How We Saw George Clooney In London For £12.40

We’re 4 rows back from the stage & the atmosphere is palpable as we await George Clooney. The stage is set with 6 chairs at the ready, below the large screen from which we have just watched George Clooney in his latest movie: Jay Kelly. We’re sat in the cinema, frantically craning our necks trying to work out from which staircase he’s likely to emerge. As the film credits roll in, the lights come on and there’s George making his way down the steps towards the stage.

It’s one of those serendipitous moments where we’d manage to bag two of the best seats in the house and all for just £12.40.  How did we do it? Read on and find out how it all came about and our thoughts on seeing George Clooney live in London.

George Clooney & Adam Sandler at Screen Talk at The Barbican Cinema

Screen Talk At The Barbican With George Clooney & Adam Sandler

Since he first hit our screens as Dr Doug Ross in ER, George Clooney has taken the world by storm. Whether you know him as the coffee guy from the telly or an A lister film star with a stream of block buster movies behind him, he is undoubtably a big name in the business. My holiday to Lake Como a few years back might well have been influenced by the knowledge that George had a second home on the Italian Lakes. Whilst he proved elusive, the sight of his home as we ferried across the lake each day caused more than the odd flutter of excitement.  You can therefore imagine the elation as an email popped into my inbox, just 2 weeks ago, offering us a chance to see him live for just £12.40.  George Clooney and a cheap ticket deal; my worlds had just successfully collided.

Here was an email from Barbican Cinema making mention of an upcoming screen talk with none other than George Clooney. Running a programme of screen talks throughout the year, you can watch a range of acclaimed movies before hearing more from those central to the production. We thought it had reached its pinnacle last year having watched the hit movie Memento alongside Guy Piece, (aka Mike from Neighbours), before he came on stage to give us his perspective of the role 20 years on.

Now here was a chance to watch Jay Kelly and then hear from George Clooney in a live question and answer screen talk.

George Clooney & Adam Sandler with Director Noah Baumbach Screen Talk

Screen Talks & Barbican Membership

With only 280 seats available within Cinema 1, we anticipated demand may well outstrip supply. I suspect the Barbican may have come to a similar conclusion as the email had only arrived in my inbox just 2 hours before tickets were to be released. With our Topdogdays hat always firmly in place, our first stroke of luck was picking up & reading this missive as it arrived.

Our second lucky break was the Barbican Membership that we’d taken out earlier in the year. Membership comes with a range of benefits including discounts off theatre & cinema tickets, free entry to exhibitions & exclusive member space away from the crowds. On that day however, the perk we were most interested in, was the early release of tickets for members. Tickets for Jay Kelly & Screen Talk were available to members a day before general release plus they included a 20% discount off standard ticket prices. At the ready at the clock struck noon, our tickets were purchased within 5 minutes of release where we had secured seats just 4 rows back from the stage.

Screen Talks At The Barbican & George Clooney

A successful programme run by the Barbican Cinema, Screen Talks give you the chance to watch selected movies within the cinema before joining a live question & answer session with those central to the film. It’s a powerful combination of the big screen coupled with larger-than-life stars on & off the show. Our Screen Talk also included the film star Adam Sandler, director Noah Baumbach and producers David Heyman & Amy Pascal although the draw for us was George Clooney.

Hosted by Briony Hanson, this 30-minute session offered an insight into the writing & creation of the film that works well for film buffs as much as any that might possibly be star-struck. With seats close to the action, we were in prime position to sit back and enjoy a lively discussion around the movie watching George Clooney work his magnetic charm around the room. Charismatic to the last, George Clooney has clearly made it to the top of his trade with humility and humour firmly in place that might have had some of us swooning in our seats.

With the whole experience only costing us £12.40 a ticket, there was even money left over for a coffee, even if George wasn’t on barista duties that day.

You can find out more details over at The Barbican Screen Talks.