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AWARDS DATABASE
All of the winners, all of the nominees, all of the awards shows.
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OSCARS 
Co-stars:
"It so helps when you're with like-minded people on that," said Swinton, known for daring roles in arty independent films.
(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times) George Clooney and Tilda SwintonRe-team for "Burn After Reading."
On a damp balcony at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, George Clooney and Tilda Swinton looked like they were in a stylish thriller. She impersonated the trench-coated femme fatale from a Paul Verhoeven film; he was Danny Ocean, cracking up the crew.
The two had recently wrapped their second collaboration in quick succession, the Coen brothers' upcoming "Burn After Reading," which Swinton fondly described as "a caper movie" and "a whole vat of nothing," which follows on the heels of their Oscar-nominated "Michael Clayton." Together again, the two fell easily into an urbane teasing session when asked if they had previously been admirers of each other's work. "I don't watch much television," said Swinton, archly. "I'd seen 'Lion and the Witch,'" shot back the former "E.R." star, "but I didn't know which part she was." Eventually, Clooney confessed, "Yeah, I was. I'd seen her work for years." "Years and years," she groaned. "She's not young," he deadpanned, eliciting another howl. "And I was excited that she was willing to come on board and do ['Clayton'] because it classed up the thing. She's never been bad in a film, which is irritating." "Well, as far as I'm concerned, George Clooney is the man . . . and I'm trying to think . . ." As she struggled for words, he fished out his wallet and started piling $20 bills in front of her. "He's the closest thing that we have to a real . . . proper, full-time . . . movie star," she finished. He chortled triumphantly. Clooney, in his perfectly cut black suit with open-collared dark shirt, and Swinton, crowned with shocking red hair and equally shocking green eyes, may cut up about each other but when it comes to suffering for their craft, they pull out the machetes. "I don't think there's been a film with three actors [including "Clayton" costar Tom Wilkinson] more adverse to any of that 'I bleed for my art. . . .' " Clooney said. "We would be sitting there and everybody would be telling jokes; they'd go, 'And . . . action!' and then we'd do the scene." "It so helps when you're with like-minded people on that," said Swinton, known for daring roles in arty independent films. "Because then everybody can just tell the truth about it. It's dressing up and pretending. It's not a bloody coal mine." "You know, there are people that really like everyone to be ill at ease on a set," said Clooney. "But I always feel like you take more risks and do more interesting stuff when you actually feel comfortable." -- Michael Ordoña
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