George Clooney Was Hospitalized After Dramatic Weight Loss for The Midnight Sky

George Clooney spent time in the hospital after he was diagnosed with pancreatitis following his weight loss for the Netflix film The Midnight Sky. Read his comments here.

By Ryan Gajewski Dec 11, 2020 3:19 AMTags

George Clooney had a health scare right before shooting began on his new Netflix film The Midnight Sky

E! News has confirmed that the actor was diagnosed with pancreatitis and hospitalized after experiencing stomach pains just days before cameras started rolling on the sci-fi project that counts him as both director and star. Clooney has since fully recovered. 

The film features the 59-year-old Oscar winner as Augustine Lofthouse, an astrophysicist battling cancer who is tasked with warning a team of astronauts not to return to Earth. To get into character, the Gravity star decided to lose weight for the role. 

"I think I was trying too hard to lose the weight quickly and probably wasn't taking care of myself," Clooney told the Mirror, which reported that the star dropped close to 30 pounds.

The Up in the Air leading man pointed out that filming in harsh climates made this shoot particularly challenging.  

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Celebrity Weight Loss

"It took a few weeks to get better, and as a director, it's not so easy because you need energy," he added. "We were out on this glacier in Finland, which made it a lot harder to work. But it certainly helped with the character."

Getty Images; justiceforbreonna.org

This isn't the first recent health scare that Clooney has endured. He suffered minor injuries after he was hit by a car while riding his motorized scooter to the Catch-22 set in Sardinia in July 2018. 

Rounding out The Midnight Sky's cast are Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone, Demián Bichir and Kyle Chandler. The film hits theaters on Friday, Dec. 11 and is released to Netflix on Dec. 23.