Celebrities selling themselves to the highest bidder is hardly a new phenomenon, and we’ve all become conditioned to seeing a cavalcade of A-listers either promoting or endorsing products that they’ve almost certainly never used in their day-to-day lives.
Sometimes, the amount of money being thrown in their direction borders on the obscene, making it very difficult for anyone to turn down. However, George Clooney has revealed himself to be a man of principle after admitting to The Guardian that he’d been offered $35 million to spend one day shooting a commercial for an airline, but he turned it down.
“I was offered $35M for one day’s work for an airline commercial, but I talked to Amal about it and we decided it’s not worth it. It was a country that, although it’s an ally, is questionable at times, and so I thought: ‘Well, if it takes a minute’s sleep away from me, it’s not worth it.’”
Having hoovered up a reported $40 million shilling Nespresso machines, on top of selling his Casamigos tequila brand in a deal that could eventually be worth a billion dollars, it’s not as though the two-time Academy Award winner is particularly short on cash. Still, rejecting that kind of offer is something not a lot of his peers would even consider.
At 60 years old with a wife and two children, the actor and filmmaker appears to be more content on both a personal and professional level than he’s ever been, which would have definitely been one of the driving forces behind sticking to his guns and knocking back $35 million to stand in front of a camera for a few hours.