George Clooney gave $1 million in cash to 14 of his closest friends

Actor George Clooney took care of his closest friends after he came into a truckload of cash. He gifted 14 of his friends $1 million each after his film Gravity became a runaway box office hit.

He said in a recent interview that he had just met his future wife Amal at the time, and didn't really have anyone but his friends to thank for his success. And so he came up with the plan to invite them over to his house, express his gratitude and hand them bags full of cash.

He told GQ in an interview, "I thought, what I do have are these guys who've all, over a period of 35 years, helped me in one way or another. I've slept on their couches when I was broke. They loaned me money when I was broke. They helped me when I needed help over the years. And I've helped them over the years."

He continued, "I thought, you know, without them I don't have any of this. And we're all really close, and I just thought basically if I get hit by a bus, they're all in the will. So why the f--- am I waiting to get hit by a bus?"

When the friends arrived, he showed them a map of all the places he's been able to visit all over the world, thanks to their support. "I said, 'How do you repay people like that?' And I said, 'Oh, well: How about a million bucks?'" he concluded. "And the fun part about it was: That was the 27th, the 28th of September. A year later, on the 27th of September, just by happenstance, was the day I got married."

Clooney said that the reason why Gravity turned out to be such a profitable venture was that no one expected it to be a hit, and so 'they gave us percentages of the movie'. It ended up making over $700 million worldwide. Clooney will return as director and star of The Midnight Sky for Netflix, a film that has been described as Gravity meets The Revenant.