George Clooney discusses his role being cut down in The Thin Red Line

In 1998, George Clooney Was Almost Entirely Cut From The Thin Red Line. Here’s What He Said When He Found Out

George Clooney appeared — albeit sparingly — among an ensemble cast of actors, including Sean Penn, in Terrence Malick’s 1998 World War II movie

By Tommy McArdle Published on September 4, 2026

George Clooney filmed plenty more scenes for his 1998 movie The Thin Red Line than audiences see in the finished product.
Clooney, 65, reflected on his ultimately low amount of screen time in director Terrence Malick’s World War II movie during a moderated conversation at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday, Sept. 3, one day after he received the Italian festival’s Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement.
The film came up when Clooney, who has directed nine movies in his own film career, was asked to describe what he enjoys about directing rather than purely acting.
“An actor only affects [a movie] as much as the director decides. I could change any actor’s performance as a director,” Clooney shared. “I could cut him out, for that matter. I remember I did Thin Red Line, which is this really interesting film, and Terry Malick was coming back, he hadn’t worked in 15 years and wanted to come back and do a film, so I thought, ‘I’m going to help him get this film made and I’m going to do this part for him.’ ”
“I was in Australia shooting for months, and then he cut me completely out except the last scene in the film. The very last scene,” he added. “I watched it, and I was like, ‘He cut me completely out. I’m only in the last scene? My God, I look like an a--hole!’ And he said, ‘No, George, it’s pretty fun,’ and I said, ‘Oh, s---.’ So you can really change people’s performances. The director is in charge, the director is the painter.”
Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Jared Leto, Tim Blake Nelson, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, John Travolta and more all starred in The Thin Red Line as U.S. Army soldiers fighting in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
Clooney’s character only appears in the movie’s final scenes, despite months of filming the picture.