The Wiz Of Show Biz

COURTESY OF WARNER BROTHERS
THE BAR IS CLOSED Clooney, with Gould, Pitt and Cheadle, above, played practical jokes on cast members

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Clooney, who is a hard-core Democrat, wants to bring some of that full-grown masculinity to his party and uses the term "ruthless liberalism" as an antidote to compassionate conservatism. Clooney's father Nick, a former Cincinnati, Ohio, anchorman and host on cable's American Movie Classics, ran for Congress in Kentucky as a Democrat and got crushed. Though George raised funds, he didn't do any campaigning for his dad. "It would have been Hollywood versus the heartland," he says. "I definitely would have hurt him." Charm, apparently, will go only so far.

You get a sense that Clooney's passion for acting will run its course sooner rather than later. He gained 30 lbs. in 30 days for a role in Syriana, a Soderbergh-produced film about oil corruption with Damon and Amanda Peet. Although he has worked off 18 lbs. playing basketball and eating light, he regrets taking the role. "There was not one thing that was fun about it," he says. "It really messed me up. I have these migraines now. I would trade not having done the movie for the pain it's caused me." But then he catches himself and realizes how he sounds. "Even a migraine," he says, putting the grin back on, "sounds like a Hollywood thing." It's pretty charming when you can be self-aware with a splitting headache.