VENICE (Reuters) – U.S. actor George Clooney plays a New Age hippie soldier trained for psychic, peaceful combat in a comedy set during the war in Iraq.

“The Men Who Stare at Goats” is based on a book by Jon Ronson about a secret unit created by the U.S. army in 1979 which, the author said, believed troops could become invisible, walk through walls and kill goats just by staring at them.

Ewan McGregor plays a reporter who stumbles across a member of the unit as he prepares to enter Iraq, and he and Clooney’s character Lyn Cassady go on an ill-fated journey that sees them kidnapped, shot at and hit by a roadside bomb.

Jeff Bridges is a long-haired, drug-taking leader of the “New Earth Army,” and Kevin Spacey completes the line-up as a rival to Cassady who ends up turning the unit into a lucrative private enterprise operating in Iraq during the war.

“What we love about this film and what’s so fun about it is that there’s a tremendous amount of it that’s true,” Clooney told reporters in Venice, where the movie premieres on Tuesday.

“As funny as it is, it’s some of the dumbest parts of the film that are the true parts, so that’s what made us laugh the most,” added the 48-year-old Hollywood star.

NOT FILM ABOUT WAR

Although set in Iraq in recent times, the war is only an incidental backdrop to a comedy which drew loud laughter at a press screening.

“We thought that this wasn’t an Iraq war film,” said Clooney. “We thought of it as a comedy about some crazy ideas that went on that started at the end of the Vietnam war and carried on through not that long ago and maybe still carry on.”

Director Grant Heslov added: “It really is more about when you take the idea of trying to do something wonderful, something beautiful, something different, and along the way it gets perverted.

“Times aren’t great, they’re not easy, there’s a war going on, there’s a financial crisis … and yet in spite of all this you still need guys who believe in something and that’s what I loved about Ewan’s character.”

Clooney laughed off questions about his personal life, including one journalist who asked him if he could imagine falling in love and marrying a man.

“Grant and I are actually announcing our wedding while we are here,” he joked. “I don’t quite know how to answer that question, but I can read your mind again and I know what you’re thinking.”

Another man in the audience announced that he was gay and removed his shirt and trousers as he spoke.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

2009-08-07 Venice FF Arrival

Actor George Clooney and girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis arrive in Lido by helicopter to attend the Venice Film Festival.

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2009-09-08 Venice FF: Photocall Arrival

Director Grant Heslov, actors Ewan McGregor and George Clooney are seen arriving at the photocall for “Men Who Stare at Goats” during the 66th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy.

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2009-09-08 Venice FF: Men Who Stare at Goats

Photocall

Actor Ewan McGregor, director Grant Heslov and actor George Clooney attend the “The Man Who Stares At Goats” Photocall at the Palazzo del Casino during the 66th Venice Film Festival on September 8, 2009 in Venice, Italy.

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2009-09-08 Venice FF: Press Conference

2009-09-08 Venice FF: Men Who Stare at Goats

RedCarpet

Actor Ewan McGregor, director Grant Heslov and actor George Clooney attend “The Men Who Stare At Goats” walk the Red Carpet at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival on September 8, 2009 in Venice, Italy.  Also in attendance Clooney’s girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis and Grant’s wife Lysa Heslov.

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2009-09-08 Venice FF: Men Who Stare at Goats

Premiere

Actor George Clooney and girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis attend “The Men Who Stare At Goats” Premiere at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival on September 8, 2009 in Venice, Italy.  Also in attendance Ewan McGregor, Grant and Lysa Heslov.

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2009-09-08 Venice FF: Men Who Stare at Goats After

Party

Actor George Clooney and girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis attend “The Men Who Stare At Goats” After Party at the Venice Casino during the 66th Venice Film Festival on September 8, 2009 in Venice, Italy where George received a Murano vase from Giampaolo Letta.

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(ANSA) – L’Aquila, July 9 – George Clooney visited L’Aquila on Thursday and announced he would make a film there to help the Group of Eight summit city recover from the earthquake that shattered it three months ago.

Stealing world leaders’ thunder, the Hollywood star toured ruins with actor buddy Bill Murray and the former leader of Italy’s Democratic Party, Walter Veltroni, a personal friend and fellow campaigner for Africa.

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(More pics in the Gallery)

”It’s surprising to see a city that has sustained so much damage and I think (the film) is the best way to lend a hand and boost the economy,” he said. Clooney said shooting would start at the end of September and he would have a part in the film, which he did not name.

Clooney has ten films in development including The Birds, the Tourist, The Challenge, Escape from Tehran and Est (Italian for East), according to the Internet Movie Database. ”We already scouted the locations before the earthquake and we looked at them again afterwards,” Clooney told a large press pack. The star said he hoped the buzz about his visit would help L’Aquila recover and its people return home.

”It seems very important to focus attention on an area so ravaged by the earthquake and if my presence gets media attention I’m happy”.

Earlier, the actor landed by helicopter at a camp and greeted admirers with a smiling ”Buongiorno, sono George”.

”These guys want to go home,” he said after talking with dozens of people who have been living in tents since the April 6 quake that killed 299 and left thousands homeless.

The star has had a villa on Lake Como for several years and speaks fairly good Italian. But as a longtime California resident, he said, he knew what earthquakes could do.

”I’ve seen big quakes before but I’ve never seen damage like this,” he said after touring the ruins. The actor also issued a fresh plea for the G8 to do more for Africa.

”It’s important that the world leaders gathered here do more for Africa, because so far they haven’t always done what they should have done”.

The Hollywood star is known for his campaigns for Darfur and has joined celebrities in pressing the G8 to meet aid pledges made at Gleneagles in 2005.

He has also supported the aid efforts of Veltroni, who has visited Africa several times and written a book about his experiences there. Clooney went on to open a small cinema in a camp near the Abruzzo capital, funded by 20th Century Fox and Veltroni’s foundation for world peace.

The actor was mobbed by fans as he opened the Nobel For Peace Hall along with Murray, Veltroni and 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams.

The 80-seater venue will be used for the time being by the 800 residents of San Demetrio (pop. 1,800) who are camped out near their wrecked homes.

The theatre was inaugurated by clips from an upcoming movie voiced by Clooney, Fantastic Mr Fox.

George was hard at work today on the set of his new Nespresso commercial.  Well, I guess you can call it hard at work.  Looks like the Bachelor Boy was having loads of fun while doing it surrounded by a bevy of beauties.  George is in Milan filming the latest Nespresso masterpiece under the direction of Robert Rodriguez who tweeted ” Just finished day one of a Clooney commercial in Italy. He’s such a blast to work with. (It’s not work at all when you can laugh that much.)“  hinting for more to come perhaps?  Of course George wasn’t the only familiar face on the set with a visit from John Malkovich co-star in the upcoming “Men Who Stare at Goats”.   John is currently in Italy promoting the launch of his clothing line “Technobohemian“.  Wonder if we will see George sporting some new dudes this season.   Enjoy the Pics! 80+ in the Gallery!

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Clooney produces film about a father who travels to the ends of the earth for his son

“1 little boy. 1 lost teddy bear. 15 minutes to find it.” That is the slogan for the short film, “Tony”, produced by Smoke House Pictures, which is co-owned by George Clooney and Grant Heslov.

After returning from a trip, the feeling of forgetting a treasured or important item at a hotel, in an airplane or in a cab can leave a pit in the bottom of one’s stomach. That feeling of loss is often magnified when the treasured item, such as a security blanket or favorite toy, was left behind by a child, leaving parents feeling frantic and guilty. This scenario is the focus of a new independently produced film written and directed by Grant Heslov for Liberty Mutual’s Responsibility Project.

The Responsibility Project evolved out of Liberty Mutual’s ad campaign that showcased personal acts of responsibility and daily examples of ordinary people making the decision to do considerate things for strangers.

In “Tony,” actor Tate Donovan gets help from an unlikely cast of characters to find his son’s teddy bear left behind on a family trip. The recovery of Tony involves a plane trip from Seattle to LA to return to the scene of Tony’s disappearance. But that’s just the beginning of the journey. No price or feat is too high for this father to find the lost teddy bear and appease his distraught son.

In early 2008, Smoke House Pictures released its first feature film, the Clooney-directed “Leatherheads.” Smoke House is currently in production on its next major feature film, “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” directed by Heslov, and starring Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.

The 13-minute film, “TONY”, can be viewed online here.

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Here’s more of George filming on location at the Airport in Las Vegas. George is filming for “Up in the Air” where he’s playing a  professional who specializes in “career transition counseling” (a euphemism for firing people) who looking to accomplish his two main goals in life: to accumulate 1 million frequent flier miles, and to land a job at a mysterious management company called MythTech. (More in the gallery)

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2009-05-11 Miami:  Here’s George on the set today in between takes. George looks to be having a great time while riding around in the golf cart.

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George Timothy Clooney was born on the 6th of May, 1961, in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother, Nina, was a former state beauty queen, while his dad, Nick Clooney, was a TV newscaster, actor and talk-show host of great repute around the Cincinnati area. There’s one sister, Ada. From the age of 5, young George would potter around his father’s sets, joining in where possible, shouting out the temperature during the weather report, generally being charming (some things never change). Nick’s audiences loved him. George’s aunt, the famous singer Rosemary Clooney, thought he’d make a fine comedian. Once, when he was thirteen, he was at home trying on an Easter Bunny costume for one of his dad’s shows. Suddenly, there was an awful rumbling – it was Augusta’s first earthquake in 150 years. Poor George; in his cute suit and huge fake feet, he had to leave the building and stand, humiliated, among the neighbours.

George attended Kentucky’s Augusta High School, but was no academic. Indeed, his father would give him extra book reports as he didn’t think the boy was reading enough. War books became a favourite. George was more sporty. Indeed, baseball was his life. A big star at Augusta High, he actually tried out for the Cincinnati Reds, but did not make the cut.

He tried college, at Northern Kentucky University, but didn’t like that. He tried following his father into broadcast journalism, but didn’t really want to do that either. Then came revelation. George’s uncle was the actor Jose Ferrer, and now he came to Kentucky, along with his actor sons Miguel and Rafael, to make a horse-racing movie called And They’re Off. Miguel was a particular friend of George’s and he got him a minor role. The film was never released, but something in George Clooney was. He’d not seriously considered acting before. Indeed, his only real contact with that world had come very early on, when Raymond Burr came to Kentucky. George had trailed around behind the poor fellow all day, every five minutes grabbing his sleeve and shouting “You’re Perry Mason! You’re Perry Mason!”

Nick told him he ought to stick with college, have something to fall back on. But George replied that if he had something to fall back on, he’d probably fall back. So, he spent a season picking tobacco for his uncle Jack, then in 1982 took off for LA in his ‘76 Monte Carlo, with $300 in his pocket. The idea was to stay with his aunt Rosemary while he studied and looked for acting work, but she didn’t fancy his chances and didn’t really want to help him on his way to disaster. Nevertheless, when she went off on tour she invited George to be her driver.

Other work did not come. This was the time of the Brat Pack and George was just a couple of years too old. He became depressed and something of a pain, so Rosemary asked him to leave. Luckily, a friend and fellow-struggling-actor Tom Matthews could put him up – in a walk-in closet. George lived like that for a year, while touting for roles, doing construction work and studying under the renowned Milton Katselas. His first class production secured him an agent. Now the work came – and in the end HOW it came.

Many think that George Clooney was an immediate (and lucky) sensation with his first big part, in ER, then casually stepped into the movies. It didn’t happen like that at all. He had to sell insurance door to door, draw caricatures in the mall, and flog lemonade from a stand. He did indeed start in a programme called E/R, but not the successful one. This one began in 1984, with Elliott Gould as divorced Dr Sheinfeld, a physician on call at a tough hospital. Like the later ER, it was set in Chicago, and veered between sit-com and high drama. For a couple of years, George was George Burnett in The Facts Of Life, a long running series about boarding school girls. Then, for a further year, he was Booker Brooks in Roseanne. In between, there were a few film roles. There was the Scream-like Return To Horror High: Grizzly 2, with Charlie Sheen, which was (unsurprisingly) almost never released: and Return Of The Killer Tomatoes, where those vicious fruit were reanimated by John Astin (formerly Gomez Addams).

On paper, it doesn’t look like much, but Clooney was actually big news in TV. He could get pilots greenlighted, and the money got progressively better. In 1990, he starred as Chic Chesbro in Sunset Beat, a shortlived TV series about LA cops who go undercover as bikers (Clooney LOVES motorbikes). Then came Baby Talk, a series based on Look Who’s Talking, which featured sit-com gods Tony Danza and Scott Baio. He played Detective Ryan Walker in Bodies Of Evidence, a series of police mysteries. Then, between 1993 and ‘94, he was a cop again, as Detective James Falconer in Sisters, a popular series about four sisters in different walks of life, which variously featured Swoosie Kurtz, Julianne Phillips and Ashley Judd.

By now, Clooney was already rich. He was earning $40,000 a week, owned a Hollywood home and two cars. For some years, he’d been “the best-paid unknown actor in Hollywood”. Trouble was, he couldn’t get a film agent to represent him, not even one from his own agency, William Morris. He tried for a part in Thelma And Louise, reading for Ridley Scott five times, but lost out to Brad Pitt. He was gutted, and outraged, couldn’t watch the movie for a full year. Then, when he did, he later recalled, “I sat there with my mouth open, saying I would never have thought of doing things the way he did them. Suddenly, I realised how right Ridley Scott was”.

This film problem had not been George’s only source of trouble. While making Baby Talk, he’d argued continually with the producers and quit in acrimonious circumstances. He believed he’d never be employed again. Beside that, he was splitting from his wife, Talia Balsam. The daughter of actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten, Talia was a year older than George and was a TV regular in shows like Happy Days, Taxi, Dallas, Magnum PI etc. They’d married in 1989, just after George had split from Kelly Preston (now Mrs Travolta). George claimed he would never marry again and never have children. Nicole Kidman would bet him $10,000 that he’d break this vow by the age of 40. On his 40th birthday, she’d send him a cheque. He’d return it with a note saying “Double or nothing on my 50th”.

Now came the big break, though it must have looked like business as usual to George. It was yet another TV series, again called ER. But George answered the call of Warners president Les Moonves and took it on. Unlike the 1984 version, it was a mega-smash and, as heart-throb doctor Doug Ross, George was the sexy centrepiece. Some have snidely asked what Clooney would have been without ER – it’s more pertinent to ask what ER would have been without Clooney, with his humour, his timing, his looks and his action-heroics.

NOW came the movies. George had earlier auditioned for Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, performing Michael Madsen’s horrifying dance sequence. Now he made the cut, starring alongside Tarantino himself as Seth Gecko in the weird, road-movie-come-vampire-flick From Dusk Till Dawn. Clooney played a baddie for the first time, but he went over well, his haircut in particular proving popular. He’d got himself a “Roman” cut to look especially crazy – but everyone thought he was cute. So he kept it.

George received $250,000 for From Dusk Till Dawn. His next offer was infinitely more exciting, and not simply for the $3 million on offer. What thrilled George more was a note saying “The Peacemaker is the first film from our new studio and I’d love you to do it”. The studio was Dreamworks, the writer Steven Spielberg, possibly the only man powerful enough to get George out of a contract to play the Green Hornet, which he did.

First though came a superior rom-com with Michelle Pfeiffer, called One Fine Day. Here Clooney managed to hold his own beside one of the industry’s finest actresses, even though they were required to deliver their lines at twice the normal speed. Lots of money was made. Then came The Peacemaker, with Kidman. This was righteously slagged off but, as George later pointed out: “Dreamworks was being reviewed rather than The Peacemaker. It was the first time I’d gotten bad reviews ever in my life. Actually, Batman came out first, so it was like a one-two punch”.

Ah, yes, Batman And Robin. George had been asked to take over from Val Kilmer by director Joel Schumacher and had accepted, despite making only $3 million to Arnie’s $20 million. The movie wasn’t good, mostly for its lack of story, but also because the involvement of both Robin and Batgirl added a thoroughly unnecessary superficiality. George wasn’t too hot either. As he’d learned his craft, he’d begun to use a few fail-safe moves, in particular one where he looked down and slowly raised those big doe eyes (Antonio Banderas did something similar). The ladies may have loved it, and Schumacher, legendary for making stars look impossibly good, may have demanded it, but it was wholly inappropriate when George was sitting on butler Albert’s death-bed. Worse still, much of the movie was looped – a process that the usually mild-mannered Clooney hates with abandon.

Fortunately, Clooney learned fast that he had to get real. Even more fortunately, though it was slated by everyone, Batman And Robin made money – $230 million worldwide, plus merchandising and video receipts that may well have taken its profits into the billions. Strangely, it was Clooney’s next picture, his first real critical success, that lost money. After Batman, he’d looked for a decent script for over a year. He felt he needed one because he didn’t believe he could carry a bad film on sheer personality. He also believes, for much the same reason, that he needs high quality co-stars. Very realistic is our George.

So, along came Steven Soderbergh with Out Of Sight, a smart, slick, indie-thriller that paired George, as Jack Foley, with the up-and-coming Jennifer Lopez. Money was lost due to marketing departments not being sure where to place such an unusual film, but those who saw the movie knew that George had arrived. His reputation so enhanced, he moved on to Three Kings, a superb movie about rebellious soldiers looting gold bullion during the Gulf War. George, co-starring with Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze, was instrumental in getting the movie made. Offered $10 million, he gave $5 million back, taking $2.5 million upfront and accepting a further $2.5 million later. He also, he said, personally financed the hugely impressive blowing up of a cow – perhaps the movie’s finest moment and one that, due to budgeting constraints, nearly never happened. There were other fireworks onset, too. At one point, tired by a tough schedule and frustrated by director David O. Russell’s habit of directing every line of dialogue, he cracked when he saw Russell, frustrated himself, berating some extras. Punches were thrown, Russell later claiming “I wouldn’t make another George Clooney movie if they paid me $20 million”.

Strange that Clooney should have acted so violently – he’s known as one of the nicest and most laid-back of them all. He’s also a major practical joker, sometimes spending months in preparation. Once, he found a painting of a fat woman in a skip and had an idea. He took the painting, signed it and packed it away. Then, for about a year, he deliberately kept missing golfing appointments with his friend Richard Kind, his excuse being that he had art classes. He’d take Kind to art shops, discussing paint, making him feel the brushes. Then, on Kind’s next birthday, George presented him with the painting of the fat lady. It was the first work he’d done, he claimed, of which he and his art teacher were genuinely proud. Kind was touched and hung the piece up in his front-room. Clooney told all of Kind’s other friends to marvel at it when in Kind’s house, and they did. How pleased Richard was – till Clooney hit him with the awful truth.

Career-wise, Clooney had done the smart thing. Hugely popular, he’d been nominated for Emmies in 1995 and 1996, and for Golden Globes from 1996-98, and he’d stayed with ER while his cinematic CV grew and strengthened. Now, after Out Of Sight and Three Kings, and with another serious action flick – Wolfgang Petersen’s The Perfect Storm – on the way, he was ready to move on. Approached by the Coen Brothers with a script they’d written for him, he agreed to star without even reading it, and left ER at last. This was done with little acrimony. For a while, despite being the biggest star on the show, Clooney had been the lowest paid regular, yet he still honoured his contract. He, naturally, thought nothing of it. “It’s a scary profession we’re in,” he said later “when just doing what you’re supposed to do is some kind of distinction”.

The Coens’ film was O Brother Where Art Thou?, a bizarre chain-gang musical based on The Odyssey. George was excellent, having sent the script off to his Uncle Jack to be read out on tape, so George could get that down-home accent just right. It was a big cult hit and Clooney won a Golden Globe, beating off De Niro, Carrey, Cusack and Gibson (some evening, eh?). He was also now a massive international star as The Perfect Storm, a tale of New England sailors struggling to survive an awesome maelstrom (and again co-starring Mark Wahlberg), was his first mega-hit, making well over $300 million worldwide. It certainly helped him get over the pain of The Thin Red Line. This, a war epic by maverick director Terrence Malick, had enjoyed a wildly stellar cast. But Clooney’s part of the storyline had been chopped, so he only appeared in the finale. Knowing that this looked like some gross, egomaniacal casting decision – like, “You will put George in this movie or you’ll never lunch in this town again!” – he BEGGED Malick to leave him out altogether. It couldn’t, sadly, be done.

This horrible memory wasn’t the only bad thing in Clooney’s life. There was also a law-suit, courtesy of the family of the man he played in The Perfect Storm, Captain Billy Tyne. They said the film-makers did not have permission to use the real names of the people involved in the real-life tragedy. The producers retorted that it was a historical event, therefore the names were fair game. But, countered the family, there were only radio reports to go on. Being as there were no survivors, no one knows what happened on the boat, so the film was essentially a work of fiction. The case went on.

Otherwise, things were looking good. To show the esteem in which he’s held in TV-land, Clooney was allowed by Les Moonves, now president of CBS, to put together a live action drama, Fail Safe, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Clooney himself. George, said Moonves, “likes the idea of being a trapeze artist without the net”. And it worked.

He’s a great guy, and a good guy. Heavily influenced by his father’s journalistic sense of justice and habit of campaigning for good causes, Clooney has certainly stood up to be counted. Aside from the fracas on the Three Kings set, he also demanded the reinstatement of (and offered to pay the fines for) three unknown actors expelled from the Screen Actors’ Guild for working during the big strike. It wasn’t fair, said George, that they should be kicked out when more famous strike-breakers like Tiger Woods, Shaquille O’Neal and Elizabeth Hurley  were simply fined.   Then there was the fight with Hard Copy, the tabloid TV news show. Clooney was annoyed with the way reporters would resort to aggression, like insulting a star’s partner at the airport or in a restaurant, just to get a “newsworthy” reaction from the star, which they could then sell to Hard Copy. He boycotted them, others followed – and, well, George is the one still standing. There was also the case of TV Guide, George publicly taking umbrage with the fact that Eriq La Salle, his co-star in ER, had done three photo-sessions for their front cover, but never actually appeared on it. Was it because he was black?

And, most famously, George was heavily involved in the organisation of America: A Tribute To Heroes. This was a telethon screened just after the attacks of September 11th. Clooney got EVERYONE involved – Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Jim Carrey, the lot – raising over $150 million for the families of the dead.

Movie-wise, the best was yet to come. Clooney had been bugging Steven Soderbergh to make another movie with him ever since Out Of Sight. He’d sent him twenty scripts, to each of which Soderbergh had said “No way, dude” (“He’s a snob”, explained Clooney). Then Clooney came up with the idea of remaking Ocean’s Eleven, the old Rat Pack heist hit (coincidentally, most of the Rat Pack had earlier appeared on George’s aunt’s TV show). Soderbergh liked the idea, they got Brad Pitt on board. Then Soderbergh, having just hit big with Erin Brockovich, sent a copy of the script to his Erin, Julia Roberts. Inside was tucked a $20 bill and a note saying “I hear you get 20 a picture now”. Roberts was in, as Tess, the ex-wife of Clooney’s Danny Ocean. Next came Matt Damon. All the stars took upfront pay cuts to get the movie made, and it was a big hit, topping the US charts.

In true Clooney fashion, the stars publicised the movie in the nicest possible way – visiting US troops in Turkey. And some great stories came from the shoot. Clooney had constantly booby-trapped his co-stars’ rooms, often soaking Pitt with well-placed buckets of water. Then there was the gambling. Clooney is a terrible gambler, horribly unlucky, but, on location in Las Vegas, he began playing blackjack, accompanied by Damon. Having lost 25 hands on the trot, he ran out of money and had to borrow $600 from his co-star, money that he lost near-instantly. The next morning, Damon found an envelope shoved under his hotel-room door. It was a cheque for $600 – prompt payment, very Clooney. But, looking closer, he saw that George had filled in the section on the cheque where you can say what the payment is for. If he tried to bank the cheque, the cashier would think he’d been lap-dancing for George. $600-worth! Again, very Clooney.

Of course, Clooney is well known for his way with the ladies, and he’s had many high-profile relationships. After Talia Balsam, there were a couple of years, up until 1999, with Celine Balitran, a French model studying the law. Then came Charlize Theron and Kimberly Russell, from whom George split when marriage and kids were mentioned (“He told me flat out it was never going to happen again”). And there was British model and TV presenter Lisa Snowdon, with whom George had an on-off thing, continuing through 2005. In one of the Off periods, he saw Renee Zellweger. That he did not stay with her was proof positive of his inability to commit. There was also actress Krista Allen. Oh, and there WASN’T Julia Roberts, despite reports that Clooney had ruined her relationship with Benjamin Bratt.

After Ocean’s Eleven (and a cameo in Spy Kids, directed by his old From Dusk Till Dawn buddy Robert Rodriguez) would come Welcome To Collinwood, a lower budget heist movie produced by Section 8, a company formed by Clooney and Steven Soderbergh and named after the military clause dealing with discharge on the grounds of insanity. Here Luis Guzman would lead a shambolic gang in an attempt to bust into a pawn shop, Clooney playing a wheelchair-bound former safecracker who, for a small fee, teaches them how to pull off the job. It was a chaotic comedy and, quite literally, worlds away from his next project. This was Solaris, a remake of Tarkovsky’s haunting 1972 sci-fi classic. Once more directed by Soderbergh, this saw George as a psychiatrist who’s called to a space-station circling the planet of the title when the astronauts begin sending back wholly disturbed messages. Solaris, it seems, in order to keep hold of any visitors, recreates people they loved and have lost. Thus Clooney’s dead wife, a suicide, turns up in bed beside him, alive once again. But now he must cope with the fact that she is a construct built from his memories of her. Is this real, is it right, is it what he wants? Delving deep into the nature of human relationships, the movie was contemplative, sad and very intelligent, drawing a subdued but genuinely moving performance from its star.

Now a big star and producer, it was logical that Clooney would turn to directing, and this he did with Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. With its screenplay written by Charlie Kaufman, this was adapted from gameshow host Chuck Barris’s notorious autobiography, in which he claimed to have moonlighted as a hitman for the CIA. Starring as Barris would be Sam Rockwell, one of the dodgy robbers in Welcome To Collinwood, with George appearing as the CIA smoothie who recruits him. Clooney would also use his burgeoning influence to entice both Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore onto the picture, working for scale. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon would pop up, too, as contestants on The Dating Game. These were sequences director Clooney, who as a kid had spent so much time backstage on his father’s productions, would simulate superbly.

Next up would come more comedy when Clooney reunited with the Coen brothers for Intolerable Cruelty. This saw him as a divorce lawyer famous for drawing up an unbreakable pre-nup agreement, who defeats gold-digger Catherine Zeta-Jones when she goes after her cheating husband’s fortune. Knowing the kind of girl she is (and fancying her like crazy), he’s intrigued when she then hires him to work out a pre-nup for her next marriage, to bashful Texas oil billionaire Billy Bob Thornton. He marvels at her skill in manipulation, skill that mirrors his own, and plots to win her – a fascinating and hilarious battle of wills between two of the best-looking film stars of modern times.

With so many irons in the fire, Clooney’s screen appearances would now be limited. On top of work, there was politics (which would soon spill over into his work). George spoke out against the war in Iraq and, alongside Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Ed Norton, featured on an infamous pack of playing cards called The Weasels. Furthermore, 2004 would see him backing John Kerry against George Bush (Clooney had actually bought a villa on Lake Como from Kerry and his rich wife Teresa Heinz) and helping his dad Nick when he campaigned for a Congressional seat, hoping to represent Kentucky. Though George managed to raise over $600,000 from his celebrity buddies, Nick would be beaten by Republican Geoff Davis. 2005 would see George back in organisational mode when he helped put together a telethon to aid victims of the Asian tsunami, which had struck on Boxing Day, 2004. And this he did despite having to publicize his own Ocean’s Twelve, and having just undergone an operation to stop fluid leaking out of his spinal column (an injury he’d suffered while filming the forthcoming Syriana).

On the production front, Section 8 was going great guns. Aside from high profile (but always classy and interesting) projects like Far From Heaven, The Jacket and A Scanner Darkly, they’d moved into TV with the acclaimed and very witty series Unscripted, which saw three young actors struggling to make it in Hollywood, Frank Langella tearing it up as a feisty acting coach. But the world knew Clooney best as a film star and Ocean’s Twelve, released at the end of 2004, cemented his position as one of the biggest. This time the action would shift to Europe, as the gang have to pull off three daring robberies in order to pay back Andy Garcia, the Vegas casino owner they turned over in the original. All the big boys (and girls) returned to the fray – it was Clooney calling, after all – with the addition of his Intolerable Cruelty co-star Zeta-Jones, who’d earlier starred in Soderbergh’s Traffic.

Back on top, Clooney would move on to Syriana, based on Robert Bauer’s book See No Evil: The True Story Of A Ground Soldier In The CIA’s War On Terrorism. Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan (who’d also written Traffic), this gradually brought together many disparate characters as it explored the shady world of American foreign policy, with its government intrigue, legal battles and dealings in oil and guns. Clooney would play Bauer himself, an operative hunting down terrorists in the Middle East, with Matt Damon (who, following Mark Wahlberg, had seemingly become George’s latest protege) as an oil price analyst drawn into the murk.

Following Syriana, Clooney would return to the director’s chair with Goodnight And Good Luck which, like Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, would take him back to the TV studios of days long gone. Here, the admirable David Strathairn (who could forget his brilliant turn in Dolores Claiborne?) would play Edward R Murrow, the CBS news anchorman who challenged notorious senator Joseph McCarthy and helped bring about the end of the Communist witch-hunt, and the cruel and unusual punishment of “un-American” activities. George would play Fred Friendly, Morrow’s producer and the movie, co-written by the ever-expanding Clooney, would see him bring his political vision to the screen for the first time.

It could now no longer be argued that Clooney was not a heavyweight film-maker. Syriana would see him win a Golden Globe and an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor, while Good Night would be Oscar nominated as Best Picture, with Clooney himself getting a nod for Best Direction and Best Screenplay. But already he’d moved on. 2006 would bring The Good German, once again directed by Soderbergh, where Clooney would play a journalist returning to Berlin after WW2, partly to cover the Allied summit presided over by Churchill, Truman and Stalin but mostly to seek his wartime love, Cate Blanchett. Her husband is missing and wanted by both the American and Russian secret services and Clooney is further drawn into a mystery and a political morass when the body of an American soldier is washed up on the beach. Following this would come the third installment in the Danny Ocean saga. Here Elliott Gould would find himself diddled out of a share in a new casino by Al Pacino, with Clooney and the gang reuniting to take revenge, employing many fancy tricks, including starting up a giant drill underground to fake an earthquake. Due to the law of diminishing returns, the movie would be a hit, but only make some $300 million worldwide.

Clooney’s other film of 2007 would be the corporate drama Michael Clayton, where Tom Wilkinson would play a partner in a law firm hired to defend a company being sued for billions for fatal pollution. Wilkinson, however, suffers a breakdown so Clooney, the firm’s fixer, is called in. Divorced, addicted to gambling and in dangerous debt, he needs the pay-off, but he’s torn by his friendship with Wilkinson and the clear knowledge that his client is guilty. Under severe pressure, not least from Tilda Swinton as the client’s panicked lawyer, he must question his whole moral system. A tremendous performance, it would see Clooney nominated yet again for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar.

His career was in full swing. He’d even managed to squeeze in a self-deprecating coffee ad where he believed two ladies to be drooling over him when in fact they were simply enjoying their full-bodied drinks. He was no slouch in his private life either. 2006 had seen him finally lose his famous pot-bellied pig Max (at the age of 18) and also the collapse of a plan to build a hotel complex in Las Vegas, which was to have been designed by his friend Brad Pitt. His successful Section Eight production comapny would be cut back, Clooney instead opening a company called Smoke House with Grant Heslov who’d earlier co-written and co-produced Good Night, And Good Luck. More importantly, he’d involve himself more heavily in international politics. Having visited the disaster zones of Darfur with his father, where 200,000 were dead and 2.5 million displaced, Clooney took it upon himself to act, visiting Egypt and China, addressing the UN Security Council, pleading with the main players to stop the slaughter. At Cannes in 2007, he and Pitt would campaign relentlessly, raising nearly $10 million for the Save Darfur fund. At the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome, Clooney and his fellow activist and former co-star Don Cheadle would be honoured for their efforts and, come 2008, Clooney would officially be appointed a UN Messenger of Peace.

Darfur was not the only focus of Clooney’s extra-curricular activities. Late 2007 would see the beginning of a writers’ strike in Hollywood that halted many TV and film productions. Studio bosses were convinced that Clooney was drumming up support for the writers’ among his acting peers, asking them not to cross picket lines and thereby potentially wrecking the forthcoming awards shows. Keeping his cool, Clooney would offer to act as mediator between the two parties while also donating to a fund for actors impoverished by the strike. He wouldn’t, though, stay cool when in November invasive paparazzi threatened to knock him and new girlfriend Sarah Larson off his Harley. He was now extra-wary of crashes as, back in September, he and Larson had been involved in an accident while riding his motorbike in New Jersey, Clooney suffering a cracked rib and Larson several broken toes.

Back onscreen, 2008 would see Clooney return to the director’s chair for Leatherheads, in which he’d also star. This was based in the 1920s, in the early days of professional American football, with Clooney an owner who sees his team and the league itself falling apart. To boost both, he hires college star and war hero John Krasinski, but then ends up fighting his new recruit for control of the team and the affections of Renee Zellweger, a feisty reporter digging into Krasinski’s war stories. Next would come a third outing with the Coen Brothers, Burn After Reading, where John Malkovich would play a drunken and sacked CIA veteran who vengefully writes his memoirs and loses them. Clooney would play a straight-laced operative investigating the matter, being shouted at again by Tilda Swinton, as the plot drew him to a gym where Brad Pitt worked. Clooney would say that his character, Harry Pfarrer, was his third Coens’ idiot.

Marriage may not be on the cards, but further success is. Now a film star, producer, writer and active charity fundraiser and politico, George Clooney has forged a massive success. Onscreen, not only has he made the difficult step from TV to film, he’s also moved from action star and romantic lead to become something of an auteur. Off-screen, you never, ever hear a bad word said about him (well, maybe from the few who think he’s a weasel). Though by his own admission he has seen too many women, taken too many drugs and partied way too hard to ever be President, artistically and politically he has become a force for good in this world. About that, there can be no doubt.

Biography by Dominic Willis.

Rock star Bono interviews George Clooney for a Time 100/Anderson Cooper 360 special airing May 1 at 11:00 p.m. ET.

My days are never boring as a producer at AC 360’ but my latest assignment definitely goes down in the annals of producer history: shoot Bono interviewing George Clooney. Clooney is being honored by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people and Time asked Bono to write the profile. As Time’s partner, we shot the interview and other famous pairings for an upcoming Time 100/Anderson Cooper 360’ Special aptly titled “The World’s Most Influential People.”

While Bono and Clooney are acutely aware of their own fame, it seems to be inversely proportional to the fanfare surrounding both of them. Clooney showed up to the interview solo: no security, no entourage, just a guy in combat boots and a leather jacket. I met him on the street in New York outside of our interview location and joked with him as I lead him to a green room that Bono was looking forward to getting him in the hot seat. I didn’t know it at the time but that was truer than I could have ever imagined.

Bono trailed him by a few minutes in a separate car and while I tried to keep things professional on the outside, on the inside I felt like the 10 year old kid who wore out his tape of U2’s “The Joshua Tree.”
The two stars are good friends and when I showed Bono to the same green room, he began to belt out the Beatles “Hey Jude” on a piano but changed the lyrics to butter up Clooney for the interview: “Hey George, don’t make it bad …”

I left them to catch up and ran out to be sure our crew was ready. As far as productions go, for this one we went all out and were shooting the interview at Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Ten minutes later, Bono and Clooney walked into the theater, introduced themselves to the entire crew and Bono had the closest he came to a diva moment during the entire afternoon. “Could I get a clipboard so we can make this interview official?!” he said with a smile and a wink.

With clipboard in hand, he sat down, I called for quiet on the set and Bono began.

“You recently slept with someone that I have a crush on … tell me about that?” was one of his first questions to George Clooney and it set the tone of their nearly 40 minute interview: although they’re good friends, Bono would leave no stone unturned.

The special airs next Friday at 11 pm ET. Check out the video above for a sneak peak.

Screencaps (More in the Gallery)

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George was spotted in New York today as he was checking out of his Hotel.   Looking a litte tired but “Georgous” as ever.

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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — First Esquire’s October issue came with a battery-powered cover that blinked and flashed. Then the February issue had a flap on the cover with an ad inside.

Now the May issue of Esquire, on sale April 10, is coming perforated to split into a flip book that will let readers play mix and match with the facial features of President Barack Obama, George Clooney and Justin Timberlake.

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The inside front covers and following page belong to mix-and-match ads for the History Channel’s new series “Life After People.”

The magazine said the cover innovations are coming from Editor in Chief David Granger, who wants to engage his readers and push the boundaries of print.

Covers are fairly sacred ground for magazines, so recent developments such as the ad on the cover of Scholastic magazine has worried some in the industry. Covers also loom large for Esquire in particular. The magazine, part of Hearst, published a run of striking covers by George Lois in the 1960s.

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