Daily Dose of George Clooney!
Clooney News Pt. 10
News Pt. 9		Index

Fire damages 'Perfect Storm' boat BOSTON, Mar 24, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) A fire in Gloucester, Mass., has gutted the boat that stood in for the doomed Andrea Gail in the 2000 George Clooney film "The Perfect Storm." A real-life fire Tuesday destroyed the wheelhouse and crew quarters of the 58-foot Lady Grace, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday. Officials said the fire started when a spark from a cutting torch apparently set the bunk area ablaze. The vessel was slated to hit the water as a research or tour boat, but was sold instead for an undisclosed price to Monte Rome, owner of Intershell International Corp., in Gloucester. Rome planned to make the Lady Grace a sister ship to the Michelle Nicole, a clam boat out of New Bedford. Although the Lady Grace was damaged, Rome said he planned to fix her up and running by June. "The Perfect Storm" was about the 1991 storm that sank the Andrea Gail swordfishing boat, killing six crew members.

Clooney for Congress Lia Haberman March 2003 George Clooney is casting his showbiz weight behind his father's political aspirations. Over the weekend, George helped dad Nick Clooney raise upward of $200,000 at private fundraisers in a bid for a congressional seat in northern Kentucky. Nick, a former Cincinnati news anchor and newspaper columnist and the brother of Rosemary, is the sole Democratic candidate for the 4th District seat of retiring U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas--traditionally a Republican stronghold. The 70-year-old political wannabe is a Kentucky native, as is George, who was born in Lexington. Clooney, the movie star, worked his charm at two events in northern Kentucky and at an event in Louisville but refrained from talking politics. Instead, the thesp pumped dear old dad. "It's great having my son come in to help," Nick Clooney told the press. "It's family. When my son and my daughter show up and help me, it means a lot and it shows me this is more than just politics. We still matter to one another." On Saturday, close to 150 people shelled out $250 each to mingle with the Ocean's Eleven star at the Oriental Wok, a restaurant in the town of Fort Mitchell. That same day, 100 people paid $1,000 a pop to get close to the actor at a private home. Ditto Sunday night, when 100 people paid $1,000 each to attend a reception in Louisville. As of last month, George topped his dad's contributors list, having donated $4,000 to the cause--the maximum allowable donation. He also encouraged potential donors to pony up when he offered to wash the car of anyone willing to contribute a minimum of $500 to his father's campaign. Alas, the offer was only good for an exclusive group of A-listers. When not shilling for the old man, George is prepping to star in and produce the sequel to 2001's Ocean's Eleven. Production on Ocean's Twelve is scheduled to begin next month in Europe for a Dec. 10 release.

George Clooney Suds Up Picture this: a toga-clad George Clooney, drops of water glistening from his biceps, as he slowly leans over to...Armor-all your tires? Sound too good to be true? It is. In a handwritten letter he sent out recently, the comely thesp offered to wash the car of anyone willing to contribute a minimum of $500 to his father, Nick Clooney's congressional campaign. Said letter found its way onto the New York Post's Page Six Friday, sending women everywhere on a mad dash to the ATM. (Or so we like to think.) Sadly, it turns out that Clooney won't wash just anyone's car after all.  "It's a private party by invitation only and George made that offer to those people he invited," his rep, Stan Rosenfield, told E! Potential donors who made Clooney's guest list were invited to a March 6 benefit at his home in Studio City, California, where he promised "entertainment, hors d'oeuvres and booze." "OK, this is a little tricky," Clooney's letter begins. "I'll start with a warning: I'm asking for money so you might want to stop reading and pretend you never got this letter." Clooney goes on to say that if he could, he'd cover the costs of his father's campaign himself, but "[t]here's a limit to what anyone can donate to a campaign." For Clooney's guests, that limit is $4,000, the maximum donation. "And I'll wash your car every week till it's paid off and Armor-all the tires...in a toga," Clooney promises in his letter. "Hope to see you there." If Nick Clooney wins the election, he will be the only Democrat from the state of Kentucky in Congress. The Clooney campaign committee is a family affair--in addition to George's stumping, Nina Clooney, Nick's wife, is listed as the "Clooney for Congress" treasurer. The campaign trail isn't consuming all of Clooney's time. He's set to star in the upcoming sequel to 2001's Ocean's Eleven--the aptly named Ocean's Twelve--due out later this year.

George Clooney Wanted for Pet Sematary Remake? Source: MediasharX March  2004 MediasharX has received an unconfirmed scoop regarding the upcoming Paramount remake of Stephen King's horror thriller Pet Sematary. Here's a clip.. A writer friend, [name withheld], has won the jewel gig of reworking Stephen King - Dicky Bachman's 'Pet Sematary' book/film for the Alphaville crowd, he's got that and a film version of the book 'The Book of Skulls' lined up. But 'Pet Sematary' sounds good, and it's being written as a potential vehicle for George Clooney!. Yep, they want Clooney to play Doc Cage. When I first heard it, I was a little concerned but after thinking about it I realised it might just worked. That charisma, that versatilty he seems to have as an actor....he might make it one remake worth watching.

Brad + George Caught In The Rain March 8, 2004 - World Entertainment News Network Movie pals Brad Pitt and George Clooney were reportedly left standing in the rain when a doorman at an exclusive Italian hotel refused to let them in. The actors went for a pre-breakfast run wearing hooded tops and sweatpants, during a stay in the city, but were caught in a hailstorm, and returned to the Exedra A'Boscolo hotel looking like forlorn tramps. According to In Touch magazine, a doorman failed to recognize the two hunks, who are in Rome working on pre-production for their upcoming Ocean's Twelve sequel, and refused to let them back in as they attempted to shelter from the rain. He eventually relented and let the pals in, apologizing for his mistake.

Clooney offers to wash cars in a toga for cash George Clooney is offering to wash cars in a toga to raise money for his father's election campaign. The actor says he'll do it to help Nick Clooney get elected to America's House of Representatives, reports the New York Post. George, who is also is holding a cocktail fundraiser at his Los Angeles home on March 6, made the promise in a handwritten appeal to potential donors. His note reads: "My father, Nick, is running for the US House of Representatives in Kentucky's 4th District. He's the Democratic candidate. If he wins, he'll be the only Democrat from Kentucky in Congress. "There's a limit to what anyone can donate to a campaign. If I was allowed, I'd pay for the whole thing (and cover a few Father's Days), but I can't. "So, I'm writing you in hopes of scaring up some cash for his Congressional bid. If you can't or don't want to, I understand. "However, if you can, I'm having a cocktail party at my house... and I'll wash your car every week til it's paid off and Armor-all the tires in a toga. Hope to see you there, George."

Clooney gets Magnum role Hollywood industry folks are saying Tom Selleck is definitely out and George Clooney is in for the title role in the Universal/Imagine Entertainment movie version of "Magnum, P.I.," slated for a spring production start. Sources say there are as many as four main story lines in the uncompleted script. In one, the lead character, Thomas Magnum, is dead (gasp!), and his younger P.I. brother, played by Clooney, returns here from Los Angeles to get justice for the death. Hawaii will only be used sparingly in the film, just enough to finish off the old "Magnum" story lines, sources said. Producers Don Bellasario and Brian Grazer will base the film franchise in Los Angeles where they believe the films will have better "production potential" in sequels and an easier way of disposing of the other "Magnum" series' characters without a lot of back-story clutter. Producers believe Selleck, at 58, is too old to attract the all-important 18- to 39-year-old moviegoing demographic. If Clooney does portray Magnum's younger brother (who was never mentioned in the TV series), there will be room for a Selleck cameo. The other popular story line has Clooney playing Thomas Magnum himself, which means no Selleck or the original co-starring cast of John Hillerman, Larry Manetti and Roger E. Mosley, since they'll be too old to appear opposite Clooney. Identities of those being considered for the updated characters of Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, Orville "Rick" Wright and Theodore "TC" Calvin are, according to a source, "top secret." The studios really want to keep all this information under wraps to prevent any more of the Larry Manetti-like outbursts that hit the national media, following leaks about the film two months ago. Manetti said that casting "Magnum" without Selleck is "an outrage" and "stupid." But Clooney also is being very sensitive to not wanting to offend Selleck, whom he considers a friend. The film reportedly will feature the new $800,000 Ferrari Enzo sports car in place of Magnum's classic Ferrari 308 GTS. Clooney reportedly has signed a three-film "Magnum" picture deal. If the film is shot this spring, there's a chance for a Christmas release; otherwise, count on summer 2005. Clooney's name has also been mentioned for the Steve McGarrett role in the long-awaited "Hawaii Five-0" film, though sources say Mel Gibson is at the top of producer George Litto's list.

Beckham nets $9 million... Doug Camilli The Gazette Soccer superstar's status sells sunglasses better than Clooney outside North America Why sunglasses cost so much: Soccer star David Beckham has re-upped with Police, the sunglasses company, and will be paid something like $9 million U.S. for a five-year deal. You may recall that the company made a deal with George Clooney this year, cutting Beckham loose. But it turns out while Clooney is fine for the United States and Canada, Beckham is a bigger deal most other places on Earth. Sales in Britain doubled when he first appeared in ads there, the company says. He's 28.

Clooney Dumps Latest Gal Ever since he premiered that square jaw and those prominent eyebrows on prime time in "E.R.," George Clooney's love life has been the subject of rumors and much philosophical speculation. But the "Ocean's Eleven" star keeps a relatively low profile. So it's sweet to get some news about the 42-year-old courtesy of Us Weekly, which reports the dude's single again, having broken it off with latest gal Krista Allen. Krista who? Ms. Allen, 31, was raised in Houston and began her august acting career wearing bikinis in beauty pageants, before graduating to the pay-cable soft-core "Emmanuelle" series. (She starred in our favorite, "Emmanuelle in Space.") Anyway, back to love: Krista and George met and hooked up on the set of his directorial debut, the spy comedy "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," in which she plays the role of "Pretty Woman in the Pool." The mag reports that "Krista is really unhappy. It looks like George broke her heart." That rake!

Good Morning:  Yes, George Clooney (news) will indeed support his dad Nick Clooney's congressional run from Kentucky --- on the Democratic ticket, natch. George says he'll do a fund-raiser in L.A. as well as in D.C. --- with a feed to Kentucky in the early spring. "I don't want to overdo" my presence, Clooney, fils, allowed, "but I want to support him as best as I can from afar." The Clooney clan's from Augusta, Ky., "where I was raised --- population 1,500," George noted. And reminded that Rosemary Clooney (news)'s buried in the home site of Maysville, Ky. He says his father's been involved somewhat in politics most of his life, "as a an anchor man and a columnist. He's 69 and has the energy of a young man. He's been out on hand-shaking trips like I do. I believe in him." ... George will have some time now to devote to that vote-getting project as his next film, "Ocean's 12," is delayed until April, he says, because of Brad Pitt (news)'s Achilles' heel injury on "Troy." During the delay, Clooney will visit his banner's "The Jacket," which starts filming January in Scotland. He'll also work with partner Steven Soderbergh (news) on the late summer start of their film, "Syriana," well as another "live" TV drama, this one based on the battles between Ed Murrow and the HUAC's Joe McCarthy for CBS. Clooney says the '50s witch hunt parallels the threats by the current Patriot Act. As for tackling "live" dramatic TV again, Clooney admits, "I can remember, five minutes before we went on the air (with 'Fail Safe') we were all terrified --- and will probably be once again!"

Reel chance for wannabe movie stars LOTHIAN residents are being given a once in a lifetime chance to line up alongside a galaxy of Hollywood stars. Producers of the George Clooney film The Jacket have sent out a casting call for local wannabes to star on the big screen as extras in the thriller. The next generation of Ewan McGregors and Kelly MacDonalds will get the chance to rub shoulders with top stars including Love Actually starlet Keira Knightley, Oscar winner Adrien Brody and Hollywood beauty Jennifer Jason Leigh when filming starts in January. Huge numbers are expected to turn up at auditions in Livingston in the hope of bagging a role in the big budget production and film bosses insist movie star looks are not essential. Fiona MacMillan, an assistant director on the film, said: "We are looking for people of all shapes and sizes and I would hope anyone who comes along does so because they really want to be in the film." The Jacket tells the story of a Gulf War veteran with amnesia, played by Adrien Brody, who has returned to his native Vermont. When he is wrongly arrested on a murder charge he is put in an asylum. A well-meaning doctor puts him on a heavy course of experimental drugs and restrains him in a jacket-like device . The audition for over-18s is at Livingston’s Ramada Jarvis Hotel on January 7 The Jacket Production Office St Andrews College Duntocher Road Milngavie Glasgow G61 4QI

Agent Clooney Eyes CIA Drama December 2003 Borys Kit Los AngelesS (Hollywood Reporter) - George Clooney has expressed interest in starring in "Syriana," a drama showing how the CIA lost funding and let its guard down in the Middle East after the end of the Cold War. The Warner Bros. project is based on Robert Baer's memoir "See No Evil: The True Story of a Foot Soldier in the CIA's War on Terror." It was adapted by Stephen Gaghan, who won a screenplay Oscar for "Traffic," and who will also direct. According to sources, Clooney is keen on the part of Baer, a CIA agent, while other big names are being bandied about for other roles in the project. Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's production company, Section 8, is producing. Clooney most recently starred in "Intolerable Cruelty" and next appears in "Ocean's Twelve."

Clooney and De Niro eyed for Jackson's King Kong December 2003 Director Peter Jackson is poised to flex his Hollywood muscle by securing a top male film star for his new project King Kong - he wants to lure George Clooney or Robert De Niro here. While Jackson is overseas attending The Return of the King premieres, he is also in talks with agents to cast stars for the $100 million remake, to be filmed in Wellington next year. Naomi Watts is in talks to play Ann Darrow, the female lead played by Fay Wray in the 1933 original film. But it is understood Jackson has long-harboured desires to cast Clooney - or Oscar winner De Niro - as male lead Carl Denham, the adventurer who captures the giant ape and brings him back to New York. Sources involved in the project said Jackson wanted to hire either star when he first talked to Universal Studios about the remake in 1996. The project was suspended in mid-1998 when the studio feared it would clash with two other monster movie remakes, Mighty Joe Young and Godzilla. The delay allowed Jackson to go ahead with the Rings films. Given the widespread commercial and critical success of the trilogy, Jackson now has considerable clout when it comes to picking his stars. And the director was also tipped to again put himself in one of his films in a cameo role - possibly that of the pilot who shoots down King Kong in the film's climax, the source said. Meanwhile, it appears Jackson and New Line Cinema could be denied the chance to bring JRR Tolkien's other classic The Hobbit to the big screen. The film rights are tied up in a complicated arrangement which would prevent New Line cashing in on any box office success. Members of the Tolkien family are also opposed to any further film versions of his books. Only Royd Tolkien, the author's great-grandson, has supported the Rings trilogy. He appears in the third film and was flown to the Wellington premiere as a guest of New Line, the films' producers. Jackson's collaboration with Universal is his second work with the studio, after The Frighteners, for which he was paid $6.5m. His deal for King Kong will pay a record $20m, or a massive 20% of the profits.

Gorgeous George...George Clooney - gotta love him Ariel Leve, Evening Standard You'd have to be made of tin not to find George Clooney attractive. He's one of the most popular movie stars in the world, yet he also seems like a good guy who is genuinely enjoying his life. He's old-fashioned, debonair and smooth, but rugged and hip enough not to be too precious. In an industry given to fickle behaviour his longevity seems assured. So what is it that sets him apart? There's nothing particularly exceptional about George Clooney - at least nothing we know of. But while fiercely guarded privacy is usually an annoying trait in public figures, it isn't with Clooney. He is private without being elusive. His thoughts, who he really is, we'll never know, a reticence that feels human. In fact, everything the 42-year-old seems to be is complemented by something he isn't. He is, obviously, incredibly handsome, but so are a lot of men. But he is not arrogant, or aloof, or vain. As an actor he moves deftly between romantic comedy, serious roles and quirky characters, and although he's not in the pantheon of greats like De Niro or Pacino, he appears untroubled by it. He is charming and good-natured, always grateful to be where he is, but never comes across as boring or bland. All of this means that his looks, his personality - even his talent - seem accessible. And therein lies the paradox. Because George Clooney is famously and shamelessly unavailable. Women respond to his romantic detachment by wanting to tame him. But we all know, in the end, he would be the one to bolt when the discussion of 'us' rolls around - so it's comfortable for us to desire him from afar. Meanwhile, men want to be him. They want to have his life. Or, at the very least, his hair. But, unlike other stars such as Brad Pitt (his co-star in Ocean's Eleven), Clooney is not too good-looking. He is not the prom king, he's the prom king's cuter, funnier best friend. He is also clean. He showers. He brushes his teeth. These are important hygienic traits that often get overlooked with sexy actors. And he is sexy. Like Cary Grant or Clark Gable, he has a sophistication that - though it may not be organic - feels authentic. His latest role, as roguish lawyer Miles in the Coen Brothers' Intolerable Cruelty, showcases this charisma perfectly. He spars with Catherine Zeta-Jones in a sparky manner reminiscent of romantic adversaries from the Forties and Fifties. Another thing we love about Clooney is that you can't imagine him caring how he looks at the Oscars. You can't even imagine him at the Oscars.

George Clooney PI? Nov 2003 Movie star George Clooney is reportedly set to play private investigator Magnum PI in a new film version of the popular TV show. George is reported to have his heart set on taking on the role made famous by the moustache-wearing Tom Selleck. The star has always wanted to play three roles: Danny Ocean in Ocean's Eleven, Hannibal in The A Team and Magnum. George has will soon be filming a sequel to Ocean's Eleven, which will see his character Danny reuniting his gang to pull of a robbery in London.

HBO and Section Eight partners Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney have mutually decided to retire "K Street," the docudrama/political reality hybrid that just completed a 10-episode run. HBO and the duo have agreed to return with another limited-run series to be shot in the same way but set in a different venue. Soderbergh and Clooney exec produced the series with James Carville and Mark Sennet. They expected to be somewhat involved in the series about D.C. lobbyists but became so engrossed in the format that Soderbergh wound up directing every episode. Clooney got a union card in order to be "K Street's" cinematographer. The attention to detail led to an edgy drama about a bipartisan lobbying firm headed by Carville and Mary Matalin and was populated by real life politicos who mixed with actors including John Slattery and Mary McCormack (news). Each episode of "K Street" was filmed over three days, followed by two days of editing; it aired two days later. "They were working nonstop for six days a week," a source close to the production said. "Their level of commitment was overwhelming, but midway through it became clear they'd have to stop once they told a complete arc in the first 10 episodes." The upside for HBO is that Soderbergh and Clooney so enjoyed the experience that they plan to shoot another limited-run series next time they have openings in their schedule. Soderbergh and Clooney will return as exec producers, and possibly directing and working the camera. Soderbergh and Clooney are reuniting in 2004 on "Ocean's Twelve," with Soderbergh directing the "Ocean's Eleven" sequel and Clooney reprising his starring role. Warner Bros. and producer Jerry Weintraub expect encores from co-stars Brad Pitt (news), Matt Damon (news), Julia Roberts (news), Bernie Mac (news) and Andy Garcia (news).

Actor George Clooney's Father to Run for Congress November 2003 CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Nick Clooney, father of actor George Clooney and brother of the late singer Rosemary Clooney, said on Monday he will run for the U.S. Congress from a district in northern Kentucky. Clooney, 67, will campaign as a Democrat to succeed three-term Democrat Rep. Ken Lucas, who backed Clooney's candidacy in his retirement announcement. Lucas called Clooney "a fresh face on the political scene who is intelligent, articulate, highly respected, and above all, passionate." Lucas, 70, is Kentucky's lone Democrat in Congress but frequently crossed party lines to vote with his five Republican colleagues. Clooney, a former Cincinnati television news anchorman who currently writes a thrice-weekly column for the Cincinnati Post, has never run for public office. He will be taking a leave of absence from the newspaper, a Post editor said. "I will tell you what I believe to be the truth, whether you agree with me or not, whether it is politically correct or not, whether an election hinges on it or not," Clooney said in a statement announcing he and his wife, Nina, will tour the district to get acquainted with voters. Clooney also served as a program host on the American Movie Classics cable channel and now does the same on The Goodlife TV Network. Lucas had pledged to retire after three terms and said he was stepping aside as an act of conscience. He said he would have run for re-election if an acceptable candidate had not emerged. (Additional reporting by Vicki Allen in Washington)

Franco Blocks for Clooney October 2003 Women (and men) who flock to Cafe Milano in hopes of talking to George Clooney, think again. The actor, who has been spotted there three times since bunking in Washington while filming HBO's "K Street," has found a friend -- or bodyguard -- in owner Franco Nuschese. "Clooney was eating with another man, and Franco sat strategically at a nearby table," an onlooker told us. "The place was full. . . . Whenever someone got too close to the Clooney table, Franco jumped up and blocked her path, smiling but determined." Nuschese denied he was giving Clooney special treatment. "When a celebrity wishes privacy, then the management respects his or her wishes," he said.

Clooney's Big Pay Day Movie hunk George Clooney has landed an advertising deal which will net him $3.2 million for a day's work. The Ocean's Eleven star will appear in Italian TV advertisements for Martini sparkling wine - and has been assured the advertisement will not be screened anywhere else in the world. A source says, "It will be just for the Italian market. George will not allow it to be screened in any other countries." Reports suggest the promo will feature a bevy of Italian beauties who are not enjoying a party until the delectable Clooney arrives a bottle of Martini.

Gorgeous George October 26, 2003 George Clooney likes to tell you what a commercial disaster he is. "I'm surprised I'm continuing to work," he says with that trademark smirk. "I've had a funny run. Most of the films I've done - all of them, actually - haven't done particularly well. Three Kings didn't make much money. Out of Sight bombed. O Brother Where Art Thou barely made it. Solaris obviously lost money. A Perfect Storm was a big hit, but that was about a wave: nothing to do with me." He looks so happy about this, however, that if he weren't such a straight shooter you might think his whole career was some complicated tax dodge that relied on making a loss. By the time he gets back to Batman and Robin, he is positively gleeful. It was his tour of duty in Batty's rubber suit, he says for the zillionth time, that buried the franchise. He had a little help, of course. "That one started out with nil possibility of being a good film." Still, not everyone gets to slay a Hollywood superhero. Six years later, he isn't going to let that one go. George's starpower, though, shines on undimmed. He can afford to take pride in a career of worthy flops; he doesn't seem to need hits to remain a household name. He is paid as a star, certainly. His fee for the Coen Brothers' new film Intolerable Cruelty, in which he plays opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones as a high-powered divorce lawyer, was reputedly $US15 million ($A21 million). This has an ironic spin-off, in that he is seen as a commercial actor, too lowbrow for an arthouse god like the Coens. "I'm constantly the part that is the sell-out," he says, devil-may-care as ever. Perhaps this enduring stardom shows simply what happens when you have spent years on a big television show, especially if you play a doctor. To ER's pre-1997 audience, George Clooney will be forever poised to save lives and seduce nurses, both very hot tickets with Joe Public. Actually, he and Joe get along pretty well all round. There was sheer mayhem when George arrived in Denver to play his small role as a wheelchair-bound safecracker in Welcome to Collinwood a couple of years ago. Patricia Clarkson, the female lead, said. Clooney, however, took it in his stride; he never seemed to tire of joshing around with the fans. "He is a star," she said, "who makes stardom look good."

And celebrity does feed on itself, especially when the celeb in question's romantic life is such an endless source of febrile speculation. Clooney was married for a couple of years - to actress Talia Balsam - until 1992, but now an old flame like Kimberly Wells says George is "not the marrying kind". George himself backs this up by pointing out that he cohabits perfectly happily with a pot-bellied pig. George keeps company with Rene Zellweger. Then George goes on holiday in Italy with Krista Wolf, a former porn actress. Is something going on there? Or could George, who after all is now 42, be gay? It's mad stuff, but it wouldn't matter what he was, really. As a star and sex symbol, Clooney is a perfect fantasy figure. Anyway, a fan's fantasy can always run to dramatic and delightful scenes of conversion. In conversation, however, Clooney is not starry at all. The point he is trying to make about his career when he says his films make no money is that he is not interested in playing it safe, either by trying to pick hits or by playing George Clooney in every film to please the audience. That way lies, if not exactly madness, a self-regard rather akin to it. "I want to keep things a little more desperate, a little more on the edge," he says. "Then at least I feel like I'm not cheating. If you go into things protecting an image, then you're going to hold back. You can't become the person who says 'my audience wouldn't want to see me doing this'. Because that image and that audience will change. Or go away. And you can end up missing out on great opportunities." So the way he tells it, when the Coens rang him up about O Brother he didn't even ask about the script or what part he would have in it. He just heard Joel's unmistakable voice and started saying "yes" right away, because he loved their films. Not that he's asking for any medals for that. He says he would never have rushed into a part that asked for so much physical comedy - a first for him - if he had not had total faith in the directors. "I'm in admiration of Brad Pitt, who will take chances with first-time directors and do really ballsy things," he says, suddenly. "He's a brave actor," he goes on. "He doesn't get enough credit for that. It's not so brave to do it with Joel and Ethan."

He and Pitt worked together on Ocean's Eleven, a hit for director Soderbergh and the ensemble cast. Clooney estimates that it probably bought them enough rope to hang themselves on a couple more loss-making art films such as Solaris and Clooney's own directorial debut, the wonderful Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. He and Soderbergh now have a production company, Section Eight, under the Warners' umbrella to make independent film: "It's part of this process I'm going through with Steven, who is still trying to make art," Clooney insists. "You want to be involved in a process that has a point of view, because most films don't. I read four or five scripts a week that are offered to me, and I think maybe one a year is worth doing - and they make all of them!" Clooney has taken a drubbing, too, for opposing America's invasion of Iraq, especially after he marched in London in protest against it last February. The famously handsome face now appears on a set of cards produced as a right-wing charity stunt and called "The Weasels", an all-civvies version of the "deck of death" issued to US forces in Iraq. Martin Sheen, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins are similarly honoured. "That's my favorite part of all this, getting chewed up for that," he says. There is nothing especially brave about this, either. For Clooney, this stuff comes with the turf. "Look," he says, "I'm a liberal, big time: a famous liberal. I got picketed at Miramax and picketed at Universal because I came out against the war in February, but that's fine. I can take it. It probably hurt some things, but not so bad. And since it is now a world where it is hard to hear a dissenting voice, basically I was representing 50 per cent of the country. I still believe it's the dumbest thing we've done as a country and I still think the world is in upheaval because of it. But it's more than that. It's about being able to speak your mind." He talked it over with his father Nick, whose own career as a television news anchor ran aground on the McCarthyite persecutions. "And my dad goes: you can take it. He just kept saying 'you want to be on the right side of history', which is true."

Anyway, George Clooney is not inclined to keep his mouth shut. Back in his ER days, he accused TV Guide magazine of racism for not featuring his black co-star Eriq LaSalle on the cover. Famously, he hit David O. Russell, the young hotshot director of the Three Kings, when he was bullying an extra, but still halved his fee to support the film; indeed, it was his clout that got the Gulf War drama made at all. He isn't always predictable in his allegiances,either. During the Screen Actors' Guild strike a couple of years ago, he challenged the union for its double standards in suspending smalltime strike-breakers while bigger names, such as Liz Hurley, got off with a fine they could hardly feel. And, fervent as he is in his opposition to the invasion of Iraq, immediately after the September 11 attacks he fronted a telethon appeal for the victims. The obvious question, of course, is whether mouthy Mr Clooney, already beloved by legions, could ever do an Arnie and run for office. He has always laughed off the idea, saying that he had done too many drugs and had too much sex to be elected to anything. "Of course it's self-mocking," he says. "I mean, I haven't done all those drugs. Not at once." Even Schwarzenegger's campaign was blighted by muckraking; an interview he gave in 1977 was invoked to show that he had, or said he had, once gone to an orgy. Twenty-five years later, this was supposed to be the key to his character. "It's stupid and it's awful," says Clooney. "What is wrong with us? I love Arnold: I've known him a long time and he is a friend. I disagree with him politically, but I believe he is honest and he really will try and do the things he says he will. They're attacking him in a really dumb way. It's unfortunate that we live in a society right now where if you run for office you should start off by coming out and going OK, the answer's yes! I did it. I was there and I drank the bongwater. Now let's talk about the issues."

Yes, the issues. Clooney is dealing with them, but through his own metier. He and Soderbergh plan a sequel to Ocean's Eleven, but before that Clooney is also slated to direct a TV film about Ed Murrow, a campaigning journalist of the '50s who opposed Senator McCarthy's blacklisting committee and eventually brought the anti-communist down. "We haven't figured out who'll play McCarthy yet, that's a tough one - who wants to play that guy?" Clooney says. "Murrow is my hero, and I figure it's a good time to talk about taking civil rights away in times of fear." Less than two years ago, after he had made Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Clooney said offhandedly that he would probably never direct again. That's all forgotten now. "I think eventually I will keep moving that way, because I like it," he says. "It's more fun to be a painter than the paint." Political urgency notwithstanding, he wants to make entertaining films too. His next film will be a 1920s American football comedy called Leatherheads that he says will have to be shot in the style of Howard Hawks or Ernst Lubitsch, with a sort of stillness of the camera. "I have to figure out how to do it. If I can, I'll take a run at it." Meanwhile, back in the cut and thrust of controversy, Clooney and Soderbergh are shooting a television series about political spin. K Street brings in Washington consultants to comment on political crises and how those involved should spin them. The idea must be already running close to the bone, because they have already been refused permission to shoot in the Senate, but Clooney says they are making every effort not to be partisan.

"It's mostly documentary, although we have some characters we put on it," he says. "I think it will be biased simply by the subject matter we pick. That's why we are using Republicans, to keep us from making it just a liberal piece or a soapbox for us to sit up and say how screwy the Republicans are. It doesn't make sense for me to do it that way. You can't win that way." How do you win? Gorgeous George could win almost any heart with that sunny grin, always teetering on the edge of a guffaw. Minds, too, with that wit and easy, reasonable way of he has of talking through the issues. It is not hard to imagine Governor Clooney. But then he shoots his mouth off, like the time he joked on television that Charlton Heston, famous gun nut, was suffering from Alzheimer's - again. He was duly chastised, not least by Heston himself, who recalled the singer Rosemary Clooney, George's aunt, to say: "It just goes to show that sometimes class does skip a generation." Not true, of course. No one in Hollywood is more of a class act than George Clooney. But he'll never be quite bland enough to be safe. When the party's over, he'll still be drinking the bongwater.

Keeping Up With George...The George Clooney Report . . . washingtonpost.com October 2003 We've heard from plenty of Georgespotting Washingtonians lately, so here goes: Friday evening he was spotted exiting a showing of "Intolerable Cruelty" -- the movie in which he stars with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Clooney wanted to witness firsthand the audience's reaction to his new comedy (which, presumably, was positive: The film ranked third at the box office over the weekend, grossing more than $13 million). Clooney then made his way up the block to Cafe Milano, where he entertained onlookers for a few hours just by eating dinner. (Hey, if we're going to report on his whereabouts, we may as well go the distance.) And then there's Saturday night. He was up till the wee hours of the morning socializing at the sushi bar at Perry's in Adams Morgan with two of his buds. "The place got really packed because people kept calling their friends and telling them to stop by so they could stare at him," one patron told us. "But most people left the group alone." Richard Kind (think ABC's "Spin City") swung by and joined the bunch with a couple of female friends. Kind, a close friend of Clooney's, is in town rehearsing for Stephen Sondheim's newest musical, "Bounce," which debuts next week at the Kennedy Center. After five hours of eating and drinking, Clooney got the check -- not because he's a nice guy (which we hear he is) but because he lost while playing a game of pickup basketball. Ahh, the life of a superstar.

Clooney to film in Scotland George Clooney is set to come to Scotland to film a multi-million pound Hollywood movie. The former ER star will co-produce a film entitled The Jacket, starring Adrian Brody and Keira Knightley and directed by John Maybury. Culture Minister Frank McAveety confirmed that shooting for the £19m production will take place at Scottish locations from January to March 2004. A former mental hospital near Broxburn in West Lothian is among the locations earmarked for the film, which is about Gulf War veteran Starks (Adrian Brody), who is accused of a murder he does not remember committing. Starks is sent to a psychiatric hospital in the United States where he is placed under the supervision of a Dr Becker who uses a torture device known as The Jacket. Brody won an Oscar for his lead role in the acclaimed film The Pianist, while Knightley starred in Bend it Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean The film will be produced by Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's Section Eight company in conjunction with Mandalay Pictures and German company VIP Meidenfonds. Scotland took the project by the throat and decided that it was coming here. In the end it was an easy decision Peter McAleese UK co-producer Clooney, 42, who shot to stardom in the US hospital series ER, has since won acclaim for roles in movies including Oh Brother where Art Thou and Ocean's Eleven. He is currently starring opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Coen brothers film Intolerable Cruelty. Details of filming for The Jacket were announced at a joint press conference in Glasgow by the film's UK co-producer Peter McAleese, Mr McAveety and representatives of Scottish Screen and the Glasgow Film Office. Mr McAleese said the production team had looked at locations in London, Wales and Romania. However, he said: "Scotland took the project by the throat and decided that it was coming here. In the end it was an easy decision." Mr McAveety said: "This news is simply fantastic for Scotland, fantastic for those involved in the film industry in Scotland and fantastic for filmgoers. ****************************************************** McAveety Announces Major Hollywood Film for Scotland October 2003  A $32m Hollywood movie starring Adrien Brody (The Pianist) and Keira Knightley (Bend it Like Beckham, Pirates of the Caribbean) with George Clooney as one of its producers is set to shoot in Scotland, Frank McAveety Minister for Culture announced at a press conference at Scottish Screen this morning. The movie entitled The Jacket, will be directed by John Maybury and is to be produced by international star George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's Section Eight production company, with Peter Gruber's Mandalay Pictures in association with German production company VIP Medienfonds. The film which will reaffirm Scotland as a great filmmaking destination, will be shot in Scotland early in the new year. It is estimated that it will generate around $10m for Scotland's economy and will employ a large film crew, the majority of whom will be recruited in Scotland. ****************************************************** George Clooney, Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley are to film a £19m new movie in Scotland early next year. The Jacket, a thriller about a Gulf War veteran accused of a murder he does not remember committing, will be shot in west Lothian and Glasgow. Filming is expected to take seven weeks and will generate around £6m for the Scottish economy.

Bill Murray, Clooney's laughter medicine Oct 2003 So, what makes Hollywood hunk George Clooney laugh? Well, it's fellow actor Bill Murray. In fact, when the two met at last month's Venice Film Festival, they partied together until dawn. "He always makes me laugh. I hadn't met him before but I saw him in a bar and went over. You can't not go - it's Bill Murray. And he was like, 'Well, look who's coming now!' I said, 'Yeah, yeah, bring it on!'" IMDb.com quoted the "Intolerable Cruelty" star as saying. "But we had a great night. I ended up in a wheelchair that I stole from the Cipriani Hotel at seven in the morning, flying around the lobby, screaming at him. He cracks me up," added Clooney.

Good Morning, Senator! You Rocked on `K Street' Jennifer Lee Washington THIS is a city that craves validation. Politicians chase the media for validation of their power. The media establishment reports on itself to validate its influence. The city even runs ad campaigns to validate it as a place to live. No wonder that the city has latched onto "K Street," the new docudrama series that merely by being in HBO's Sunday lineup, lends the profession of lobbying a bit of the frisson previously associated only with organized crime and funeral home management. "`K Street' has hit Washington like a bat hitting a bee's nest," said Mark McKinnon, a political consultant. "Everyone's talking about it. They are either intrigued or they're horrified. But they're talking about it." A big city with a small-town soul, Washington has become a bit weak in the knees. Politicians are maneuvering for walk-on roles, restaurants and hotels are sending e-mail messages and letters in hopes of being used as backdrops, and people accustomed to rubbing shoulders with prime ministers and Supreme Court justices are jostling for a glimpse of George Clooney, one of the show's producers. Even as Washingtonians were preoccupied last week with the investigation of the leak of a C.I.A. agent's name, the "K Street" crew decided at their Monday morning meeting to push the show on a different track, focusing on the California recall race for tonight's episode. "There is a lot of talk among the senators," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat who was featured in the third episode, which was broadcast Sept. 28, criticizing Saudi Arabia. "The No. 1 question is, `Is it scripted?' The No. 2 is, `Will the public like it?' Those are the two questions that I get asked the most," he said. (The answer to the first question is no. The answer to the second has yet to be determined.) No matter that the show has gotten such tepid reviews that its ads in Variety are reduced to using quotations like "invigorating" and "kept up a steady source of tension." No matter that viewers outside the Beltway would need a Congressional face book to follow scenes with Don Nickles, the Republican senator from Oklahoma, or David Dreier, a Republican congressman from California. "K Street" may be more buzz than substance, but that has never held anyone back in either Washington or Hollywood. The fact is, Washington is all a-chatter because new television cameras are in town. And not the earnest cameras of C-SPAN or the invasive ones of network news. These are the cameras of prime time, and they are wielded by the Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh and Mr. Clooney, a former "sexiest man alive" in People magazine. "As powerful as people in Washington can sometimes be, it's this gene that people have that makes them go gaga when anyone from Hollywood comes to town," said Ed Henry, a columnist for Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, who has written many an item on Mr. Clooney in the last few weeks. (He was the one who alerted readers that Mr. Clooney plays pick-up basketball at the Ritz-Carlton.) "I'm definitely the cool cat now," said Tamara Haddad, the longtime producer of "Larry King Live" who now works for MSNBC and was featured on Episode 2 as herself. A recent party at the restaurant Red Sage brought the extent of her newfound celebrity home. "To look up and have George Clooney wave to you and tell you that you did a great job — that's a moment," she said, almost giddily. "People actually got me drinks, and it had never happened to me before. I'm not kidding, it was very exciting."

Not surprisingly, Mr. Clooney is a magnet for estrogen wherever he appears. At the Ritz, the exercise machines overlooking the basketball court are in great demand as women time their workouts with Mr. Clooney's basketball games, said one gym member. When he was shooting across the street from the Capitol office building at the restaurant La Colline, "they must have had three or four hundred ladies out of the office building trying to get close to him," Paul Zucconi, a co-owner of the restaurant, said. Mr. McKinnon, one of the hosts of the recent party at Red Sage, said that at that event, "girls went wild; we had to pick a bunch of them off the floor with a spatula." And, this being Washington, the score-keeping of who's been on and who hasn't began immediately. The capital's favorite political tabsheet, The Hotline, has even added "Your `K Street' Summary" to its daily news roundup, alerting readers to the lucky few who made cameo appearances on the show that week. The fact that "K Street" cameras are showing up unannounced at embassy parties, establishment restaurants and Washington institutions means that every foray out is a possible brush with Hollywood. The crew filmed Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, for an impromptu scene when he happened to share a train car with the crew on a trip to the Baltimore debates. (The scene was cut.) "There's a lot of folks who want to be involved in it," said Richard Gold, a top lobbyist with Holland & Knight. "There is a criticism — `That's not how it really happens. They should have asked me. I could do this better.' — which comes off as panning, but it's jealousy." In addition to Senator Schumer, only five senators have made cameo appearances on the program. "I was on all three national news networks that night — the same night — and I got 20 times the feedback on `K Street,' " Senator Schumer said. Which leaves the rest of them waiting to be asked, like singles at a high-school dance. Because in addition to its impressing their friends, politicians see "K Street" as a vehicle for pushing their pet issues like prescription drugs, the food pyramid and the tobacco buyout to a mainstream audience. To this end, about two dozen Senate press secretaries hobnobbed with the actors and producers of "K Street" at a wine and cheese reception at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Wednesday. "It feels like D.C. is much more savvy in terms of p.r. than even out in L.A.," said Grant Heslov, one of the producers of the show. "Everyone's got a spin on everything. Everyone's working an angle." Not least of which is the city itself, which has recently started running a campaign called City Living D.C. Style. Retailers, too, are eager to shed the impression that Washington is a square, stodgy backwater. For the last seven years, several neighborhoods have been trying to create hip urban zones like the Lower East Side of Manhattan. With "K Street," Washington may be at its coolest since John F. Kennedy made public service something young people aspired to do. Indeed, the show's Web site provides guides with the names and addresses of all the restaurants, stores and offices where the episodes are shot. "I think it makes Washington more `Sex and the City,' " said Joseph Smith, a co-owner of Bobby Van's Steakhouse, a restaurant north of the White House where one scene was shot. "It gives Washington a little edge," said Michael Gilman, the owner of the Grooming Lounge, an upscale men's salon that was featured on the first episode of the show. After "K Street" was broadcast, Mr. Gilman said, sales increased at his salon's Web site, which offers items like a $32 nose-hair trimmer. And, he added, men from San Francisco and Dallas were coming into the salon because they had watched the episode and asked their hotel concierges for directions. As for the locals, the show's presence makes politics as usual just a little more interesting. Last Wednesday night, three women who work in public relations sipped drinks at the Chi-Cha Lounge on U Street as part of a Howard Dean meet-up and swapped Clooney intelligence. McCealaig O'Clisham, 32, said she heard Mr. Clooney had been at the restaurant Olives twice. Koren Bell, 26, reported that female interns and television cameras had packed a press conference on the 211 telephone information line. Tammy Gordon, 31, said that "K Street" was shooting at Bobby Van's Steakhouse when she was there for a business lunch. "Everyone in the restaurant was neck turning, looking for Clooney," Ms. Gordon said. "I had no idea what my boss was saying that day. I was thinking, `Clooney, Clooney, Clooney.' " Sadly, he wasn't involved in that shot, she said.

Oh, to Dribble in Peace Uh-oh, ladies, this is not a good sign. George Clooney is "starting to get sick of Washington women," according to U.S. News & World Report's Paul Bedard. So much so, in fact, that the heartthrob actor is threatening to throw in the towel and end his membership at the Sports Club/LA. After a long day of roaming the streets of Washington while filming HBO's "K Street," Clooney likes to unwind by shooting hoops. But the gym's lack of privacy is getting to him. His every dribble, jump shot, and free throw can be seen through the club's glass-enclosed basketball court by an always-present bevy of female groupies. This must be wreaking havoc on the star's game, however, because Clooney, whom People magazine once dubbed the "Sexiest Man Alive," has now asked the club to ban his horde of admirers. If not, he'll quit. But, as Bedard pointed out, "maybe Clooney and the Sports Club/LA should have thought about the stalking problem before issuing a release heralding the actor as a great customer."

Tale of the Clooney conwoman Jeannette Walls with Ashley Pearson MSNBC A woman who apparently conned George Clooney is now trying to sue him. THE ACTOR opened his heart last year when a woman told him about her tragic, cancer-stricken daughter, Cindy, and he began making calls and sending gifts to the terminally-ill young woman. Before long, however, Clooney began to doubt that "Cindy" really existed. "He called her up one day, and said, 'Great news. I'm getting a private plane and Brad Pitt and Matt Damon and I are all coming to see you.' Then he gets a call back from the mother that the daughter suddenly died," Clooney's spokesman, Stan Rosenfield, told The Scoop. It turned out the whole thing was fake. "Now the mother supposedly has a sister who supposedly killed herself -- she did it on George's answering machine," says Rosenfield. "And the mother is suing George for wrongful death. But the woman and the daughter and the sister are all the same person." Clooney hasn't been eager to publicize the bizarre case, explains Rosenfield, because "he doesn't want it to have a chilling effect on charities like Make-A Wish Foundation [who] do really great work."

GEORGE CLOONEY TELLS WHY HE CAN'T SETTLE DOWN I value freedom over a long-term love Rick Fulton September  2003 HEARTTHROB George Clooney has dashed thousands of women's dreams by insisting his work comes first and is enjoying his freedom too much to commit to a longterm love. In contrast to the sizzling on-screen chemistry in his new movie with co-star Catherine Zeta Jones, it seems that Clooney is happy as the perpetual single guy. He said: ``So far, I've tended to value my work above my relationships with women, and that's not an inviting reason for any woman to get involvedwithme. ``I've always been upfront about my needing to have my freedom and not wanting to make long-term commitments. ``I'm very respectful of women and I love their company, but that doesn't necessarily mean I would feel comfortable in a relationship over a number of years. Clooney revealed there was one woman who could have ended his bachelor days -French student Celine Balitran -but he let her get away. He said: ``I actually did have a good relationship with Celine, but I wound up blowing it because I was working too much and not paying enough attention to our relationship.'' Celine and Clooney dated for three years until 1999.

Before that, George was married to Talia Balsam for three years. They split in 1992 with George, then 31, vowing never to tie the knot again. Now aged 42, and despite a $20,000 bet with Michelle Pfeiffer and Nicole Kidman that he would be a dad by the time he was 40, it looks like he'll never taste wedding cake again -unless it's in a film. Although there are rumours George has rekindled his romance with Emmanuelle and Baywatch actress Krista Allen, it seems his string of girlfriends, including Renee Zellweger, Lisa Snowdon and journalist Mariella Frostrup, come and go as quickly as his films. The only companions to stay constant in his life are his pot-bellied pig, Max, and his group of pals dubbed The Boys. While much is made of George's single status, he admits it's not meeting women that's the problem -it's how they deal with his fame. He said: ``The hard part is how to get that person comfortable with the idea of being followed around by photographers, having her family and friends besieged by the media, and dealing with all the c**p that comes from being involved with a celebrity. ``It's not an ideal situation, but I've gotten used to the idea of not being in longterm relationships.'' So the chances of hangingon in there with George for more than a couple of months seem slim. He admitted: ``I haven't had a good track record. I'm selfish when it comes to my time and my work. ``The fact that I enjoymyselfand feel good about the life I'm leading makes me think that maybe this is the way it's going to be for me. But I could change my mind tomorrow. Maybe I have yet to meet the woman who's going to make me want to change.''

LADIES, before you buy your ticket to Italy to hang about the bars near George's £7million villa at Laglio on Lake Como hoping he will stumble in, take heed -he knows you're out there. But George admitted he'd happily date someone he met at a bar. He said: ``It's possible, and I wouldn't resist that, but it's just not that easy. ``I can't just go visit placeswhereI'mgoing to meet women and strike up a casual conversation, because it's hard for me to be anonymous. ``But I don't mind the baggage that comes with the fact that women may have a lot of preconceptions about me. ``It givesmethechancetoshowthemwhat I'm really like and tell them at the outset that I'm a good guy, a nice guy, and behave that way.'' The star, who rose to fame as Dr Doug Ross in medical drama ER, added: ``The problems start when you have to weigh the downside of appearing in public with that person, then dealing with all the attention that comes from being in a relationship with a celebrity. That makes it much more complicated.'' That is, of course, if you get to spend time with George -it seems he's a workaholic who can't sit still for aminuteand gets anxious if he's not making films. Since his ER-breakout film From Dusk Til Dawn in 1996, he's made roughly three films a year including One Fine Day, Batman & Robin, Out Of Sight, The Thin Red Line, Three Kings, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Perfect Storm, Ocean's Eleven, Welcome To Collinwood and Solaris. He also directed his first film, Confessions of A Dangerous Mind.

HE said: ``I don't think I can ever work as hard as I did when I was shooting Three Kings and doing episodes of ER at the same time. There were a lot of weekswhere I wasn't sleeping morethana few hours for three or four days at a time. ``That was hard, although I have a pretty good constitution and I can go without sleep. ``I also found myself in the position where I was editing Confessions atthe same time that I was acting in Solaris. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I thrive on hard work, but I'm trying to structure it better now.'' One of his ways of restructuring his life was buying that Italian villa which he discovered on a motorcycle tour of Europe. He says it's one of the ``best decisions I've ever made''. He spends his summers in Italy and loves to describe his typical day. With tongue firmly in cheek, he said: ``It's pure torture. I like to spend some time riding my boat, feeding my ducks, thinking about what I'm going to eat for lunch, then dinner. We also have lively debates about which wine we're going to drink at lunch and then for dinner.

``I'll go over scripts in the afternoon, spend some time on the phone to LA in the evening, then take a dip in the pool. I usually have a bunch of friends over from the States and we putonthese fairly lavish dinner parties while we enjoy the view of the lake. A real, real tough life.'' Turningmore serious, George reflected: ``I have a life that is good and interesting at the same time. I've tried to get to a point where I can have some creative fun in my personal life and pursue different kinds of film projects which push the envelope a little. ``I don't have the kind of long-term relationship with awoman that I oncemighthave wanted for myself, but I've also realised that I don't necessarily need that to be happy.'' His latest film, Intolerable Cruelty -out nextmonth -is a departure from the noirish satires of the past or the wink-wink comedies and a step towards mainstream comedy. Clooney stars as Miles, a slick divorce lawyer who will stop at nothing to deprive Marylin, a scheming gold-digger (Catherine Zeta-Jones) of her substantial alimony. As with Jennifer Lopez in Out Of Sight, there is a definite chemistry betweenGeorge and the Welsh actress. George said: ``Catherine's a real trouper. She loves her work, she works hard, and she's just a joy to be around. She's the ideal choice for this role and I think she supplies a huge amount of electricity to our scenes together. ``I couldn't have asked for a better partner to work with because her comic timing is perfect.'' Perhaps, after all, it will only be in films that George finds the happiness of a long-term relationship.

Clooney shuns 'yelling' directors Washington Sept. 2003 Hollywood hunk Geiorge Clooney selects his movie projects only if the directors are sober heads and not "yellers". The actor detests working with those who think they can shout at crew members and treat everyone behind the scenes badly, according to a report in rate the music.com. "In the two films I've done with the Coens (brothers Ethan and Joel) and the four or five projects I've worked on with Steven (Soderbergh), I have never once seen or heard an angry voice raised," he said. "Steven and I have this life-is-too-short thing. Somebody will say, 'Hey, so-and-so wants to do a movie with you.' If we know he's a yeller, we're like, 'Life's too short. Not going to do it,'" he added. Earlier Clooney had a famous altercation with 'Three Kings' director David O Russell after he humiliated staff on the movie. "(He was) yelling and screaming at crew members, who weren't allowed to defend themselves," the actor recalled.

George Clooney: 'I haven't had much luck lately ...' September 2003 After a string of flops, George Clooney could have a hit on his hands with Intolerable Cruelty. But, he tells Leslie Felperin, he's as wary of Hollywood as ever. Before he's even sat down to our interview in Venice to talk about his new film Intolerable Cruelty, George Clooney is smacking his hands together, ready for action. "Who are we gonna talk bad about first? Let's start off with someone," he chirps, settling his houndstooth-suited figure into a chair. I suggest Bill Murray, since the word is already out on the Lido that the two were out partying together last night. Clooney isn't much up for dissing Murray, though. They had too much fun together racing wheelchairs around the Hotel Cipriani after a few too many bellinis. He may appear to be the embodiment of laid-back charm, the last international jet-set playboy, but I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of George Clooney. Twenty-four hours earlier, for example, despite the fact that he'd just been "married" in a mock ceremony to an Italian journalist, the jolly mood was broken when Clooney snapped at someone during a press conference because he'd been asked why the film is being called a "work in progress". This, after the journalist had opined that the film is the Coens' "least personal and least referential film". Barely concealing his irritation with the interlocutor for "craftily burying a question in an insult", Clooney explained through gritted teeth that the film - a deliciously tight-wound screwball comedy in which he plays a divorce lawyer who falls for Catherine Zeta Jones's professional gold-digger - will have two more scenes cut into it soon. "Next," he called. The cowed room of journalists went back to asking just how much he loves living in Italy, where he owns a villa on Lake Como, and so on.

Still, even Clooney admits that there's a lot riding on this film for him, given that his last two movies, his directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Steven Soderbergh's Solaris, were both flops. Does he see Intolerable Cruelty as the Coens' crack at the mainstream? "When I did Out of Sight with Steven Soderbergh, it was seen as Steven selling out and going mainstream, and when I did O Brother, Where Art Thou? with the Coens it was seen as them selling out and going mainstream," Clooney says with a wry smile. "So I guess it's really me that's the mainstream part of it. Maybe this is a mainstream film, and I'm thrilled to be getting the chance to do it, but I haven't had much luck in the mainstream lately anyway." Look back over his CV and this self-deprecating assertion is partly borne out. Despite the fact that he's constantly name-checked as the ultimate target of female lust, very few of the movies Clooney has starred in have been financial smashes, apart from The Perfect Storm and Ocean's Eleven. Notoriously, his most mainstream film, Batman & Robin, was the least successful entry in that franchise. Thereafter, Clooney turned largely to lower-budgeted, more provocative work, such as the Gulf War film, Three Kings (a movie he praises while still admitting to a grudge towards its director, David O Russell), Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, and the films he's made with Soderbergh. In addition, he's been generous with his cameos for friends, wheeling in briefly for Welcome to Collinwood as a paraplegic safe-cracker, and breezing through two of the Spy Kids movies as a spymaster. Meanwhile, with the production company he created with Soderbergh, Section 8, he's had credits with such estimable works as Todd Haynes's Far From Heaven and Christopher Nolan's Insomnia. Why should he need the mainstream when he does such good work outside it?

Clooney, like any actor, wants to be challenged and work with the best, and the Coens are right up there for him. "They're one of the few unique voices out there that are consistently pushing the envelope and consistently doing things that surprise," he says. "Over a period of 20 years, if you hold up the films they've done, it's a pretty amazing record. People say, 'Their worst film is...', but their worst film is better than almost everybody else's best. They love what they do. Also, if you spend a lot of time with them, they're fun and nice guys. You get to a point where you wanna work with people like that. I don't wanna work with jerks, I don't wanna work with angry people. It's no fun." They seem to bring out a certain energy in him, I suggest. "Yeah, but it's more about a license to try stuff because, look, I wouldn't do what I did in O Brother for very many directors," he admits, alluding to the Clark Gable-esque buffoon he played in the Coens' previous movie. "It was a scary thing to do, I have to tell you. No one was really willing to let me do that, or think that I should do that. And Ethan said, [goofy voice] 'Why don't ya try it? Let's do it!' It's much braver to do that kind of thing for a first-time director, however. That's why I was shocked when Sam Rockwell did the things he did for me in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind . I wouldn't have done those same things for me! But the Coens open up the door for you. You feel a lot more confident." Clearly, it still pains him that Confessions, his surreal semi-biopic of TV presenter Chuck Barris, who claimed he was a CIA agent, didn't do very well either financially or critically. He trots out more or less the same quote he gave in a recent Vanity Fair interview about how it particularly stung him that critics implied it was Soderbergh who really directed it, and recounts once more how he sent a stroppy letter to the Washington Post insisting that it was all his own work and put "Letter Actually Written By Steven Soderbergh" at the end as a joke.

Asked about why Confessions flopped, he says, a little wistfully: "I know many of the reasons why it didn't work, and I never expected it to be a commercial hit. But I do feel that if we're going to survive, we're going have to find a way to get back to real storytelling. I think it's not going come from the studio system at all, though. It's going to come when digital finally looks like film and these 18-year-old kids with digital cameras come out and make interesting movies for $12. We'll have the same revolution we had in the Seventies, I hope, because right now it's really difficult. I haven't seen Robert Rodriguez's new film, Once Upon a Time in Mexico yet. Does it look good?" I say it does. "Great. That's the first real crack at doing it well. He's fantastic." Has his experience as a director influenced his acting? "I don't like directors any more!" he laughs. "Um, I've learned a lot, but they're the same lessons I was learning as an actor: it's about the ensemble, it's about the script, it's about working for the director, not your own character," he says seriously. "I always talk about my aunt Rosemary as a singer, because as she got older she said she was a better singer, even though she couldn't hold the notes, couldn't hit the notes. I asked her, 'So why are you a better singer then?' She said, 'Because I don't have to prove I can sing.' It's a really good acting lesson too: stop trying to swing for the fences in every scene - serve the piece. It was a really good lesson as a director, watching other actors come in and say, 'I'm delivering pizza in this scene, but the reason my character is doing it is because my parents were alcoholics.' I'd say, 'Great. Do that. Whatever. I just need pizza in this scene'."

Doubters might nitpick that there's no great depth to his character in Intolerable Cruelty, but it is an impeccable display of actorly simplicity and razor-sharp timing. He has little hope, however, that he'll get one of the few Oscar nominations the Academy doles out every few years for comic performances. "I was surprised when Renée [Zellweger, his ex-girlfriend] got nominated for - whatchamacallit? - Bridget Jones. It's a very tough thing to get, and she was so good in it. I'll tell you what - I saw Pirates Of the Caribbean and I think Johnny Depp should be nominated. Jesus, it's a phenomenal performance. It's so ballsy. I'd put that up there with Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade, in terms of somebody taking a huge risk in a film. Ballsy, man! And for him to play Keith Richards through an entire $100m film. Balls out! But he probably won't get nominated either." He still hasn't given up on directing, and his next gig is likely to be Leatherheads, "a Twenties full-on screwball comedy about the beginnings of professional football," he explains excitedly. "I've been memorising Howard Hawks and Preston Sturges films," he explains. "Steven Soderbergh did a draft of it and was going to direct it with me in it for a while. I think I still might be in it, which is gonna be the harder part. Next year, I think. I've gotta clear out my schedule a little bit, because it's not a small piece. It's a very complicated thing and I'm not necessarily proficient enough yet. Before I did Confessions, I really paid attention to Mike Nichols and the directors who directed films of that era. This time, I really have to pay more attention to the simplicity of Lubitsch and Hawks. That's what makes those comedies work." Our time is almost up, so I ask him what makes him laugh. "Da Ali G Show cracks me up, and South Park still makes me laugh out loud. Anything on Comedy Central, and the news show there is brilliant. Clooney definitely has a wicked side, but you're glad it's directed at the right people. Intolerable Cruelty' thanks to cherry for the link

GEORGE'S PROMISE TO KEIRA George Clooney has promised to teach British starlet Keira Knightley a lesson - in how to speak with an American accent. Gorgeous George is set to direct the Bend It Like Beckham actress in The Jacket - a tale of a falsely imprisoned man who can see into the future. George told The Sun: "I have long been an admirer of Keira. I'm looking forward to working together." And asked whether he was worried that Middlesex born Knightley might have problems mastering the yanky accent, Clooney appeared more than willing to offer personal tutelage. "I'm sure she'll have no trouble but I have offered to help her with her drawl. Perhaps one day I'll need her for English lessons." Since starring in Brit flick Bend It Like Beckham Knightley's career has taken off. She landed the female lead in US blockbuster Pirates Of The Carribean and is currently filming King Arthur. ********* Keira Knightley to star in The Jacket? Keira Knightley is in negotiations to star opposite Adrien Brody in new film The Jacket. Brody stars as a soldier convicted of murder who, during his treatment in a psychiatric hospital, begins to believe he is travelling through time. Through his time travel, he searches for Knightley, who plays a woman he met as a child and is fated to love. Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney and Peter Guber will produce the Warner Bros movie, in which Knightley will adopt an American accent. Production begins in the UK in January for director John Maybury, after Knightley finishes filming King Arthur. Guber told the Hollywood Reporter: "Keira is a great young talent and has proven her ability to garner critical acclaim and drive theatre audiences. "Together with Adrien, we have a tremendous cast to complement an exciting script. We're very confident this will be a winning proposition for all involved."

Clooney Living the Good Life Indoors in Italy Los Angeles (Reuters) - Actor George Clooney (news) clearly relishes living the life of a rich and famous bachelor, but dating has had its ups and downs. "Here's the great thing about dating," Clooney says in a Vanity Fair magazine interview that hits newsstands on Wednesday. "You get to start over and go, 'I'm a really nice guy.' And by virtue of saying it, you can be."' Plus, he rarely, if ever, strikes out with women. The downside of being one Hollywood's most eligible hunks, even as he wiles away the summer in a picturesque Italian villa, is venturing outdoors with any new real-life love interest and thus becoming "fresh meat" for the paparazzi. "The minute you start dating, it's pictures and stories and 'Who is she?' And it puts the pressure on immediately," he laments. "So you have to decide, before you go out in public, if you're willing to take those hits. Usually, it's, 'Well, why don't we stay in and have some drinks and get to know each other before we decide if we're willing to face up to this." The paparazzi aren't the only ones who hound Clooney for his picture. The latest twist in celebrity stalking is the cell phone camera. "I've literally gone out to dinner and a girl comes over to the table and says, 'Can I have a kiss?' She leans over, gives me a kiss, I go back to the house, and the photograph is on the TV. It's hysterical." As a result, Clooney says he has spent much of the summer holed up inside the luxurious confines of his 15-bedroom villa overlooking Italy's Lake Como. But the 42-year-old "ER" heartthrob turned big-screen leading man says he considers himself "lucky" to be living the good life, and he knows better than to complain about the trappings of fame and fortune. Clooney did, however, take umbrage at Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan for his scathing review of the actor's recent directing debut, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." "An angry ... guy," Clooney said of Turan. "He just destroyed 'Confessions.' It was a real personal attack. It was really brutal."

George Clooney Keeps Hope Alive on Dating New York - Good news, ladies: George Clooney (news) is still extremely single. And that's partly because the simple act of going out to dinner can turn into a monumental ordeal. "To the European press, I'm fresh meat," the actor said during an interview at his Italian villa for Vanity Fair magazine's October issue. "That kind of frenzy, you have to really be up for it." But after a marriage to actress Talia Balsam and relationships with Renee Zellweger (news) and models Celine Belitran and Vendela, Clooney still keeps hope alive about dating. "You get to start over and go, 'I'm a really nice guy.' And by virtue of saying it, you can be it. You can actually decide, OK, now I'm a really nice guy. But my dates know everything about me, and some of it's true and some of it isn't," the former "ER" star said. "(Usually) it's, 'Well, why don't we stay in and have some drinks and get to know each other before we decide if we're willing to face up to this.' It does make those things awkward."

George Clooney can't get a date in Italy 9/2/03 George Clooney says he can't get a date since moving into his Italian villa. The Hollywood star blames a combination of language difficulties and the paparazzi. In an interview in Vanity Fair, he says one relationship foundered because each could not understand a word the other said while other dates have been a media circus. Clooney, 42, who spends half the year at his 25-room villa, said: "I haven't gone out. To the European press, I'm fresh meat. That kind of frenzy - you have to be really up for it. Dinner out is an ordeal." The one Italian girlfriend he had he lost after three dates: "I knew it was in trouble during a phone conversation. She'd just say, "Oh, Geoooorge" and I'd just say, "Ohhh, youu". "The minute you start dating it's pictures and stories ... and that puts the pressure on immediately. So you have to decide, before you go out in public, if you are willing to take those hits. "Usually it's 'well, why don't we stay in'. It does make those things awkward."