Celebrity Ryan Gosling, Cate Blanchett, More Can't Stop Gushing Over George Clooney as a Director By Olivia Bahou Olivia Bahou Facebook Olivia Solomon is a New York-based writer and editor who covers all things fashion, lifestyle, celebrity, and pop culture. She was previously the Assistant Digital Editor for InStyle, and her work has appeared in many national publications. InStyle's editorial guidelines Updated on October 26, 2017 @ 12:45PM Pin Share Tweet Email Trending Videos Photo: J. Merritt/WireImage George Clooney is an accomplished actor, having won not one but two Academy Awards, but there just might be a job in Hollywood that he’s even better at: directing. The father-of-two directs the upcoming film, Suburbicon, in theaters Oct. 27, and while it’s far from his first time in the director’s chair, it is the first time he’s not also starring in a film that he directs. Does this mean Clooney is considering making a move away from acting? The star said he was happy to sit this one out. “There’s something really screwy about being in a scene with someone—acting in it—and then telling that other actor how they should do it better, or do it differently. It’s sort of breaking a trust between two actors. It always makes me feel uncomfortable,” he told Entertainment Weekly of directing and acting in the same movie. “So, I was really happy to just be able to sit on the sidelines and let other people do the acting.” And according to the stars of his film, Clooney was excellent in the director’s chair. From Matt Damon to Ryan Gosling, keep scrolling for all the praise celebrities have given his directorial abilities. 01 of 07 Julianne Moore Theo Wargo/Getty "He's incredibly thoughtful, he's very, very prepared and he really knows what he wants to say with his movies. He knows how to communicate his vision with those who are working for him, which is exactly what you want as a director," Moore told The Hollywood Reporter after working with Clooney on Suburbicon. "I would absolutely want to work with him again." 02 of 07 Matt Damon Barry King/Getty "I always have to do whatever he says no matter what, but normally I don't mind because he's got good taste,” Damon joked to The Hollywood Reporter about his good friend. Suburbicon isn’t the only Clooney-directed movie he’s starred in. The two also worked together on The Monuments Men, and Clooney jokingly bribed Damon to praise his directorial skills in an interview with Collider. “George is obscenely talented as a director, I have to say,” Damon said as Clooney slipped him a $20. “I’ve worked with the very best directors around and he belongs in their company, or even ahead of it.” 03 of 07 Karimah Westbrook Steve Granitz/WireImage Westbrook worked with Clooney on Suburbicon, and said that he has a special touch because he’s an actor as well. “He’s fun, good energy, it was great to go to work every day because it felt so light. George is an actor’s director. He knows how to effectively communicate,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. 04 of 07 Cate Blanchett Barry King/Getty “There was no fuss, no pretention—just people doing good work and having a great time whilst doing it,” Blanchett told The Express of working with Clooney as a director on The Monuments Men. “People having a good time on set doesn’t always translate to the screen, but George is so smart.” 05 of 07 Ryan Gosling Barry King/Getty “It was amazing, like watching somebody try to explain a song in their head,” Gosling told New York magazine of working with Clooney on The Ides of March. “I can only compare it to seeing Michael Jackson in This Is It, where he’s trying to explain to a keyboard player how to play a certain part—even in the sea of parts being played, he can pick that out. That’s kind of what George is like. He’s like Michael Jackson, basically.” “[Clooney] knew exactly what he wanted, and he was very specific. A lot of directors aren’t so clear,” he added. 06 of 07 Evan Rachel Wood Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty "George is amazing. He's generous. He's smart. He's funny. He's an actor, so he knows how to work with actors. He speaks the same language, so there's no running around trying to get on the same page. It's like we had known each other for years,” Wood told Cleveland.com of Clooney’s directing style on set of The Ides of March. 07 of 07 John Krasinski Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic “George Clooney taught me so much,” John Krasinski told Larry King, having learned about directing when starring in Clooney’s film Leatherheads. “One of the things I always remember he told me was you can make a bad movie out of a good script but you can never make a good movie out of a bad script, so always choose wisely. And then the other thing he always told me was that the best idea has to end up on screen. It doesn’t matter who said it, one of your actors or the guy who’s shutting down the studio at night. If it’s going to make the movie better it has to go on screen. It’s a team sport.”