Venice Film Festival coverage featuring George Clooney and Hollywood celebrities

HED: To Venice With Love, Peggy Siegal DEK: Back to northern Italy to take in the arts and architecture—and of course, film at the 68th annual Venice Film Festival. By: Peggy Siegal Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2010 Art collector, polo player and film producer Peter Brant gives me a ride to the 68th Venice Film Festival to mingle with Hollywood glitterati from around the world. Venice, the thousand-year-old city looks like a movie set floating on the water that has been the backdrop for films from Casanova to The Tourist. This year, 65 films will have world premieres. Among the jury are two American directors: chairman Darren Aronosfky, Todd Haynes and one English musician, David Byrne. Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011 | check into the paparazzi-proof Cipriani's on the private Giudecca Island for a week—a safe haven for George Clooney, Al Pacino and Gwyneth Paltrow. Cipriani's is impossible to book | have been told for months that Friday night is sold out. In Italy, George Clooney, aka “King George,” is presiding over his Ides of March press conference at the Palazzo del Casino on Lido. He rules himself out of a future role as United States President, citing Barack Obama's troubles are reason enough to avoid the job. How many countries can George rule? Clooney currently serves as producer, director, co-writer and actor. He seriously tries to explain why his film now reflects the present cynical political mood of the country. The press cannot help asking silly questions and setting George up for one wisecrack after another. Also on the panel are producer Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon who wrote the play the film is based on, Farragut North. Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood are confident they are sensational in this Machiavellian, political thriller and try not to joke around. George's infectious humor prevails and the conference is reduced to a Friars roast. Ryan Gosling, last seen in Blue Valentine, who is filming in the states, is finally this year’s breakout star stealing Clooney’s film. At the premiere on the Lido at the Palazzo del Cinema, Marco Muller, artistic director of the festival, greets 50-year-old heartthrob Clooney with 45-year-old bombshell Cindy Crawford dressed in long bright red Roberto Cavalli gown exactly matching the red carpet. 23-year-old Evan Rachel Wood steps out in a white Alessandra Rich gown, slit all the way up the middle, exposing her endless legs. Royal George later holds court with his cast back at Cipriani's. Attempting to handle the sweltering humidity, ties are loosened, drinks are poured while Evan Rachel Wood takes the microphone with a back-up jazz quartet belting out Janis Joplin songs. She transforms herself into a gyrating, pulsating soul HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012740