In a nice little recent, now-unlinkable interview with Screen International‘s Mike Goodridge, George Clooney talks about falling in love with Joel McCrea and the relatively obscure The More the Merrier as part of his screwball, classic Hollywood tonal research for Leatherheads, opening today.

Clooney says he was also inspired by his work with the Coen brothers: “What Joel and Ethan did when I did O Brother, Where Art Thou?
was to make fun of me and the movie star persona,” he explains. “I like
that, and I think it’s good to shake it up. It was especially good for
me after the last couple of years.” Yes, especially after The Good German.