Hollywood star George Clooney received an honorary Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the opening ceremony of the Venice Film Festival and used his time on stage to deliver a moving speech about the importance of stories and human empathy.

George Clooney attended the movie gala Venice Film Festival with wife Amal Clooney and close friend Laura Dern, who presented him with the honour.

Dern called Clooney as one of her oldest and closest friends and invited his other friends and collaborators, including Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Steven Soderbegh, CAA partner and his longtime agent of 25 years, Bryan Lourd, Alexander Payne and Noah Baumbach to speak for the actor, reported Variety.

George y Amal Clooney conquistaron la alfombra roja del Festival de Cine de Venecia durante la ceremonia de apertura, donde el actor recibió el León de Oro honorífico a la Trayectoria Profesional. 🏆¿Te gustan sus outfits?

Video por: https://t.co/j2VXYq9Wmk en TT pic.twitter.com/rufRTbQAEQ

— EstiloDF (@EstiloDF) September 2, 2026

When Clooney’s time came to speak, he referenced the current political climate to emphasise the importance of stories. Clooney said he’s learned a lot over the years by coming to places like Venice and experiencing world cinema.

“Nobody laughs in a different language. Nobody cries in a different language. Parents worry the same. Kids dream the same. Love looks remarkably similar in language, which makes it hard to believe that we’re as different as we’re constantly being told. We’re living through a moment in time where people in charge, the people with the most money are telling us to fear one another. But we know better than that, don’t we? Because history does teach us a lesson.” Clooney, 65, said the first people authoritarians try to shut down are not politicians, but journalists who ask questions and artists who refuse simple answers.

George Clooney receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice Film Festival. pic.twitter.com/zo1eYnTpIm

— Variety (@Variety) September 2, 2026

“They’re the filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians who insist that someone you have never met is deserving of your empathy. Stories are always dangerous to people who peddle in fear. The people who are afraid of books and music and stories, they’re never the heroes in history.

“There’s a great word, a kakistocracy, which is a country run by the least qualified people. I think maybe we have a kakistocracy right now, but we’ll get through it,” he said.

“So yes, movies don’t stop wars. They don’t lower inflation. They don’t fix elections, but they do do something remarkable. They remind us that a stranger is never a stranger and that he might just be the hero in somebody else’s story. And if we can still sit together in the dark and care about people that we have never met, I think maybe we’ll be OK.” The actor also joked about getting a lifetime award in his speech.

George Clooney says “stories are always dangerous to people who peddle in fear” in a moving speech at the #VeniceFilmFestival:

“So yes, movies don’t stop wars, they don’t lower inflation, they don’t fix elections. But they do do something remarkable. They remind us that a… pic.twitter.com/rdeWsHx3XO

— Variety (@Variety) September 2, 2026

“You know, when they tell you that you’re gonna be getting a lifetime achievement award, there are really two things that come to mind. The first is what an incredible honour this is. And then the second is do they know something that I don’t?” Clooney said he has been an actor for 45 years and while it all looks intentional retrospectively, his career happened while he was trying to pay the rent.

“When you start reflecting on the years, you realize you really didn’t have a career as much as a series of happy accidents… Somebody gave me my first job, somebody else gave me my second job. A director saw something in me that I was yet to see. A writer wrote better lines than I deserved. A crew member made me look like I knew what I was doing. A star, like Laura, was kind enough to let me learn from them. And over time, you begin to realize that nobody arrives anywhere on their own.” Clooney first attended the Venice gala for Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight” in 1998.

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Over the years, the actor-filmmaker has brought Michael Clayton, the Coen Bros’ Burn After Reading, Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity as well as his directorial projects like Good Night, and Good Luck to the festival.