Today George Clooney returns to the Lido as the absolute lead.
This evening, September 2, 2026, during the opening ceremony of the 83rd International Venice Film Festival, the star will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, one of the highest honors of the Venice Biennale. The choice was proposed by artistic director Alberto Barbera, who described Clooney as a “complete and charismatic artist” in his triple capacity as actor, director, and producer.
The award comes after a long love affair with the Festival. A tale that, curiously, begins when Clooney is not yet the Hollywood star we know today. We must go back to 1998, when the actor first arrives at the Lido to present Out of Sight by Steven Soderbergh. He was 37 years old. And, above all, he had just entered a decisive phase of his career.
George Clooney’s First Venice Red Carpet
It is 1998, and when he lands in Venice, Clooney is already known to the public thanks to the TV show ER – Emergency Room, the series that would transform him into an international star. But the definitive leap to cinema, however, is a “work in progress.” In February of that same year, he had left ER, while Out of Sight represented one of the most important opportunities to establish himself on the big screen.
In that first appearance on the Venice Lido red carpet, Clooney is not alone. By his side is Jennifer Lopez, the female lead of the film, already a rising presence in the entertainment world. Along with them, director Steven Soderbergh, who with this title would leave the world of independent cinema for the first time. The photograph above captures the three of them, still far from the major successes that await them in their respective careers.
Out of Sight stems from the adaptation of the novel by Elmore Leonard. The cast includes, besides George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Dennis Farina, Steve Zahn, and Albert Brooks. The star plays Jack Foley, an elegant and self-assured bank robber who escapes from prison and becomes entangled in a high-spirited escape. During the breakout, he and his accomplice kidnap U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco, portrayed by Lopez. The two end up locked inside the same trunk, and despite belonging to two opposite worlds, an immediate attraction blossoms between them.
The film arrives in Venice after its American premiere in June 1998, at a time when the Festival did not yet deem it essential to guarantee the world premiere of a selected film, and it was screened Out of Competition on September 9, 1998. The film does not transform into a major commercial success. With an estimated budget of $48 million, it grossed about $77.7 million worldwide. Yet its significance in Clooney’s career will prove far more important than the box office numbers suggest.
Twenty-eight years have passed since that first stroll on the red carpet. Since then Clooney has returned to Venice with Intolerable Cruelty, Good Night, and Good Luck., Michael Clayton, Burn After Reading, The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Ides of March, Gravity, Suburbicon, Wolfs and Jay Kelly. And this year, the man himself stands as Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, welcoming us with open arms.
Below is the trailer for Out of Sight.
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