In Burn After Reading, George Clooney plays Harry Pfarrar, a married ex-personal protection specialist who spends his free time cheating via online dating sites, building bizarre sexual machinery, and jogging to burn off the paranoid sense that he's being followed. Courtesy of the Coen Brothers' mad genius, Pfarrar gets sucked into a complicated plot of idiocy and faux political intrigue that also involves Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand.

Cole Haddon: So, Harry Pfarrer. I don't think you've ever played as big of a douche bag onscreen before.

George Clooney: [The Coen Brothers] called up and told me they wrote the part for me -- which worried me a bit. Harry's not unlike the dopes I've played in my other films for the Coens. He's this sort of sad, moronic character. But there's a viciousness to the guy that doesn't exist in, say, Everett in O Brother, Where Art Thou? This script made me howl when I read it. It's so insane, I just went with it. And I finally got to work with Fran.

CH: Speaking of Frances, she hasn't been onscreen nearly as much as she should be lately. It's also been seven years since Joel [Coen, her husband] put her in one of his movies. What was getting the chance to work with her like?

GC: I've been having a blast working with her. She's the one who makes lists all the time. "What's a good restaurant to go to in New York?" "Here's a list."

CH: Getting back to Harry. He's about as far from the "Clooney mystique" of easy cool we've come to expect from you. How did you find his character?

GC: The minute I asked if I could wear a gold chain and [they] said yes, I knew what the guy had to look like. Then Joel and Ethan said, "Grow one of your really bad beards," and I said, "I can do that quickly." Once it was that, we knew the pants had to be up over my waist just a little bit. Just enough. Not Urkel high, but just a little higher, everything always tucked in a little too tight. Once we figured that part out, it became really easy.

CH: This is what, your third movie with the Coens? I've heard a lot of stories about why it's so great, as an actor, to work with the Coens. What stands out for you?

GC: They make every actor think they're giving their opinions cause [we'll] be like, "What if I did this?" "Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea. Let's try it. Maybe, maybe." Then you do it and, after a couple of takes, they're like, "Mmm, why don't you try it the other way?" What you realize is you never do it your way, but they make you feel like it was all your idea.

CH: No Country for Old Men kicked a lot of ass at the Oscars last year. How do you think their legacy as filmmakers is shaping up?

GC: If you look at the history of their films, people will compare them to Preston Sturges. But if you look at Preston Sturges films, there are five or six solid masterpieces like Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve, but, the truth is, Sturges eventually fell apart. The Coens have like fifteen great films in all different genres, and every one of them is interesting.

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