George Clooney Praises Christopher Abbott in 'Catch-22': 'He's Clearly A Gifted Actor'

George Clooney happily poses alongside his co-star Grant Heslov while attending the FYC red carpet event for his new Hulu series Catch-22 held at the Saban Media Center on Wednesday (May 8) in North Hollywood, Calif.

The 58-year-old actor-director was also joined at the event by cast mates Christopher Abbott and Kyle Chandler, as well as writer Luke Davis, executive producer Richard Brown and director-producer Ellen Kuras.

“Chris came in and read, and within the first three lines it was clear that he was our man,” George said in a statement in praise of Chris (via Vanity Fair). “He’s clearly a gifted actor. He has the ability to do both comedy and drama effortlessly, which doesn’t often happen.”

“More importantly, he has a unique quality that makes you root for him,” George added. “That’s not something that can be learned—either you have it or you don’t. And he has it.”

That same evening, Kyle made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live and talked about the insane rain they had on his ranch in Texas, visiting colleges with his daughter, playing football in high school, and shooting Catch 22 with George in Italy.