George Clooney: ‘The World Just Changed’

In an exclusive interview with Deadline Hollywood, actor George Clooney reveals that he passed a petition against cyber-terrorism to Hollywood stars and bigwigs, but all of them refused to sign.

The simple petition Clooney circulated concluded, “We hope these hackers are brought to justice but until they are, we will not stand in fear. We will stand together.” After sending the petition around to major studios and what he describes as “a fairly large number” of people, Clooney came up empty. He tells Deadline, “nobody wanted to be the first to sign on.” Clooney says he’s not interested in naming names and concludes, “This is just where we are right now, how scared this industry has been made.”

Clooney sees the terrorizing of Hollywood as just a first step. What happened to Sony could, he believes, have happened to any industry. Clooney tells Deadline, “We have a new paradigm, a new reality, and we’re going to have to come to real terms with it all the way down the line.” He adds, “Understand what is going on right now, because the world just changed on your watch.”

Clooney is just one of several Hollywood stars who have expressed outrage and concern about what has happened since Sony was hacked by a group identified as the Guardians of Peace last month. Others who have urged Hollywood to stand up against the threats made by the hackers include the stars of the film, Seth Rogen and James Franco, who mocked the leaks on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live. In addition, several well known members of Hollywood who are not connected to the project have expressed dismay including Aaron Sorkin, Rob Lowe, and Ben Stiller.