'The Boys In The Boat' Actors Describe Working With George Clooney: 'An Absolute Dream'

Callum Turner and Hadley Robinson dished about their on-screen chemistry along with their time on the set of the Clooney-directed sports underdog tale.

Callum Turner, one of the stars of “The Boys in the Boat,” said George Clooney served as both a “great leader and fantastic director” on the set of the sports drama.

Turner plays Joe Rantz, part of the University of Washington rowing team that won gold at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, who amidst a life of hardships joins the Huskies squad in an effort to pay tuition.

The story of Rantz and his team are the focus of the Clooney-directed underdog sports tale with a screenplay from Mark L. Smith that’s based on the Daniel James Brown book of the same name.

“We all built a shorthand pretty quickly, that’s testament to him,” Turner said of Clooney, pointing to the director’s knowledge of old Hollywood.

“For me it was Gary Cooper in ‘High Noon’ and ‘Mr. Deeds,’ watching movies like that. Spencer Tracy and tapping into Woody Guthrie. He knew because he’s a cinephile, he’d just be able to communicate through movies and moments. He’s just a wonderful human being.”