conference ahead of the movie's release. "I always look at these coaches and think, why are you even doing this? You're coaching your way to an early grave."

"I started to really realize that behind those sort of angry, blustery, red faces are often ... just guys who care too much, and that it reminds me of the relationship between fathers and sons. Coaches are like dads to me. I had so many coaches in my illustrious failed sports sort of attempt, who were just like tough dads, and I really wanted to please them. So I was really excited to play the coach and excited to not have to go through what Callum went through."

George Clooney compares Joel Edgerton's to Danny DeVito in 'Taxi'

But Edgerton did do a bit of rowing himself during the filming of The Boys in the Boat, and Clooney was full of compliments for Edgerton's portrayal of the coach.

"Joel's a ballsy actor ... and it takes a lot of nerve to not try to cop out and show too much, show that 'I really care,'" Clooney said. "Like Danny DeVito in Taxi, he played a jerk and he never sort of cheated it, he never all of a sudden was kind of nice."

"Not that you played the jerk, but ... you weren't always going, 'Don't worry, I really am a good guy.' ... You let us get in slowly and it takes a lot of nerve as an actor. The studio would call after dailies and go, 'Why is he so mad? Why is he so grumpy?' I was like, relax. We'll get there."

'This is a very polarized time in our country'

The Boys in the Boat director stressed that the concept of people working together and supporting each other is a particularly timely message from his film.

"We've shown this movie and ... people are screaming and standing up the chairs, and cheering and stuff, and what you get the sense of is that this is a very polarized time in our country, probably not since certainly the Civil War has it been this kind of anger," Clooney said. "It feels like it's all the time, that's also because we see it on television, and we've lost perspective."

"This is still the fringes. Most people in our country and around the world, most people want to get along. Most people want to live a normal life and raise their kids, and for life to go well, and they want that for their neighbours, as well. So what we felt like with this film, ... was that it's also a film that talks about the idea that we're all in this together, and probably the only way we're going to make it out intact is with one another, and in supporting one another. The better everyone else is, is the better you will be. So I liked that theme for this film."

The Boys in the Boat is in theatres Dec. 25