George Clooney has already begun to promote his film, The Ides of March, which he not only stars in, but co-wrote and directed (and produced too, I think). Clooney plays the “neophyte candidate in a Democratic presidential primary” while Ryan Gosling plays an idealistic young staffer. I LOVE LOVE the first poster (above). It’s wonderful and eye-catching and I just want to stare at it for a while. Great image. There are also some promotional images from the film below, with Gosling looking clean-cut and Clooney looking like a politician with secrets. Anyway, here are some highlights from Clooney’s press thus far:

Clooney on waiting to do the film until the nation was in the right mood: “We were in preproduction on this. We were really getting close to starting up. But I remember sitting in a restaurant with (co-writer) Grant (Heslov) when Obama won, and we both realized we couldn’t make this movie right now. Everyone was so hopeful and happy. Now, the cynicism has come back around, so it’s time.”

It’s a movie about morality, not politics: “The major issues are some of the major issues we face every day, including questions of morality. We’re not trying to be polarizing. Literally, this could have taken place in a lawyer’s office. It’s just more fun in the political arena. Republicans hate the beginning of the movie, Democrats hate the end. So we’re good.”

Feeling dirty after his 2005 Oscar campaign: “I had just come out of Oscar season, and you really do campaign, like kissing babies. By the time it’s over, you sort of feel unclean. You want to do something that makes you feel better.”

How Hollywood can help: “There is more attention on celebrity than ever — and there is a use for that besides selling products,” he said. “We can’t make policy, but we can ‘encourage’ politicians more than ever before.”

[From the LAT & USA Today]

Clooney rounded out the cast with some really talented people. Jennifer Ehle plays Clooney’s wife (the candidate’s wife), Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays the campaign manager, Evan Rachel Wood is an intern, Jeffrey Wright is in there somewhere, as is Marisa Tomei. I have to admit, even though I usually find Clooney’s political films rather boring and prosaic, I want to see this just for the cast.

Poster & promotional images from the film, plus a photo of Clooney from Pacific Coast News.

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!

Well, hello Sailor! George is looking good to me for some reason this morning. I like that he looks a little dirty and scruffy. It’s working. Clooney brought his girlfriend Elisabetta and his mom Nina to the Los Angeles premiere of Up In The Air last night. Everybody wore black, like it was a Johnny Cash theme night. Clooney often wears all black, because he loves the monochromatic look, but I expected more from Elisabetta. She doesn’t look like a kinky, gold-dogging, trophy girlfriend! What the hell? She looks… dare I say… respectable. Elisabetta, is that even you?

On the red carpet, Radar caught up with Clooney and they even got him to “crack” a joke (video here):

George Clooney’s reputation as a jokester was solidified on the red carpet in Los Angeles Monday night at the premiere of his new film Up in the Air.

“I’m up in the air on mostly on the crack that I’m on right now,” the ever so dashing Clooney exclusively told RadarOnline.com.

Should we be worried about this? Is the most gorgeous man in Hollywood going to be checking into rehab?

“Rehab is the woosy way, that’s the new Hollywood way,” he explained to us. “We go the old way, which is just party through it!”

Also on hand were his good friends Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, fresh from their Mexican Thanksgiving vacation with George and his lovely Italian girlfriend Elizabeth Canalis, who took pictures with George but did not walk the carpet and answer questions.

So we had to ask, is Clooney up in the air about marriage too? “Exactly,” he charmingly told us.

In Up In The Air, Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a jaded man whose job is to fire people from their jobs. When his boss hires arrogant young Natalie, she develops a method of video conferencing that will allow termination without ever leaving the office – essentially threatening the nomadic existence Ryan loves.

Determined to show Natalie the error of her logic, Ryan takes her on one of his cross country firing trips, but as she starts to realize the disheartening realities of her profession, he begins to see the downfalls to his way of life.

Up In The Air opens Friday, December 4.

[From Radar]

My mom wants to see this already. She’s a sucker for any movie where George wears a suit. And I’m being completely serious. But Up In the Air is getting solid reviews, despite it’s somewhat crummy subject matter. And many critics have Clooney on the Lead Actor Oscar shortlist, up there with Daniel Day-Lewis in Nine and Colin Firth in A Single Man. Methinks Elisabetta has her eye on the prize – walking down the Oscar red carpet.

Here’s the trailer for Up In the Air:

George Clooney, his mom, and his girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis at the LA premiere of ‘Up In The Air’ on November 30, 2009. Credit: WENN.com/FayesVision

I don’t get this chick’s style. These are new photos of George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis at the Up In the Air premiere at the International Rome Film Festival on Friday. George looks okay, I guess. But Elisabetta… she looks “off” somehow, doesn’t she? Like she’s aiming for both Cindy Crawford and Angelina Jolie with her styling. Maybe I’m just thinking of Angelina because of the tattoos, though. In any case, I think Elisabetta has weird style/makeup/hair people. I do think she’s a pretty girl, and I hope she improves throughout her relationship with Clooney. My guess is that she’s going to be wearing a lot of Armani (same as Sarah Larson) in the coming months.

Anyway, George Clooney has three films coming out this fall/winter/awards season. What’s strange is that they’re all coming out within a few months of each other, so if you’re already sick of George and Elisabetta Canalis, you’ll need to prepare yourself for permanent nausea. Last week, George was in London with Elisabetta, on promotional duty for The Fantastic Mr. Fox. This week he’s going to be promoting Up In The Air and Men Who Stare At Goats (which is the one I really want to see). As such, we have a new interview with George, via The Daily Mirror. I’m not sure if the Mirror actually sat down with George, because some of these quotes are old. But some of it sounds new, especially the part where George says everyone thinks he‘s 60 years old, which is hilarious:

It’s no wonder George is seen as a playboy – an image he is happy to poke fun at.

“I’m old,” he says with a laugh. “I’m kind of comfortable with getting older because it’s better than the other option, which is being dead. So I’ll take getting older. It’s an interesting thing to be able to watch yourself grow older on screen.”

“I was watching Up In The Air and I thought, ‘Jesus, who’s the old, grey-haired guy?’ And it was me. I never wear make-up for movies and now it’s starting to show.”

“It’s funny because earlier in my career I was working with a lot of actresses who were my age or older and most actors work with actresses who are considerably younger. So people always thought I was older anyway and I’ve been going through this thing with people thinking I’m about 60.”

He may be getting older, but George shows no signs of slowing down. At the moment, he is in London to promote three films, rom-com Up In The Air, kids’ favourite The Fantastic Mr Fox and a satire about the CIA called The Men Who Stare At Goats.

“Boy, I’ve got a lot of films here this week, a lot of running around,” he says, adding with another laugh, “And all three films are ones I don’t have to be embarrassed about – and that’s rare!”

When he can take a break from his hectic work schedule, he retreats to his Italian mansion on Lake Como to “recharge and have friends and family and people around”.
George says: “Some of the most fun dinners I’ve ever had have been there. There’s always 10 or 15 people and we have wild fun evenings of interesting people telling interesting stories. I relate to nothing but joy and happiness there – it’s been the greatest thing I’ve ever done for myself.”

George may be a generous host, but his guests have to put up with his elaborate pranks. His latest victim was Ocean’s 11 co-star Matt Damon, who visited over summer.

At the time Matt was trying to lose the 30lb he gained for The Informant. He was working out twice a day and eating only salads. So George hired a woman to surreptitiously take in the waistband of all Matt’s trousers every day by an eighth of an inch. “He couldn’t understand how he seemed to be gaining weight while he was trying so hard to lose it,” grins George.

His next victim will be Brad Pitt. “I’m working on a prank and I need some help,” he admits. “Something evil has to happen.”

The Men Who Stare At Goats, produced by George and his business partner Grant Heslov, is based on the supposedly true story of a US military unit who tried to use psychic powers to run through walls and kill goats simply by staring at them.

George says: “We made up stuff that we thought was funny, but the weirdest stuff in the film is the true stuff.”

“I’ve been lucky enough to do a few films that will last longer than an opening weekend, and those films are the ones I’m proud of,” he says, modestly. “You know, I have a few that I look back on and say, ‘Well, that worked’. And I’ve had some that didn’t really work, but I don’t mind that as long as I’m always trying to do stuff that’s pushing the envelope.”

But he is all too aware that he can only afford so many movies that don’t “work”. Despite his A-list status and huge influence in Hollywood, George still has to keep on the right side of the financiers and studio heads – the people who green light and provide the funding for his projects.

“I’m in the lucky position right now of them still letting me play with the toys, but I don’t know how long that will last,” he says. “So while they’re letting me, I’m going to keep trying to do these kind of movies and hope that some of them succeed.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

If I take away George’s skeezy personal life, I actually love who he is and what he represents in Hollywood. George got to the place in his career several years ago where he started making really interesting choices as an actor, director and producer. He is right about having hits as well as misses, but I give him credit for actually trying to make good, interesting films that challenge audiences. Sigh. I can’t wait for Men Who Stare At Goats. George plus Ewan McGregor plus Jeff Bridges plus goats equals film magic.

Images thanks to Fame Pictures .

George Clooney’s girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis has lasted more than two months, for anyone who had money riding on it. Speaking of rides, Elisabetta is still getting the same Sarah-Larson-esque, glowing, ridiculous press coverage. At least there are no smarmy quotes from Clooney trying to convince us that Elisabetta is a “great co-pilot” for ride of life. Instead, we get this lovely little report from In Touch Weekly, all about how Clooney is lavishing gifts on his lovely working girl:

George Clooney’s romance with Italian TV personality Elisabetta Canalis is heating up. According to a pal, Clooney is so smitten that he recently presented her with a ring. It’s not an engagement ring – but it is a sign they’re getting serious.

As In Touch first reported, George invited Elisabetta to move into his Studio City, California home and now that she’s there, he’s spoiling her rotten.

In addition to slipping the Cartier diamond on her finger, George also bought her a Hermes Kelly bag and countless pairs of designer shoes.

“Every day is like Christmas at George’s house for Elisabetta,” says his buddy, adding, “He’s even looking at a Maserati. He’s had a great life for a long time, but she seems to make him very happy.”

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition, October 19 2009]

And now I just wasted way too much time looking at Cartier’s jewelry collection on their website. Jesus, I really want like twenty of those rings. Please, George? I’ll do anything you want, seriously. I have big boobs and I’m a brunette. And I’ll do anything for expensive jewelry. I’m so your type.

Also, I would much prefer the sports car to the engagement ring. Granted, if you get the engagement ring, the car could come after that. But come on! Sports car > diamond ring.

George Clooney has been dating Italian “personality” Elizabetta Canalis for several months now, and he’s still selling her to us. Seriously, how many times do we have to play this game? She’s not going to be around in another year! Granted, she might be slightly smarter than Sarah Larson, so maybe Elisabetta will be able to make it work for a little longer than expected. When Hello Magazine sat down with Clooney in Toronto, he seemed to be very cryptic about any long-term relationship plans. If it was any other guy, I would give him the benefit of the doubt and say “Oh, they only started dating, he doesn’t have to have it figured out.” But since it’s Clooney, I just think “Ha, he doesn’t even want a future with this girl in a completely fake scenario.” He also basically calls Elisabetta a very nice “co-pilot” on the journey of life, but also acknowledges that she might only be a temp co-pilot. And yes, I think “co-pilot” is their safe word.

Is Hollywood’s eternal bachelor getting ready to settle down at last?

George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis have been seen strolling the streets of Venice hand-in-hand during the city’s film festival, sipping champagne and canoodling at the screening of his new comedy The Men Who Stare At Goats, and swaying sexily together on the dance floor of the Hotel Cipriani, Elisabetta’s hand most firmly placed on the Clooney rear.

George admitted at the Toronto film festival that life in the romantic department was going pretty well for him.

“I’m doing fine… If like’s a journey, then right now I’ve got a very nice co-pilot. I’m not going to project into the future and say I’ve found a co-pilot for life, because I don’t want to jinx things… but I will say that at the moment, I’m having a very nice time being a frequent flyer on Alitalia.”

“I’m well aware that there are things that people will see as shortcomings in my life, and I’m unapologetic about them.”

“People keep asking me if I worry about being alone – but listen, I’ve been in some relationships where I’ve felt terribly alone… Just because you’re with someone in a couple doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re incredibly happy and complete – sometimes the opposite.”

“I’m just trying to live my life the way I choose to live it here and hope it all works out, but I’m also aware that certain things you can do which are cute when you do them at 20 become less cute when you’re still doing them at 48.”

Clooney on Lake Como villa: “Buying that place was the best think I ever did… I bought it more or less as an investment, but living in it and getting to know Italy has had a real effect on my life. I love the place.”

On his hand injury: “I slammed my hand in a minivan… I was getting out and someone slammed the door on it. I knew immediately it was broken because a bone was sticking up out of it. So the Italian guy who does the driving for me says, ‘Get in the car, I’ll take care of you.’ He drives me into town… and he takes me to the dentist. Dentist’s chair, dentist’s lamp, everything. The guy comes in, pulls the dentist’s lamp down onto my hand. He starts pulling on my fingers, which really hurts. At last he says, ’Hmmm… I think it’s broken…’ I’m saying, ’Is there a real doctor anywhere in here?’ In the end, they got me into a hospital in Lugano, the hand was x-rayed and I was in and out in 20 minutes. It’s doing fine now.”

[From Hello Magazine, print edition, September 28 2009]

EW. God, I hate when people tell stories about their broken bones. The worst words in the English language are “the bone was sticking out”. Does that make anyone else nauseous? And I’m still not buying the whole “hand slammed on a minivan door”… is Clooney trying to appeal to the minivan-driving suburban-mom fanbase with that? Personally, I think suburban moms would love to hear “I broke my hand doing something involving a whip, nipple clamps, a silk scarf, a dildo and the safe word ‘co-pilot’.”

Here’s Canalis grabbing Clooney’s butt on the dancefloor of the Hotel Cipriani in Venice on 9/16/09. Credit: Fame Pictures

My imaginary husband Matt Damon (sorry, wonderful real husband) was on The Late Show last night. Matt was recently rumored to be dead when a very obviously fake story began circulating that he had somehow died in the Palo Verde mountains earlier this week. Damon explained to Letterman that he was alive and well, and then he told his own personal story about helping start an Internet rumor, one that resulted in a chubby hirsute man stripping for George Clooney and begging for a kiss:

The very-much-alive Matt Damon turned up on the Late Show With David Letterman last night and, aside from breathing, made some news by offering a possible explanation for buddy George Clooney being ambushed by a clothes-eschewing would-be gay lover at the Venice Film Festival earlier this week.

It was Damon’s fault. And Brad Pitt’s.

As Damon tells it, Pitt was getting so fed up with Italian journos’ queries about when he was going to tie the knot with Angelina Jolie, he finally blurted out that he’d do the deed once “George Clooney marries his boyfriend.”

“So this Italian journalist comes in and goes, Matt, is it true what Brad say?” Damon, in his best Eye-talian accent, recounts to Letterman. “And I have no idea what he is talking about. But you know, I go, ‘Yeah, of course it’s true.’ And he says, ‘Do you mean George Clooney have a boyfriend?’ And now I’m trying to keep a straight face and I go, ‘Yeah, of course he’s got a boyfriend. And he wants to legally marry him. We’ve been on him about this for years…’ ”

Flash forward to Tuesday: Damon turns on CNN and “this guy stands up and says, ‘George!…I am a gay.’ And this guy starts peeling his clothes off and he says, ‘If you musta choose, choose me!’ ”

“I’m sure George is still laughing about that one,” says Letterman.

[From E! Online]

Damon is promoting his role on the upcoming Soderbergh comedy of errors, The Informant!, based on the true life ADM price fixing scandal. The film is out in the US next Friday, Septemner 38. The 38 year-old father of two also appears on the cover of this month’s Esquire Magazine. The journalist is said to have interviewed Damon while he worked for his charity, Water.org. At one point Damon sings a cute potty song with some kids in India. I get Water.org’s newsletter and yesterday they sent out a mailing about the importance of access to toilets, especially for young girls in India who often drop out of school at the embarrassment of having to share toilets. Some kids have to wait until dark until they can go #2 and that can make them very sick. World Toilet Day (seriously!) is November 19, 2009. You can help by retweeting stories from Water.org and by donating to the cause through their website.

Photo above credit: Water.org. Esquire cover from CoverAwards. Other photos taken outside The Late Show yesterday. Credit: WENN.com

Hello, sailors! What a perfect way to start a morning. Here are George Clooney and Ewan McGregor at the photo call for Men Who Stare At Goats, which is getting its premiere at Venice. They’re both looking pretty hot, but I’m looking more at Ewan McGregor’s lovely jaw line and sexy smile. Sigh…so hot. I would love to be in Venice with Ewan and his crinkles.

George Clooney arrived at the Venice Film Festival on Monday, entering the city like some kind of conquering hero. Clooney was tended to by his new piece, Elisabetta Canalis. In most of the pictures of Elisabetta, she’s wearing loose, comfortable-looking summer dresses, so at least Clooney hasn’t pulled a Pretty Woman on her yet and made her deck out in Armani. In these pictures, I’m really seeing the whole thing about her being a budget Cindy Crawford – Cindy and Elisabetta could be sisters, they’re faces are so similar. What is it with George and his Cindy Crawford obsession?

According to IMDB, Men Who Stare At Goats is about: “A reporter, trying to lose himself in the romance of war after his marriage fails, gets more than he bargains for when he meets a special forces agent who reveals the existence of a secret, psychic military unit whose goal is to end war as we know it. The founder of the unit has gone missing and the trail leads to another psychic soldier who has distorted the mission to serve his own ends.” Clooney plays the special forces agent, McGregor plays the reporter. Oh, and Jeff Bridges is in it… and it looks like he’s channeling his Big Lebowski character! The film actually looks great, and it’s probably going to have some kind of Oscar campaign. I hope it does, if only to see Ewan McGregor on more red carpets. Hurray!

Here’s the trailer for Men Who Stare at Goats. It’s out in the US on 11/6/09:

This is a little piece of “Where are they now?” news, but it comes with a healthy dose of schadenfreude. Does everyone remember Sarah Larson? She was the Las Vegas “cocktail waitress” who dated George Clooney for a little more than a year 2007-2008. Through the course of their relationship, George pulled a Pretty Woman on her – he bought her clothes, showed her off on every awards show red carpet, tried to give her some kind of “modeling career” and bought her some new boobs. Of course, through the course of their relationship, we sort of figured out that she wasn’t just a cocktail waitress.

Of course, Clooney dumped her rather unceremoniously after the awards shows were over and Sarah began to get some ideas. Ideas like she wasn’t just plucked out of the air and made famous just because she was screwing Clooney. Ideas like marriage. Ideas like “I’m the one who can make him settle down”. After being dumped, Sarah hung around for a little while, riding out the 15th minute of her fame. But she’s been out of the public eye for about a year now – that is, until Fox News caught up with her over the weekend. Guess what Sarah’s doing now? She’s spiritual! And she does not have any warm feelings about Clooney or his latest Italian piece.

Former Las Vegas cocktail waitress Sara Larson became a household name in 2007 when she struck up a serious love affair with George Clooney, only to find herself a notch in Clooney’s belt a year later.

But despite rumors earlier this year that Larson may have her own Vegas-based reality show in the works, it seems she has opted for a more spiritually satisfying lifestyle and is earning her keep as a private yoga instructor in Los Angeles.

“I do yoga pretty much every day. I am a certified yoga instructor, so I actually teach yoga,” Larson told Tarts at the recent REALITY CARES’ SIZZLES Charity Benefit in Los Angeles. Nor surprisingly, the stunner says “all of a sudden” guys have started calling out of nowhere for private classes, and she’s now in talks to design her own yoga-inspired clothing line.

Meanwhile Clooney has apparently found himself a Larson clone, the thin, beautiful Italian brunette Elisabeta Canalis with whom he has been spotted canoodling quite a lot of late.

However, Larson too has found herself a new love (she said we wouldn’t know him) and says she doesn’t give a hoot about her ex’s romantic relations. “Dating has its challenges and either two people connect or they don’t,” she told Tarts. “There’s a lot of other factors that are involved as to whether it will be a long term relationship or not, but everything for me right now is new,” Larson added, her expression suddenly becoming stone cold. “I’m not in touch with George at all. I don’t have any regrets.”

[From Fox News]

Meow. When someone says “I don’t have any regrets” I usually hear “My one regret is that I didn’t cut off his wang with a butter knife.” But whatever her feeling for or about Clooney, I’m glad she’s moving on, and I hope she continues to talk about her brief moment of fame. She’s funny, and the situation was funny. Keep talking, Sarah!

Sarah Larson is shown on 12/14/08. Credit: WENN.com

I get that many of you don’t really care about George Clooney. It’s true that in the past few years he’s crossed over from “Hottest Hollywood Eligible Bachelor” to “Skeezy Pervert Who Should Grow Up”. That’s part of the reason I still like to write about him – how can a man be so utterly beloved by Hollywood and yet still maintain such a level of sleaze? Perhaps part of Clooney’s “jumping the shark” came with the whole Sarah Larson debacle. It was as if Clooney thought he could pass her off as some kind of legitimate waitress/model with a heart of gold, someone he might be willing to settle down with. That was good enough for People Magazine, who promoted Sarah and George as some kind of new golden couple. But I found the whole episode gross.

Moving on, we’re being sold a new version of Sarah Larson. Her name is Elisabetta Canalis, and she’s been George’s new piece for most of his Italian summer. We’ve been treated to puff pieces in most of the tabloids about how George has “fallen head over heels” for this “voluptuous Italian beauty”. Meanwhile, the few exposés on Elisabetta show a woman who is basically a (NSFW) pr0n actress. That’s how George likes them – so of course, he’s invited Elisabetta to move into his California abode.

George Clooney’s romance with Italian TV personality Elisabetta Canalis apparently isn’t just a summer fling. According to a friend, George is already thinking about what will happen when he goes home to LA – so he invited his 30-year-old girlfriend to move into his home in Studio City, CA.

“George is ready to live with Elisabetta,” his pal reveals. “She has some business to take care of, but has agreed to join George in California just as soon as she’s done with her own work.”

Elisabetta has already been spending lots of time at George’s villa near Italy’s Lake Como – where he lives most of the summer – and the lovebirds seemed to enjoy their days together there, motorcycling and boating in the seaside town of Laglio. They were even spotted sharing a late-night smooch.

But George will be back soon enough: after a short stay in LA, he’s returning to the Italian countryside in the fall to start production on his next film, A Very Private Gentleman.

“It’s all good because he is getting to spend a lot fo time with Elisabetta. He really like this girl,” says the pal. “She’s beautiful, smart and very nice. She may be the one he’s been looking for.”

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition, September 7 2009]

I know I’m being judgy. I know I’m being prudish. Here’s the thing – if George wants his sleazy pieces, fine. That’s his business. But don’t try to pass her off like she’s some demure young thing, the perfect, classy, non-controversial arm candy of a Hollywood A-Lister. And don’t try to make us believe that she’s “one he’s been looking for.” We all stopped buying it a long time ago. At this point, I’m buying that George is into sado-masochism, and Elisabetta broke his hand for being a naughty, naughty boy.