Great Performances

Up in the Air

When Walter Kirn, author of the novel Up in the Air, heard that Clooney, 48, had been cast in the role of professional axman and über-frequent flyer Ryan Bingham in Jason Reitman's film adaptation, he had a moment of skepticism. Then he reconsidered. Clooney, he realized, was "the only person possible who can make the job this character does charismatic and tolerable to an audience long enough for them to see into his world." We knew Clooney the charismatic; what was new was Clooney the vulnerable, inhabiting the pain of others even as he fired them from across a table. "I can no longer imagine my own character as anyone else," Kirn says. Neither can we.

Portfolio styled by Wendy Schecter (except for photographs of Bullock and Moore)