Clooney, Coen Brothers at 'O Brother' special screening

NEW YORK (AP) - George Clooney joined the Coen brothers and stars Tim Blake Nelson and John Turturro at a 15th anniversary screening of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Clooney, who'd left a successful television drama at the time, spoke at the New York Film Festival of the opportunity the movie presented.

"I was an actor coming off 'E.R.'... so I couldn't believe my luck," Clooney told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Ethan Coen wrote the screenplay, based on "The Odyssey" by Homer, and directed it with his brother, Joel. He says they didn't know why a depression-era movie about three escaped convicts appealed to them, but it did.

The film was successful and critically acclaimed, but the soundtrack was a smash hit. It sold eight million albums, and earned the Grammy for Album of the Year.