George Clooney so badly stricken with Covid he was forced to direct new film from bed

George Clooney ended up so sick when he contracted Covid that he was forced to direct his latest film from bed. The 62-year-old actor made part of The Boys in the Boat, which was filmed last year but is due out later this month, on his iPad while bedbound after he fell ill with the virus – with his producer partner Grant Heslov lending a hand from the set. 

Clooney told People magazine: “I was really sick. It was my first time getting Covid. I’m on an iPad hacking away from my bedroom. Grant was sitting on the camera and they’d hold up the iPad to Cal and I’d go, ‘Ah, go fast.’ I’d rasp out ‘Faster’ whatever that was. We only had to do it for a week.”  

A string of other staff on the film – including star Joel Edgerton, 49 – were also hit with the virus.  

The actor and director believes an intimate dinner with cast members from the movie, which tells the story of the University of Washington’s rowing team of underdogs making it to the 1936 Olympics, helped spread the virus even though they were all “tested and vaccinated”.

 GRTWT.