Political analyst David Gergen interviewed George Clooney at his Italian villa and discussed turning 50, dealing with failure, his philanthropy work in South Sudan and more. Here are some highlights from this weekend’s PARADE story:

On continuing his public life and maintaining privacy at the same time…
“I don’t tweet, I don’t go on Facebook. I think there’s too much information about all of us out there. I’m liking the idea of privacy more and more. There will be funny things, like I’ll read something I’ve said about a woman somewhere. And I haven’t spoken about my relationships in 15 years.”

On turning the big 5-0 and what it means to his career…
“I look at myself on-screen and go, ‘I don’t look like I did when I was 40–I know that.’ The people I’ve respected most in the industry over the years — Paul Newman, for instance. I just loved the way he handled growing old on-screen. It’s understanding that you’re now basically a character actor.

“I find that as you get older, you start to simplify things in general. By the time you get a subscription to AARP, which I just got, you have some idea of who your friends are, at least. [Getting the AARP subscription] shocked me–‘Are you kidding?’ [laughs] I told them they should do ‘The Sexiest Man Still Alive.’

On his latest film, The Ides of March, where he plays an inspirational presidential candidate…
“We were in preproduction on this film in 2007, before the Obama election. And then we realized that a good portion of the country was elated with what happened in that election, so we had to shelve the movie until people were cynical again. I didn’t think it would be quite this quick. [laughs]”

Clooney reveals his top prank of all time AND find out what prank buddies Brad Pitt and Matt Damon used to pull on him: http://www.parade.com/celebrity/2011/09/george-clooney-outtakes.html

PLUS: Clooney has gifted his friends with 100 of his favorites from the years 1964 to 1976, which he calls “the greatest era in filmmaking by far.”  See the list here:
http://www.parade.com/celebrity/slideshows/editors-pick/george-clooney-top-100-movies.html