Clooney Unveils New Gal in Venice

'Homeland' also does well at the Golden Globes

(NEWSER) - Be honest: You tuned in to the Golden Globes tonight mostly to see what Ricky Gervais would say . But awards were handed out too, and The Artist and The Descendants were the big film winners. Both won best picture and best actor in their respective categories (comedy or musical for the former, drama for the latter), and The Artist also won best original score. In the TV categories, Homeland did well, winning best drama series and best actress in a drama series. More big winners: More»

Star says he wasn't at Italian PM's 'bunga bunga' party

(NEWSER) - Coming soon to an Italian courtroom: The Berlusconi Bunga Bunga Trial, starring George Clooney, Silvio Berlusconi, a former belly dancer, and dozens of starlets and showgirls. Clooney is among the 214 defense witnesses to be called at the former Italian prime minister's trial on charges that he paid an underage prostitute, the Guardian reports. Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and several government ministers will also be among the witnesses at the trial, which begins next week. More»

And more highlights from 'Rolling Stone' interview

(NEWSER) - George Clooney covers the latest issue of Rolling Stone , out today. Highlights from the sometimes steamy, surprisingly revealing interview:

• His first orgasm: He lost his virginity at the “young, very young, too young” age of 16, but had his first orgasm at age six or seven. “I believe it was while climbing a rope,” he says. “I mean, nothing came out, but all the other elements were there. I remember getting to the top of the rope, hanging off the rope, and going, ‘Oh, my God, this feels great!’”

OK, that's not weird or anything

(NEWSER) - You may have thought George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis had a steamy Hollywood romance, but apparently it was “more of a father-daughter relationship,” Canalis explains in a new book. In Questo Amore (This Love), Italian journalist Bruno Vespa also quotes Canalis as saying that Clooney was "the person who valued my feminine side the most." He was "special for me, and very important, just as a father would be," she says, as reported by People . More»

Great acting overcomes shopworn themes in Clooney's political thriller

(NEWSER) - Critics are quite pleased with George Clooney's latest directorial offering, The Ides of March; the taut political drama currently enjoys an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes —although some of its supporters have qualms about its themes. Here's what they're saying:

• “Are you sitting down? George Clooney has some shocking news: Politics is a dirty business,” writes Ty Burr in the Boston Globe . “The Ides of March works hard to seem down and dirty, but it’s naive at heart.” Still it “rolls slickly along,” managing to be “derivative but fun—a West Wing episode with more marbles rolling around the board.”
• “The movie’s strength is in the acting,” writes Roger Ebert . “Clooney the director brings his actor’s experience to the job and attends closely to performance.” Gosling in particular has “an insistent presence.”