George Clooney Stung By Flop Leatherheads 5/08/08

George Clooney was hurt by the failure of his most recent movie Leatherheads - but is determined to learn from the experience.

A month after its release, the American football movie has grossed $36 million (GBP18 million); $22 million (GBP11 million) short of its $58 million (GBP29 million) budget.

It only reached third place in the U.S. box office and disappointed critics - leaving director and star Clooney devastated. He tells Rolling Stone, "It bombed and when I say bombed, it bombed. Someone said, 'How does that feel?' and it stings a little bit. It's not like we just showed up: I was working on this for a couple years and put a lot of work into it, and you get knocked back a little bit."

But he refuses to be beaten, insisting, "The trick is how you handle things when things don't go great. It's easy when things are doing well: The people I most admire are the people who handle it when the studio says that's really underperformed and they say, 'Ow, that hurt.'

I've been a fan of watching people go through cycles, not just winning cycles."