The Boys in the Boat tells the uplifting true story of the University of Washington men’s rowing team, who won the gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Munich. Based on the bestselling novel by acclaimed author Daniel James Brown, the students were a collection of the desperate and poverty-stricken, trying to find better lives during the Great Depression. Callum Turner stars as Joe Rantz, a rower abandoned by his family at age 13. He rises to astonishing victory through fierce determination, brotherhood, and needed guidance.

George Clooney directs with Joel Edgerton co-starring as Coach Al Ulbrickson, who took a chance on a ragtag crew and molded them into champions. Clooney delivers an old-fashioned film with positive themes. He has a simple explanation for his choice: “I love old sports films.” Clooney believed “it was a good time” to tell this story because “we’ve all just been through such hell from the pandemic […] We actually like each other [and] should remind ourselves that we’re better off together.”

Edgerton was deeply moved by Rantz’s tough upbringing, saying, “It really kills me when I hear that he was a 13-year-old boy.” He embraces the notion of the coach as a father figure, “Kids often feel like they’re almost a blank canvas. The coaches, sometimes like fathers, don’t realize just how much of an influence they can have.” Edgerton sarcastically comments that “it’s really hard for me wearing these woolen suits” while the other actors were going through a grueling physical shoot. But Clooney reminds that Edgerton “did this in one of the best sports films I’ve ever seen, Warrior.” Read on for our complete interview and watch the video above with George Clooney and Joel Edgerton.

Better Off Together

MovieWeb: You guys have made this beautiful film that makes your heart soar. We really don’t see that anymore in a Hollywood obsessed with darkness. Why make an uplifting story with old-fashioned themes?

George Clooney: We liked it. I love sports films. I don’t know how you feel about them, but I love old sports films. I thought it was a good time. We’ve all just been through such hell from the pandemic, all that sort of polarizing stuff we are going through, according to the election and all of that. It felt like a time that we should remind ourselves that we’re better off together, that we actually like each other, and that these guys who were strangers, desperate and hungry, reminds us of the spirit of what we can be.

MW: Callum Turner plays Joe Rantz, who was abandoned at age 13 and raised himself. Joel, your character became a father figure and an inspiration to the rowing team. Talk about portraying Coach Al Ulbrickson?

Joel Edgerton: It really kills me when I hear that in the film, that he was a 13-year-old boy, because it takes you right back to yourself as a 13-year-old child, and wonder how you would face the world. For kids, with coaches and with fathers, often feel like they’re almost a blank canvas that the kids project. The coaches, sometimes like fathers, don’t realize just how much of an influence they can have on these kids. There’s almost sort of an intuitive connection that George has placed in the film about Coach Ulbrickson’s curiosity about Joe, and most likely senses some deficit there. I just really think, with very few words between the two of them, there is a real kind of interesting, deep relationship that reminds me of fathers and sons relationships.

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MW: I had a great interview with author Daniel James Brown. He was extolling the beautiful filmmaking and editing in the racing scenes. We have an idea of what’s going to happen because we know the story’s outcome, but there’s so much tension. George, you’re behind the camera, Joe, you’re in front, talk about those racing scenes. They must have been tough.

George Clooney: They’re tough. It’s hard to shoot. You’re in the water. You have to keep it accurate. You have to have the boats in the right place at the right time. There’s a lot of things that go wrong, you know, in the water and the wind, everything. But we’re surrounded by really talented people. Tanya [Swerling], the editor, is such an incredible editor. We were able to just keep focus, keep our eye on the prize, try to get it finished. And we have really wonderful actors, so the hard part’s taken care of. Now it’s just about putting the camera in the right place.

Every Day Is Fun for George Clooney

MW: What about you, Joel? Callum spoke about the struggles he had to do 46 strokes. You look good and dapper in the fedora. Were you ever like, “Oh, I’m glad I’m not in that boat?”

Joel Edgerton: It’s really hard for me wearing these woolen suits, you know what I mean (laughs)? I have to say that being a passenger, or you know, an observer of that process the boys went through, and watching the evolution of their skill level, and their camaraderie — it was very impressive knowing what it takes. Sometimes in these films, where there’s really no faking what you have to do on screen, you have to really put yourself through the paces at a very quick, exponential learning curve. I was deeply impressed but happy to stand off to the side.

George Clooney: I will also say, he did this in one of the best sports films I’ve ever seen, Warrior. And again, you care about the characters, which is why you love it so much. You can’t fake it like that. You know exactly what it’s like. That was the fun of it.

Related: The Best George Clooney Movies, Ranked

MW: What was the best and worst day for you both working on The Boys in the Boat?

George Clooney: Best day is that’s a wrap. I don’t know, every day is fun. Look, I’m 62 years old, and I get to play in a sandbox that I never thought I’d ever get a chance to do. I love every single day of going to work. I enjoy the fact that we get to be children still. I’m always fascinated by it. I’m fascinated with the challenges. There aren’t “worst days.” We had bad days. We had COVID. There were always things that could go wrong, but we figured it out.

Joel Edgerton: My worst day, it’s not really the worst, though the most challenging one is just taking your character for a walk for the first time in front of about 100 people and a studio that might be like, “We made the wrong choice.” The best days are kind of a mix of all days. It was a really enjoyable shoot. There was just a good feeling among everyone. I never really had some devastatingly terrible day. Maybe the days when we knew that people were out with COVID, and we had to sort of act alone. There was some complicated stuff around COVID-19 that got in the way.

The Boys in the Boat will be released theatrically on December 25th from Amazon MGM Studios.