George Clooney had some bad news to share at the first press conference for Apple's highly anticipated action comedy Wolves at the Venice Film Festival.
The Hollywood actor, sitting next to co-star Brad Pitt, revealed that the film's director, Jon Watts, will not be attending the film's world premiere in Italy on Sunday night because he has contracted Covid.
“He made the whole trip here and then he got COVID,” Clooney said with a resigned look on his face and a shake of his head.
Watt was also absent from the press conference, leaving Pitt and Clooney to speak on behalf of the film.
Pitt and Clooney star together in the action comedy as professional fixers who are hired to cover up the same high-profile crime, forcing the two “lone wolves” to work together and, before long, find their night spiraling out of control in ways neither could have expected.
Watts is best known for directing the more recent Spiderman trilogy for Sony, with the last film, No way homebreaking box office records and grossing $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office.
Wolvesproduced by Clooney’s Smokehouse and Pitt’s Plan B, it also stars Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Poorna Jagannathan, Richard Kind and Zlatko Burić. Watts and McGunigle produced, along with Clooney, Grant Heslov, Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner. Michael Beugg served as executive producer.
Just days before the two movie stars landed in Venice, news emerged that Watts has a deal with Apple to write and direct a film. Wolves sequel. It is unclear whether Clooney and Pitt have already signed on for the sequel.