Heartthrob George Clooney just wasn’t looking like himself at the Oscars on Sunday. He sounded slurry during the red carpet interviews, like he’d been drinking, and his eyes looked droopy and tired to me. His hair was long and although it was styled it wasn’t a good look for him. Popeater reported that Clooney was growing his hair out at the insistence of his girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, who looked just as unamused as he did most of the time. When Sherri Shepherd was interviewing Clooney on the red carpet and harmlessly flirting with him, Canalis glowered openly. I swear she actually sneered. At least when Clooney brought Sarah Larson with him to the Oscars they were both happy and smiling. I don’t see these two lasting much longer. Canalis allegedly thinks that the long hair makes Clooney look “more European and less American.” It just makes him look like a tool, and hopefully he’ll realize that soon and try to recapture his old look, and his old single life.

A lot of tongues were wagging when Clooney looked visibly annoyed and slightly bored during the Oscar ceremony. The hosts made some jokes at his expense, deliberately forgetting him when announcing the nominees, and the camera cut to show Clooney looking convincingly pissed off. That wasn’t the case, according to various reports that claim that the actor was in on the joke. I’m not so sure, though. He just seemed “off” all night, like he didn’t want to be there:

By George! Mr. Clooney shocked many an Oscar viewer Sunday night when he was seemingly unamused by hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin’s repeated digs at him. But a source close to the “Up in the Air” actor tells us that he was playing along, too.

“It was something George and Alec agreed upon,” says the insider, adding that when the cameras weren’t on Clooney, he and the “30 Rock” actor were making faces at each other. “It was a ‘follow-my-lead’ sort of thing.”

[From the NY Daily News]

MSNBC’s The Scoop has more on Clooney at the Oscars, and they bring up a good point – he was signing autographs and looked perfectly happy talking to fans on the red carpet. I remember seeing that on camera. A source notes “Before the show he was basically the only actor to go to the area where fans are corralled.” As far as his mood during the ceremony, his rep says that he “was fine, just under the weather … happens” and that Clooney knew ahead of time that he would be mocked by Baldwin and Martin. I’m thinking “under the weather” is code for copious amounts of liquor. I remember someone commenting that they saw Clooney drinking from a flask on the red carpet. I googled it, and here’s a link to a video, where he shows an interviewer his flask.

The photo below is for Kaiser!