EXCLUSIVE: George Clooney was a big draw on Broadway last year with Good Night and Good Luck, and now the Tony Awards nominee is going to be back on-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 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. alum Gregg’s playwriting debut about a North Carolina midterms race that may hold 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, Gregg 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 currently 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.
Besides sounding incredibly punctual in the days before the actual bitterly fought 2026 midterms, proceeds from the Clark directed Smear will got to non-profits The States Project and The States Forum via the Oath fundraising platform. Set to debut at 7 pm ET in the New York Theater District (location withheld for security reasons) this coming Sunday, tickets for the 90-minute long Smear can be purchased here.
Aiming to bring in 11th hour resources to the Daniel Squadron co-founded Project and Forum, which focus on governors and state legislatures, Smear tixs come in Supporter, Guest and VIP tiers of $500, $1,000 and $5,000 each respectively. FYI – this is America, so donations are tax-deductible.
Smear certainly finds Ides of March star Clooney, who Never hesitant to put his politics and his star power to work, and the rest of the cast stepping into some deep, murky and often digital waters.
Speaking to Deadline Monday, Gregg notes: “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.” 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 of The States Project and The States Forum. “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 says. “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 widely viewed as a truly pivotal midterm election, and likely to set the stage for the White House race of 2028, Clooney, Gilpin, Gregg and gang are joining an ever increasing list of celebs getting involved in the last 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 Senator Jon Ossoff has also been out to West Coast repeatedly 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 flipside, 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 poll leading re-election seeking Pennsylvania governor (and potential 2028 contender) as a pol who “gets shit done.”
With pretty good timing Shapiro responds: “Hey, that’s my line.”
Indeed.
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