'I want you George!' - Clooney turns down a gay advance in Venice

Sep 8, 2009, 12:56 GMT

George Clooney - The man, wearing only a black tie around his neck, asked Clooney whether he and Ewan McGregor, his co-star in the film The Men Who Stare at Goats, had intentionally played \'queer\' roles. © Bob Charlotte / PR Photos

Venice, Italy - Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney had to contend Tuesday with a very vocal advance from a bare-chested man during a news conference at the Venice Film Festival.

The man, wearing only a black tie around his neck, asked Clooney whether he and Ewan McGregor, his co-star in the film The Men Who Stare at Goats, had intentionally played 'queer' roles.

He then shouted: 'Because I'm gay George. I want you George! Come with me George!' amid laughter and boos from other conference participants.

Clooney smiled wrily, and remarked how some people take a 'big chance' only that 'it doesn't really work.' Then addressing the man he added: 'But that's a very good tie.'

Earlier at the news conference, which had been billed as open only to accredited media and film industry personnel, Clooney drew admiring comments from several female participants.

The star, sporting a bandaged right hand - broken he explained, 'by a car door' - turned on some roguish charm for one woman reporter who asked him if he believed in psychic powers in the same way that his character in The Men Who Stare At Goats does.

'Shame on you, that is filthy,' Clooney said to the woman, jokingly implying he could read her thoughts about him.

Clooney, who also produced The Men Who Stare At Goats - a quirky farce-like story about a top secret wing of the US military - was joined at the news conference by McGregor and the film's director, Grant Heslov.

McGregor plays an ambitious but insecure reporter, Bob Wilton, who in search of his next big story encounters Lyn Cassady (Clooney) a mysterious figure who claims to be part of the New Earth Army.

The unit supposedly consists of 'Warrior Monks' who with their psychic powers can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through solid walls, and, as one scene of the film suggests, kill a goat simply by staring at it.