George Clooney Shares the Failure That Taught Him the Most — and Yes, It’s the ’90s Movie You’re Thinking Of

George Clooney still considers Batman & Robin to be a failure, People writes. 

During a group interview with PEOPLE and other outlets at the Los Angeles premiere of his new film Jay Kelly on Nov. 11, the actor admitted that the 1997 superhero movie remains the biggest learning experience of his career.

“Batman & Robin! That one taught me a lot,” the 64-year-old said of the film, which was heavily criticized, received 11 Razzie nominations and holds an 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

He added, “You don’t grow from success — you grow from failure. You have to figure things out after you fall, and that’s what makes it valuable.”

Over the years, the Gravity actor has joined critics in calling both his performance and the movie itself subpar.

Back in 2019, Clooney acknowledged to The Hollywood Reporter that the film “failed” and significantly influenced the roles he chose afterward.

“I wasn’t good in it, and it wasn’t a good movie,” he said at the time. “The lesson I took from that failure was that I had to rethink my approach. Suddenly I wasn’t just an actor hired for a part — I was considered responsible for the entire film. So the next three movies I chose were Three Kings, Out of Sight, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

He continued, “That was a deliberate decision to seek out better projects.”

In 2021, Clooney joked to Variety that his wife Amal “won’t let me watch” Batman & Robin.

“There are just some movies where I think, ‘I still want my wife to respect me,’ ” he teased.

Clooney and Amal are parents to 8-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella.

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