Robert Baer wants to make it clear that just because George Clooney died playing him in Syriana, he in fact is still alive. Last week, the former CIA agent reemerged to unveil his latest film, The Cult of the Suicide Bomber, which he narrated. It traces the phenomenon from the world’s first suicide bomber, a 13-year-old Iranian, to the London bombings last year. He’s not giving up writing fiction to act. “I played in Syriana, and it was the worst four hours of my life. They gave me, like, ten lines, and I forgot all of them. Clooney lost all acting ability. He was looking at me like, Oh, my God, this guy was a CIA agent?” But Baer takes some pride in having helped shape Clooney’s portrayal of him. “I spent a week with him. I started to get into my negative stories, my depressing stories; we were sitting on this boat, drinking champagne—very decadent, fleeing paparazzi. I said, ‘You can never get married, George, because you never know when you meet someone if they’re marrying you for your fame or money.’ I started to get him depressed. It worked, I think.”

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