Here are some assorted photos of George Clooney flying solo as he promoted Tomorrowland that past few days. Some photos are from the London premiere, which was interesting for the fact that Amal Clooney was actually IN London on the day of the premiere, but she did not attend the UK premiere. There are also some photos of George looking old as dirt in Spain too. Again, it doesn’t seem like Amal came with him to Spain. George did say that Amal would come to Tokyo with him to promote the film, so we’ll see.

I only realized this recently, but Tomorrowland was co-written by Damon Lindelof, who created and wrote Lost and was responsible for the script and story catastrophe of Prometheus. Lindelof’s involvement in Tomorrowland does not inspire hope, to say the least. In fact, I’m now less likely to show any interest. In any case, Clooney, Lindelof and director Brad Bird sat down for a conversation with Vulture, and Clooney ended up giving some interesting quotes. Some highlights:

Why Clooney doesn’t do a lot of summer blockbusters: “Well, I got a good taste of it in my mouth doing Batman and Robin. “Gosh, I’m so good at this, why don’t I keep doing them?” You know, it’s never really been my thing. Even something like Gravity was a very different kind of film, where I wasn’t carrying the bulk of the weight, and that wasn’t even a summer film… But other than that, it hasn’t really been in my wheelhouse, quite honestly. I’ve been offered a few of them, but I didn’t think I was the right guy for those jobs. But I have to say that Tomorrowland didn’t feel like a summer movie.”

On social media & online commenters: “Listen, we’re at sort of a cynical time in society. Don’t ever read comments on anything! People can live anonymously, and I honestly think that when they were talking about freedom of speech in 1787, the theory was that you had to own your speech. It had to belong to you, and you actually had to take some responsibility for it. Now you can just sit alone and say horrible things, and it becomes fashionable to be shi–ty to people. Now people will come up to me, thinking they’re keeping it real, and they say, “I hated you in that last movie!” And I’ll look at them and go, “Well, I think those extra 20 pounds look good on you.” It’s become a much more cynical time, a time when people think it’s fun to only be negative…. And that’s not gonna be how I function. I’m not gonna function in that world, where negativity is going to be the centerpiece. I’m going to look to the better angels and have a better life because of it.

[From Vulture]

The social media part of the conversation happens as Lindelof talks about leaving Twitter in a fit because he didn’t like the comments he was getting. To which I say… there’s a fine line between trolling someone and airing some legitimate grievances about Lindelof’s lack of storytelling talent. But sure, I understand the point that Clooney is trying to make, which is that you should own your own “free speech,” etc. Clooney also slapped the Daily Mail again, calling them “evil” for claiming that Amal is Druze (that happened last year), even though we really have no idea what religion Amal practices, or if she believes in anything.

George also gave an interview to CBS This Morning and wouldn’t you know? He described his proposal to Amal in detail. He told Charlie Rose that he “dropped” the proposal on her by surprise, although he planned it out and even cued up a playlist (made of songs by Rosemary Clooney). He got down on one knee too. Clooney said: “I asked her, and she just kept saying, ‘Oh my, God,’ and ‘Wow,’ and we just sat there. And finally, I just said, ‘Listen, I’m 53 at the time, or 52 at the time, I think. I said, ‘I’ve been on my knee for about 28 minutes so I gotta get an answer out of this because I’m gonna throw a hip out! I might not be able to stand back up.’” Poor guy. I bet getting down on one knee killed his back too.

But here’s a good rule of thumb for the gossip world: if someone is trying this hard to convince you of something, the opposite is probably true. George is really trying to convince us of something. Now we just need to figure out why he’s trying to divert our attention.

Photos courtesy of WENN.