George Clooney’s panicked scientist is overwhelmed by the elements in new The Midnight Sky trailer

George Clooney’s scientist character is seen becoming overwhelmed by the elements as he battles to save a spaceship in a new trailer for The Midnight Sky. 

The iconic actor, 59, plays lonely Arctic scientist Augustine Lofthouse in the dystopian Netflix drama, who valiantly attempts to contact Sully’s (Felicity Jones) spaceship before she and her astronauts return home to a global catastrophe.

The trailer begins with Augustine looking out into space, saying: ‘That’s Aether. It’s a spaceship. Coming back from a planet that will hopefully be our future.

‘I have to contact them before it’s too late.’

Sully is then seen on an idyllic planet with lush greenery as she stares into the distance.   

Captain Tom Adewole (David Oyelowo) says: ‘Our journey has us returning with more answers than questions except one question lingers in the air. Our last contact with mission control…?’

Sully responds: ‘We’ve lost contact with NASA and everyone else. This is a glitch’ before Sanchez (Demián Bichir) retorts: ‘You really believe that?’ 

Augustine and Iris (Caoilinn Springall) – a child Augustine is caring for,  are seen looking shocked as they investigate the wreckage of a plane in the snow

He cries: ‘I have to warn them about the conditions on earth. There is an antenna stronger than ours, we get there, they’ll hear us’ as they leave the protection of the outpost.

He calls out: ‘Is anyone receiving this?’ as the snow threatens to overwhelm them.

The astronauts attempt to leave the spaceship but are quickly thrown into jeopardy as pieces of debris collide with the ship and damage it.   

Augustine is seen shielding Iris from the snow as he reiterates: ‘We have to get to that antenna’ before emotionally saying: ‘I thought I lost you.’ 

Sanchez says: ‘Been thinking a lot about time. Why one person lives a lifetime, why another only gets a few years. 

Augustine is seen putting out a call for the Aether spaceship crewed by Sully saying: ‘Come in Aether, this is Barbow Observatory, is anyone out there? 

Sully suddenly hears Augustine over the crackling radio, saying: ‘Is anybody out there?’ before the trailer ends.    

Clooney directs the adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton’s acclaimed novel Good Morning, Midnight, which also co-stars Kyle Chandler and Tiffany Boone.  

Earlier this week George revealed his latest role as the scientist in The Midnight Sky put him in hospital.

The Oscar winning actor had to spend multiple days in medical care after losing 25 pounds to play the survivor of a global catastrophe in The Midnight Sky. 

‘I think I was trying too hard to lose the weight quickly and probably wasn’t taking care of myself,’ said the star.   

The Hollywood hunk plays cancer-riddled astronaut Augustine Lofthouse in the drama, which he also directs.

‘It took a few weeks to get better and as a director it’s not so easy because you need energy,’ Clooney told The Daily Mirror.  

After being rushed to hospital four days before shooting on the dystopian Netflix film was due to begin, George was ultimately diagnosed with pancreatitis. 

The condition can be life-threatening, however the actor was released in a matter of days.   

Weight loss was not the only physical change the successful producer endured for the role.

‘I grew a big ugly beard and my son loved it because he’d hide things in it which I wouldn’t know about until I got to work and I’d be like, ‘Oh, there’s a popsicle stuck in my beard,’ George revealed.

‘But my wife and daughter were really happy when it came off because it was very hard to find a face underneath all that mess.’

George has been married to wife Amal since 2014. The couple share twins Ella and Alexander, three.     

Speaking about his transformation into a 70-year-old scientist, George joked: ‘I have had a lot of people, the first couple of shots in the movie, not realise it’s me… My wife was very happy when I finished shooting this.’ 

The actor also revealed he doesn’t believe he’s keeping his youthful looks as he ages in real life, saying he’s looking closer to his character’s age of 70 than his 59 years.     

Touching on the current situation in his interview, George explained he finished filming the film in February before restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

However he acknowledged the plot may be a little eerie for some, saying that although it is ‘science fiction’, things are becoming ‘less fictional’ as time goes on.   

The Midnight Sky is based on the novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton and also stars Felicity Jones and David Oyelowo.

George praised child actress Caoilinn who is featured in the film after saying they had budgeted for extra days to accommodate the first-time actress.

‘Every single thing we did with her was one take. I went to the other actors, “See that? One take, I don’t want to hear about your preparation”,’ George joked.

The movie follows a lone scientist in the Arctic in the aftermath of a global catastrophe as he races to contact a crew of astronauts with a warning not to return to Earth.

The Midnight Sky, which also stars David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir and Tiffany Boone, is set for release on Netflix on December 23.