George Clooney is without a doubt one of the biggest names in Hollywood, but it's not always been that way. In fact, there was a time in his career when the actor would jump from project to project, simply happy to be working ahead of his breakout role in television's 'ER'. When that happened however, the floodgates of opportunity burst open for Clooney, but there was still a struggle to be had.

George Clooney says 'Batman & Robin' changed his careerGeorge Clooney says 'Batman & Robin' changed his career

One of his earliest leading roles came in 'Batman & Robin', where he took over the leading role of the World's Greatest Detective from Val Kilmer, who had seen huge success in 'Batman Forever'. Unfortunately for Clooney, tackling Bruce Wayne proved to be a trickier task than he had imagined, due to a script renowned as being terrible, and a number of behind-the-scenes challenges.

To this day, Clooney has admitted his embarrassment when talking about 'Batman & Robin', but that doesn't mean the project didn't have a profound effect on the rest of his career. In fact, if he hadn't have taken part, we could be seeing a very different version of Clooney in the modern day.

Chatting with The Hollywood Reporter, the star was asked which movie had the biggest impact on the direction of his career, to which he replied: "It’s really easy to pick: 'Batman & Robin'. That’s not a joke. Up until that moment, I was an actor only concerned with finding work. After the failure of that film creatively, I understood that I needed to take control of the films I made, not just the role. My next three films were 'Out of Sight', 'Three Kings' and 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'"

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It makes sense that, despite Clooney's reservations surrounding the comic book flick, it changed his life. In teaching him to take careful consideration in future projects, it's meant that his career has been a much more fulfilling one not just for him, but for his fans in recent years.