 | |  |  | George Clooney News & Gossip
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Reporting for duty, George Clooney was spotted on the set of his new movie ?Ides of March? in Oxford, Ohio today (March 3).
The ?Ocean?s Eleven? actor donned a dark suite and tie ensemble as he carried a coffee past a swarm of shutterbugs.
George has been working on the new project this week along with costars Ryan Gosling and Evan Rachel Wood.
Hundreds of students from the nearby Miami University have also congregated to be considered as extras for the production.
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| | George Clooney: 'I f?ked too many chicks and did too many drugs' | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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George Clooney is the cover boy for this week?s Newsweek. It?s all about Clooney and his work in Sudan, where he?s been spending a lot of time over the past six months. Once again, since this is a celebrity site, I?m not going to get into the history of Sudan, or get into details about the genocide or the history of oppression and violent, bloody rule, or how more people should be paying attention. If you?d like to know more, here is Wikipedia?s overview. The full Clooney-Newsweek piece is here, and here are some of the highlights:
Clooney on using his celebrity: ?It?s harder for authoritarian regimes to survive, because we can circumvent old structures with cell phones and the Internet,? says Clooney. ?Celebrity can help focus news media where they have abdicated their responsibility. We can?t make policy, but we can ?encourage? politicians more than ever before.? Which was why, a few weeks ago, Clooney was being driven in a white pickup down a red dirt road under the watchful eyes of teenage soldiers armed with AK-47s. L.A. was half a world away, but the paparazzi were not far from his mind. ?If they?re going to follow me anyway,? he was saying, ?I want them to follow me here.?
Clooney invested in his own Sudan satellite: Celebrity statesmen function like freelance diplomats, adopting issue experts and studying policy. More pragmatic than stars turned social activists in the past, they use the levers of power to solve problems. Clooney has Sudanese rebel leaders on speed dial. He?s had AK-47s shoved in his chest. And when he?s on movie sets, he gets daily Sudan briefings via email. Now he?s gone one step further?George Clooney has a satellite. Privately funded and publicly accessible (SatSentinel.org), this eye in the sky monitors military movements on the north-south border?the powder keg in a region the U.S. director of national intelligence described a year ago as the place on earth where ?a new mass killing or genocide is most likely to occur.? ?I?m not tied to the U.N. or the U.S. government, and so I don?t have the same constraints. I?m a guy with a camera from 480 miles up,? Clooney says. ?I?m the anti-genocide paparazzi.?
Clooney on celebrity-activists: ?Bono?s model really worked,? Clooney says. ?There is more attention on celebrity than ever before?and there is a use for that besides selling products.? Stars like Brad Pitt (Katrina), Ben Affleck (Congo), and Sean Penn (Haiti) followed suit. ?A lot of the young actors I see coming up in the industry are not just involved, but knowledgeable on a subject and then sharing that with fans,? says Clooney. No one?s just a ?peace activist? anymore?they have a specialty.
Clooney doesn?t want to run for anything: ?I didn?t live my life in the right way for politics, you know,? he said, sitting outside the Central Pub in Juba, scarfing down pizza. ?I f–ked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that?s the truth.? A smart campaigner, he believes, ?would start from the beginning by saying, ?I did it all. I drank the bong water. Now let?s talk about issues.? That?s gonna be my campaign slogan: ?I drank the bong water.???
Clooney?s strategy for public diplomacy is informed by film. ?You have to get people in the theater first,? he reflects. ?The trick is to be really concise?it?s a one-liner on a poster, right? You have to make it clear. ?You can stop a war before it starts? [or] ?If you had a chance to prevent the next Darfur, what would you do??? You cannot sustain people?s attention seven days a week, for a long period of time. Actors have an advantage, because you do a movie and then you disappear for a while,? he says. ?That?s what John and I try to do?come back every three or four months with something new to reignite interest.? Then he jokes it might take The Real Housewives of Sudan to keep Americans? attention.
Clooney on his job as a celebrity activist: ?My job is to amplify the voice of the guy who lives here and is worried about his wife and children being slaughtered,? says Clooney, summing up the opportunity and obligation of the celebrity statesman. ?He wants to shout it from the mountaintops, but he doesn?t have a very big megaphone or a very big mountain. So he?s asking anyone who has a mountain and megaphone to protect his family, his village. And if he finds me and asks, ?You got a big megaphone?? and I say, ?Yes.? ?You got a decent-size mountain to yell it from?? ?Yeah, I got a pretty good-sized mountain.? ?Will you do me a favor and yell it?? And I go, ?Absolutely.???
[From Newsweek]
The Newsweek article is full of quotes from people who give George a lot of credit for positively affecting the situation in Southern Sudan - and I think it?s well-deserved. Clooney has put his time, his money and his credibility where his mouth is, and he did positively affect the situation. Although, and this is just nit-picking: I wish Clooney would stop referencing his 2005-06 Oscar campaign as the catalyst for him getting more involved in international humanitarian tragedies. It makes him seem? blas. That?s my only complaint though, so he?s doing something right.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Newsweek cover courtesy of CoverAwards.
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| | George Clooney caught malaria for the second time, but he's recovering | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Sad news. George Clooney has spent a significant amount of time in Sudan over the past few months, and during a stay in early January, he contracted malaria. Sad! Of course, malaria is a treatable condition, and this is George?s second time at the malaria fun-house. I hear they let you drink gin and tonic! That?s about it. Basically, you feel like hot death and you wish someone would shoot you in the face.
George Clooney is known for his practical jokes but a recent bout with a serious illness was no laughing matter.
The actor, 49, contracted Malaria during a trip to Africa recently as part of a push for aggressive diplomacy to avoid another potential genocide in the Sudan region. But, his rep says, he’s subsequently made a full recovery despite new reports to the contrary.
“George is completely over the Malaria he contracted while in the Sudan during the first week in January,” his rep tells PEOPLE. “This illustrates how with proper medication, the most lethal condition in Africa, can be reduced to a bad ten days instead of a death sentence.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site, “Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans.”
The news of his illness broke Thursday via the host of CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, who Tweeted that Clooney is still fighting the illness: “It’s his 2nd bout of malaria. Taking medication but feeling rough,” Morgan claimed.
Morgan says Clooney, who taped his interview on Jan. 13, is due to be a guest on his show on Friday and will talk about the condition then.
[From People]
God, George has balls. He talks the talk and walks the walk, and he?s got his second case of malaria to prove it. Oh, CNN has a video clip too - Clooney?s on Piers? show tonight:
George Clooney contracted malaria while he was in Sudan during the recent election there, he told Piers Morgan during an interview scheduled to air Friday. Clooney was in Sudan working on a his “Enough” project with Google and the United Nations installing equipment to film the historic election. Clooney was helping set up a semicovert satellite photography project to record the voting and any possible fallout. The “Enough” project’s goal is to end genocide.
“The truth of the matter is we are hoping it is one of many tools to continue to apply pressure, at the very least, to gather evidence that could be used at The Hague later if there are - if there are infringements or rules broken … if anyone crosses across the border north or south,” Clooney told Morgan.
It was during this recent work in Sudan that he contracted malaria.
“I guess the mosquito in Juba looked at me and thought I was the bar,” Clooney quipped.
While discussing the matter in a fairly jovial manner, Clooney said it was the second time he had gotten malaria.
“You don’t think President Bashir has - has detached a detail of sickly, vengeful mosquitoes to target you whenever you arrive?” Morgan joked.
“Yeah,” Clooney responded. “I think so.”
A few minutes later Morgan joked in another tweet abut Clooney’s condition.
“Clooney malaria update: now have 24,563 offers to nurse him. But his rep says medication’s worked and he’s OK. Sorry, ladies,” Morgan tweeted.
[From CNN]
See? I went this whole time without making an Elisabetta Canalis/mosquito/blood-sucker joke. Aren?t you proud of me?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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| | George Clooney is a great tipper, says Elisabetta Canalis-like source | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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These are some new photos of George Clooney in LA yesterday, riding around on his motorcycle with his (boy)friend. Clooney has been in LA for a little while now, which comes as a surprise to me - I thought he was back in Italy, having crazy, kinky sex with Elisabetta Canalis, something involving whips and handcuffs and broken bones. But no, they?re in LA. People Magazine even had a friendly little piece of PR about the couple that sounds like it came from Elisabetta:
George Clooney and girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis enjoyed a low-key date night at Studio City’s Chi Dynasty. The pair walked in holding hands, and once seated, shared lettuce cups, egg rolls, chow mein and orange chicken, as well as some chardonnay and sake. “They laughed a lot throughout their meal, and continued holding hands,” a source tells PEOPLE, adding that Clooney was “a great tipper.”
[From People]
When I read “They laughed a lot throughout their meal, and continued holding hands,” I thought for sure the source was Canalis. Then when I read that Clooney is a ?great tipper? I knew for sure that it was Canalis!
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He?s always been interested in foreign affairs, and earlier today (November 17) George Clooney was spotted arriving for a meeting at the United Nations building in New York City.
The ?Ocean?s Eleven? stud looked dapper in a dark suit as he strolled inside while nearby paparazzi snapped up pictures.
In career news, Clooney has already shown interest in director Steven Soderbergh?s adaptation of the 1960s television show ?The Man From U.N.C.L.E.?
Soderbergh announced that he was in talks to ?not modernize the film and keep it set in the director?s beloved 1960s- to take U.N.C.L.E. back to its roots? earlier this week.
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Using his celebrity to crusade for causes close to the heart, George Clooney arrived by amtrak train into Washington, D.C. for his meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday (October 12).
Sporting bandages on his fingers, the "Up In the Air" actor squeezed past a crowd of onlookers and press members as he spent time meeting with President Barack Obama on issues concerning Sudan.
Coming ahead of a critical election early next year in Africa's largest nation, George reportedly is seeking worldwide assistance in preventing another civil war - which he sees as a strong possibility due to the fact that the January 9th vote happens to be "an independence referendum on south Sudan that is likely to split the country in two," according to AP reports.
Joined by activist John Prendergast for the presidential meeting, Clooney left in a good mode - telling press that he thinks that Obama is well-knowledged on the situation with every intention of keeping the peace.
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He?s no stranger to humanitarian efforts, and George Clooney is once again using his celebrity for a good cause.
The ?Ocean?s Eleven? stud gave an interview on the ?Today? show this morning in which he called for diplomacy efforts in Darfur to help prevent more genocide.
Clooney explained, ?I think it can be stopped. We stopped [the previous Darfur conflict] in 2005 with diplomacy. We didn?t stop it with soldiers. So, yes, if we get involved now, we have a shot.?
"It doesn't matter what I believe, because obviously I'm an actor. The Secretary of State said it's a ticking time bomb. The CIA said this is the next genocide if we're not careful ? it is the biggest risk. The president has said as much. Everyone acknowledges that this is what is going to take place if someone doesn't moderate and mediate. ? I'm just trying to say it as loud as possible."
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| | George Clooney travels to Sudan with Ann Curry | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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George Clooney is in the midst of another trip to Sudan. He has been to the area? I believe this is his third trip? Clooney went with a team of people including NBC?s Ann Curry. They traveled not to the refugee camps in the western part of Sudan, where the Janjawid have carried out a systemic pattern of rape and genocide, but to Southern Sudan, where a vote determining the area?s independence is going to be held in several months. Southern Sudan has seen much of the same campaign of genocide, the genocide has become synonymous with ?Darfur? - the western-most province. These photos were tweeted by Ann Curry.
American actor George Clooney is visiting the little known region of Southern Sudan. The U.N. Security Council arrived to a raucous welcome on Wednesday, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also made a recent trip here.
The high-level visits are putting the spotlight on the Texas-sized area of Sudan that is far less known to Americans than the western region of Darfur, where mass atrocities have been committed over the last decade. Southern Sudan is three months from a Jan. 9 independence vote that could see Africa’s largest country break in two. The vote — and the potential of a new north-south war because of it — are the reason behind the rash of visits.
“If you knew a tsunami, or Katrina or a Haiti earthquake was coming, what would you do to save people?” Clooney said, according to a blog post by Ann Curry, a reporter for NBC who is accompanying Clooney.
Clooney spent the past week traveling to remote, conflict-prone areas of Sudan’s south with John Prendergast, the founder of the Enough Project, an anti-genocide advocacy group. One photo posted by Curry showed Clooney pointing over a field that Curry wrote was the site of a mass grave from 2008. That was in Abyei, a town that was largely burned to the ground after southern and northern armies clashed there, prompting an estimated 60,000 people to flee. The U.N. reported at the time that at least 140 people died.
Clooney, who declined a request for comment, also visited the town of Malakal, where elements of Sudan’s northern and southern armies have clashed twice since the end of the 21-year north-south civil war in 2005.
The group of Americans also talked to villagers in Lul, an area where Human Rights Watch recently documented killings and rapes by southern soldiers against civilians who opposed the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
When the U.N. Security Council arrived Wednesday, school children lined the streets and hundreds of people at the airport chanted a greeting to America’s U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice. The group also chanted “Welcome, welcome ICC,” a reference to the International Criminal Court that has indicted Sudan’s president for war crimes in the western region of Darfur. Rice is known for her hardline views on how the U.S. should deal with the northern government, which is headed by President Omar al-Bashir.
The Security Council plans to meet with Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir but will not meet with al-Bashir. Members will also assess preparations for the Jan. 9 independence vote in Southern Sudan and a separate vote that day in the oil-rich region of Abyei.
Officials from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington spent two weeks in Southern Sudan to assess the likelihood that mass violence will break out following the January vote. Mike Abramowitz, the director of genocide prevention at the museum, said “the next year is a very dangerous time for the civilians in Sudan.”
“It is very hard to predict genocide. However, there are warning signs, many of which are present in Sudan,” Abramowitz told The Associated Press last weekend. “Today there is an opportunity to avoid calamity, with sufficient international focus and pressure brought to bear on both southern and — particularly — northern leaders.”
In a speech last week, Kiir said that he and his people have experienced “the anguish of war” and do not want to return to conflict.
[From The Associated Press via HuffPo]
You learn something new everyday - I was completely unaware of this issue. The issue of the vote, that is. I was very aware of the genocide. I also find it interesting that Clooney?s trip is being bracketed with the trip for the UN Security Council. Of course, I also find it interesting that Elisabetta Canalis didn?t come along. I?m a gossip, after all.
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| | Hot Guy Friday: The search for the perfect 'forever and always' dong | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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I was totally and completely lost for this week’s headliner Hot Guy this week. And then it occurred to me - Motherf-ckin’ George Clooney! Not the Clooney that we’re forced to look at these days, the Clooney with the weird, oddly worked-on face, the strange toupee-looking hair, and the open relationships with (alleged) coke whores. No, I thought we’d do the Classic Cloon. The vintage Clooney, the one everyone loved because he didn’t know what a f-cking kinky, cheesy, escort-loving bastard he was yet. We thought he was cool. We thought he was hot. And he was! Remember Out of Sight? Still one of my favorite movies, and Clooney has never looked or been any better than that. So peruse the vintage section, at your leisure. Added bonus: Clooney has lots of hot guy friends!
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| | George Clooney Brad Pitt 'prank' each other with male prostitutes (update) | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Any story with the words ?George Clooney,? ?Brad Pitt,? and ?male escort? is going to be good. This one comes via Life & Style?s ?Scene Queens? - they claim that Brad and George?s years-long prank-fest has gone to a whole new level. Allegedly, they?re paying male escorts in advance to ?show up? on their film sets:
One perk to being an A-lister is being able to pull pranks on your famous friends that mere mortals could never get away with.
Life & Style?s Scene Queens have learned that the prank wars between Brad Pitt and George Clooney have escalated to where both men are spending thousands to one up each other.
Their latest practical joke is downright naughty!
?Brad and George are sending each other an endless stream of male escorts while each is on set,? an insider tells the Scene Queens. ?They will pay them in advance on a credit card to make sure the escort shows up.?
The battle between the two of them has been ongoing for years.
?A few years ago Brad offered a $1,000 to people to get them to pee in the vents George Clooney?s car,? an insider tells the Scene Queens. ?George came right back and offered $5,000 to pepper spray Brad?s car and paint it orange.?
[From Life & Style]
??And that?s how Clooney met Canalis? - so the story goes. Brad paid Elisabetta by credit card, and Clooney fell in love. You know I?m right.
Honestly, though, I?ve always thought that Clooney was kind of in love with Brad. This is probably just Clooney?s way of broaching ?the subject? with Brad. Buy him a male hooker, see what happens.
Update: Clooney’s rep tells GossipCop that none of these pranks are accurate. He said “not one of those pranks is true.” He probably added “amateurs” under his breath. Their real pranks are probably much worse.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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