Every actor experiences the occasional flop in their career and they can hopefully just overcome it and move onto another project. But in some cases, a really big and embarrassing failure can stain an actor's career and make it tough for them to move on. It happened with Ben Affleck and Gigli, Halle Berry and Catwoman, and it could have certainly been the same for George Clooney and Batman and Robin.

While a big superhero movie could launch a career in some cases, Batman and Robin was seen as one of the worst movies ever made and quickly became a punchline. With Clooney the one in the iconic cape and cowl for the movie, its failure could have easily sunk his new movie career. However, Clooney was saved from such a fate thanks to one of the coolest movies ever made, Out of Sight.

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By the time Batman and Robin was ready to come out, Joel Schumacher's unique vision for his Batman movies was already very well-known. Batman Forever displayed the kind of neon and vibrant look he was going for that was very different than Tim Burton's movies. It also leaned into the campiness of the 1960s Batman series in ways that didn't sit well with fans. But Batman Forever was nonetheless a success, so Schumacher was given the green light to carry on with his franchise despite losing his star hero Val Kilmer who decided to bow out as Batman after one movie.

Schumacher hired Clooney as his replacement Caped Crusader which was the actor's biggest leading man role to date. At the time, Clooney was mostly known for his role on ER though his movie career was beginning to take off with From Dusk Till Dawn and One Fine Day. Becoming the next Batman would have been a fantastic opportunity for him but things turned out differently.

Though the movie was a hit at the box office, it quickly became a cinematic embarrassment. Fans and critics ripped the movie apart for its various silly elements, from the infamous nipples on the Batman costume to Mr. Freeze's endless ice puns to Batman's credit card. Any financial success the movie experienced was immediately overshadowed by the overwhelmingly negative reaction.

Planned sequels with Schumacher and Clooney returning were canceled and the franchise remained dormant until 2005 when Christopher Nolan gave it a gritty reboot with Batman Begins. While there were other big names in the cast, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman, Clooney ran the biggest risk with the failure of Batman and Robin. He was still trying to escape the image of a television star and such an embarrassing disaster would clearly not help. He would need an ideal project to bounce back with.

That ideal next project came in the form of Out of Sight. The movie was an adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name with a script written by Scott Frank. It told the story of a bank robber named Jack Foley who escapes from prison and is pursued by a U.S. Marshal named Karen Sisco who with whom he forms an interesting bond as she hunts him down. The movie was to be directed by Steven Soderbergh, an indie filmmaker who was also looking for a Hollywood hit.

Ironically, Clooney credits his Batman role with putting him on Hollywood's radar which got him cast in Out of Sight as Foley. He was joined by another up-and-coming star with Jennifer Lopez signing on to play Karen. The supporting cast featured the likes of Don Cheadle, Ving Rhames, and Albert Brooks while Michael Keaton, Viola Davis, and Samuel L. Jackson all popped up in brief roles.

Karen Sisco and Jack Foley sharing a drink in Out of Sight

Despite the fact that it failed to make any money, Out of Sight was the perfect movie for Clooney at the time. A combination of Leonard's writing, Soderbergh's style as a director, and the bank robber story, Out of Sight became a movie that oozes cool in every frame. Its coolness doesn't come from slow-motion shots of good-looking stars or expensive cars. Instead, the movie has a laid-back, easy-going energy that just glides through this very entertaining story. The dialogue is sharp and funny, but the movie never makes itself out to be a parody of bank robber movies. The entire cast is on the same page with delivering funny yet real performances. Lopez becomes a star in this tough yet human role. Rhames is lovable as Clooney's loyal partner. Cheadle steals the show as the movie's villain who thinks he's a bigger deal than he is. But it is Clooney who built his icon status with this role.

Clooney matches the coolness of the movie perfectly. He too is effortless and smooth at coming across as the most interesting man in the world. He feels like those outlaw characters the likes of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen used to play, the kind of bad guys who were easy to root for. Yet his performance is never self-conscious about looking cool. In fact, there are moments where Clooney willingly looks like a goofball but that just adds to the charm of the character. Even if this movie didn't catch on with audiences at the time, it somehow established Clooney the movie star. It was now hard to see him in that silly Batman costume as he just seemed like that effortlessly cool cat who owned a room as soon as he walked into it.

Following Out of Sight, Clooney would go on to acclaimed movies like Three Kings, O Brother Where Art Thou? and Ocean's Eleven in which he perfected the cool leading man role with Soderbergh yet again. Clooney still jokes about the failure of Batman and Robin, willingly poking fun at his part in the disaster. However, were it not for Out of Sight showing everyone who Clooney could be, he might not have found his time as Batman so amusing.

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