EXCLUSIVE: George Clooney was a big draw on Broadway last year with Good Night, and Good Luck, and now the Tony nominee is returning to the stage with his GNGT co-star Clark Gregg for a bit of a Smear campaign.
The November 1 reunion in NYC will actually feature Clooney along with Betty Gilpin, Laverne Cox, Adam Scott, Glenn Fleshler and Shane Paul McGhie doing a reading ofGregg’s playwriting debut Smear, about a North Carolina midterms race that may determine the balance of power in the nation.
Reflecting on the timing of the performance, which finds the play taking place on a November 1 in both the fictional and real world, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reveals the notion to put his comedy piece about ex-lovers and “political operatives contesting a sketchy midterm” before an audience came just three weeks ago from a friend who is a real-life political operative.
Follow that with an email or two to Clooney, who is shooting the Paul Weitz-directed adaption of Amy Bloom’s In Love with Annette Bening and Gregg, and the play about a congressional race was off to the races.
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Besides being punctual in the days before the 2026 midterms, proceeds from the Smear reading will go to nonprofits The States Project and The States Forum via the Oath fundraising platform. Set to debut at 7 p.m. ET in the New York Theater District (location withheld for security reasons) on Sunday, tickets for the event can be purchased here.
Aiming to bring in eleventh-hour resources to the Daniel Squadron co-founded The States Project and The States Forum, which focus on governors and state legislature races, Smear tickets come in Supporter, Guest and VIP tiers of $500, $1,000 and $5,000, respectively. FYI: this is America, so donations are tax-deductible.
Smear certainly finds Ides of March star Clooney, who never hesitates to put his politics and star power to work, and the rest of the cast stepping into some deep, murky and often digital waters.
“Something they talk about in the play, which is weird, is that there was this guy (Yuri) Besmanov, who was this KGB guy who defected 25 years ago, 40 years ago, and he said, ‘We’re not trying to take over your country. We’re just going to spread disinformation until no one knows what’s true, and then they’ll all hate each other,” Gregg said in an interview with Deadline on Monday. “Then you throw in AI that ramps that up to light speed, and the darkness has a whole bunch of terrifying tools now.”
“State legislatures hold tremendous power over the most important issues in our country and our democracy itself,” adds Squadron. “When it comes to the integrity of our elections, making ends meet, individual rights and more, the decisions that impact Americans’ lives for the next few years all depend on ideas coming from states.”
“With everything on the line in the midterms, it’s critical that resources reach the organizations where they can have the greatest impact,” Oath co-founder and CEO Brian Derrick said. “Theater has a unique ability to bring activists and artists together, and we want to make sure that energy translates into real impact. At this stage of the election, strategic giving matters more than ever, and we’re focused on helping every dollar make a difference.”
In what is viewed as a pivotal midterm election that is likely to set the stage for the White House race in 2028, Clooney, Gilpin, Gregg and gang are joining an ever increasing list of celebs getting involved in the final days of the battle between the MAGA GOP and hopeful Dems.
Texas candidate James Talarico has attracted supporters like the stars of Friday Night Lights, and the Chicks, as well as frequent trips to the Hollywood ATM. Incumbent Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff has also been out to the West Coast for big-money donor events. Former fictional POTUS Martin Sheen, Barbra Streisand, The West Wing and The Diplomat’s Bradley Whitford, and documentarian Ken Burns are just a few of those backing the Dems.
On the flip side, as all sides try to move ahead a Jon Voight-initiated federal film and TV tax incentive, Nicki Minaj has begun attending campaign rallies with Donald Trump, as has Jake Paul.
Just today, former West Wing and Scandal star Josh Malina jumped online to back his near look-a-like Josh Shapiro.
Sidestepping the microdrama waiting to happen and cutting to the ballot-box chase, Malina praised the Pennsylvania governor (and potential 2028 contender) as a pol who “gets sh*t done.”
With pretty good timing, Shapiro responds: “Hey, that’s my line.”
Indeed.
