Brad and Jennifer? Tom and Nicole? Anne and Ellen? Nope. This summer's next big flick, Wolfgang Petersen's The Perfect Storm, has the honour of boasting Hollywood's current it-couple - George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. Based on Sebastian Junger's best-seller, which in turn is based on actual events from 1991, this film charts the plight of a band of burly Massachusetts fishermen who risk their lives at high seas, during one of the biggest storms ever, to bring home a bounty of swordfish. Two big stars and an even bigger CGI wave make The Perfect Storm an essential cinematic adventure. Forget cool, journalistic detachment - Bob Fear was frankly a bit wibbly at being in the same room as the both of them when they honoured London with a brief visit…

George, what was it that attracted you to this role?
G: Well there's a bunch of things, the first and foremost was the book; it was in everyone's radar early on as a really good story. And then the real attraction was Wolfgang. The chance to work with him would have been really silly to pass up. Then when this role became available, I just thought I was really lucky.

Mark, I heard that when you entered into discussions about this movie, you hadn't actually seen the script?
M: No, I hadn't. George was kind enough to recommend me to Wolfgang…
G: That was an accident.
M: Well of course, but nonetheless it happened. I met with Wolfgang and he told me a little bit about the story. I told him that I was more than happy to, if he was interested in having me play the part - that I would love to. The only unfortunate thing was that I told him that I was capable of doing anything he asked me to do, but words really couldn't really prepare you for what he had in store for us…

I would imagine that making this film heightened your respect for the real heroes; the guys from the rescue service and the guys who risk their lives to fish out on the ocean…
G: I didn't really know that much about the fishing community, especially long-line fishing. I grew up in Kentucky where there was a lot of tobacco farming, which was menial labour and not a great way to make a living - but nobody ever dies from it. So it was really pretty fascinating. You have a healthy respect for the ocean anyway, anybody who's been around it, but boy - it was a completely different thing once you were out there and spending time with those guys. I didn't really know about the storm until I read the book…

Obviously you had to learn how to sail the boat and learn how to fish, did either of you get seasick?
G: Only one of us, and it wasn't me, got seasick! But he only got seasick on one day and he still says it was from bad sushi! He threw up more than I've ever seen anybody throw up in my life.
M: It was not funny and George laughed harder than I've ever seen him laugh.
G: We were doing the scene where we fight in the wheelhouse and it was a pretty rough day. Mark was just green. And it wasn't between every take - it was between every line that he would throw up! Wolfgang and I - we never laughed so much in our lives, coz anytime you see Mark in that state it's good fun!
M: Well at least after a while Wolfgang stopped laughing, he gave me a little pat on the back and said: 'it'll be okay - we'll try to get you out of here soon.' George wanted to extend the scene!
G: I wanted to re-work some scenes. So much fun.
M: Glad you enjoyed it!

Was it true that some animal rights activists visited the set to complain about cruelty to fish?
G: Yeah, there were some people who came down to protest, I told them that the fish were rubber - coz they were a little upset.

You seem to spend a lot of time in big, soggy, woolly jumpers having buckets of water thrown over you. Did you ever lose it?
M: Every day, every day.
G: We were up at seven every morning, you get there and you get in the tank… there's actually a photo of Mark and I standing there in between takes when we've just been hit and we look like we couldn't be more miserable.

You two seem to have developed a buddy-buddy relationship that rivals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. What is it that attracts you to each other?
G: Well you've seen his work, so that speaks for itself. I think I'm sort of lucky…
M: I like this…
G: Oh! You're talking about Mark? Oh, I'm forced to work with Mark. No, first of all - he's incredibly talented, secondly - we get him to work cheap.
M: I'm very cheap, very cheap.
G: Mark is wise beyond his years and he's fun on the set. He's really good at what he does. I've done two films now where Mark Wahlberg is the lead in them and I'm thrilled to be in them with him coz he's really talented. Now that's gonna go right to his head.
M: It already has. Whereas I have no answer.
G: Well, I'll write this out for you… (George mimes writing out Mark's answer)
M: (Pretending to read) "Working with George was interesting because…" What?
G: "Because he was the model for Boogie Nights."
M: Well I'd work with George every time if it were up to me. It's just his approach to work, his commitment, he's very much a team player. And he was nice enough to give me this job - I'd be pretty dumb if I said no. Uh…trying to find something nice to say about George is very difficult.
G: Try…try…
M: But the suspense is killing 'em! No - our chemistry is obviously something very special so hopefully we'll get to use it more. How was that, George?
G: Really…nice.
M: Well it was obvious, but it was good.

Diane Lane, who plays Mark's girlfriend in this film, said that working with you was "painfully funny." Was it hard sometimes not to lark around too much on set?
M: Not for me, because I was usually the one being made fun of or laughed at! But it's always hard for me to keep a straight face around George; he's got quite a good sense of humour. Uh, what do you think George?
G: There are times when other people are in a scene with us, because we do have a sort of shorthand now. I think at times that might be a little tough on other people, but it's certainly not tough on us! I think a couple of the other actors were feeling a little bit left out.

In the forthcoming film Metal God, where Mark plays a heavy metal star, how do things between you differ when George is the producer and Mark is the actor?
M: He's mean as a producer.
G: I'm a mean producer.
M: It's very different when George is the big boss.
G: Right - it's gonna get uglier.

Mark, you've signed up for the Planet of the Apes remake, what swung that for you?
M: Tim Burton - I'm a big fan of his. Every one of his films has been interesting, all for different reasons. I'm excited. I'm not a great fan of the films - George knows more about them than I do. George, do the line for me please?
G: (Doing his best anguished Charlton Heston) 'Get your grimy hands off me you filthy ape!' I can't wait to see him in that collar!

Are you two guys working together on Stephen (Sex, Lies &Videotape) Soderbergh's remake of the Rat Pack classic Ocean's 11? Who else constitutes the line-up?
G: Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts and Mark - if he can finish the Ape movie in time, so we're gonna try and delay it a little bit to see if we can get Mark freed, so it depends on Tim Burton.
M: Of course it's never gonna work without me.
G: We've got a line of people waiting! It's a modern remake, it's really a completely different story. We weren't originally looking to do a Rat Pack movie. But I was a fan of those guys, Dean, Frankie and Sammy; they just cracked me up. But I'm a big fan of the script we've got right now.

Do you think that both of your former public personas, as Marky Mark of the Funky Bunch and as Dr Doug Ross from ER have finally been laid to rest?
M: I think I've gotten away from that. I vowed never to do any music in films, and I felt far away enough from that to do Metal God. I think that now I can return to underwear modelling! It wasn't a good thing to have when you were starting out as an actor and wanting to be taken seriously but let's be honest - it was pretty good fun!
G: The truth is that I don't think you'll ever shake off a show that was as popular as that show is world-wide, so as opposed to swimming upstream and trying to fight it you accept it as part of your life. Most people who work in films are out of television. You just accept it and go to work.

Any chance of you guys coming to work here in London and giving the British film industry a boost?
M: I don't know how much of a boost I could give it! I sure like it here. People don't throw things at me anymore…
G: Did you used to get things thrown at you?
M: Oh yeah.
G: Here or just in general?
M: Well more here than anywhere else.
G: Really?
M: Yeah.
G: Ooo. Well I'd love to get involved in a project here. But after Batman and Robin I just had to focus on scripts, you know? I decided that was a better idea. But I'd love to - it's so great here…

So George, how's your pig?
The pig is healthy. 

Los Angeles: The Hollywood remake factory continues at full speed, with a new version of the cult classic Planet of the Apes in the works at 20th Century Fox.

Mark Wahlberg will star in the updated version, to be directed by Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow -1999, Batman - 1989, Edward Scissorhands - 1990).

And comic actor Paul Giamatti (Big Momma's House) could soon sign on to the project, the Hollywood Reporter said yesterday.

Giamatti would play Limbo, a slave-trading ape "who is anti-human but later sympathises with their plight," the trade journal said.

The original Planet of the Apes, which starred Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell, was made in 1967. It told the story of a space craft that crash-lands into the future, in a world where apes are the masters and humans the slaves.

Whatever the future prospects for the Bat- man movie franchise, there is one certainty. George Clooney, who played the Caped Crusader in the dire Batman and Robin, can be ruled out of contention for a return to the role. When we met recently, Clooney rarely missed an opportunity to take a sideswipe at the series.

The urbane and stubbly actor was in the middle of extolling the virtues of the Coen brothers, who directed him in the imminent O Brother, Where Art Thou?, when he contrasted that experience with working on Bat- man and Robin. "I was on the road promoting Batman," he says, "and you get to a point where you've got to sit down with journalists and look them in the eye and say, `It's a good movie, isn't it?'

"Actually, I didn't say that in the case of Batman. I found adjectives to cover myself. I said things like, `It's a big movie'. After finishing a month and a half of trying to find ways to dance around the obvious - which was that there was no script, that I wasn't very good in it, and all those other things - I just decided I didn't want to have to do that anymore. And I was in the lucky financial position to be able to stick with that decision. It's a better place to be, I can tell you, to be able to do only what I really want to do."

It has taken a long time for George Clooney to reach that "better place" - an unusually long time, perhaps, for someone with a show-business background. His father, Nick, was a successful TV presenter and newscaster in Kentucky and Cincinnati. His aunt, Rosemary Clooney, was an internationally successful pop singer in the 1950s. And her husband, José Ferrer, was twice nominated for the best actor Oscar.

"I had the great luck of having very famous people around me when I was growing up," George Clooney reflects. "In the world I grew up in, which was Kentucky and across the river in Cincinnati, my father was a big star in that little microcosm. So we were always under the looking-glass. And my aunt Rosemary was a very big star, and then not.

"In 1950 she was on the cover of every magazine in the world, and by 1960 she was finished. She hadn't become less of a singer in those 10 years. She didn't lose her talent. When she was 19 years old and everyone told her she was brilliant, she thought she was brilliant. So, when rock 'n' roll came in and women were gone from the music scene, she thought she had lost it. She had no selfesteem.

"So, luckily, I was groomed to understand how little it has to do with you - and that you're never as good or as bad as people say you are. If you can find somewhere in the middle of your own self-esteem, you're fine, you've a better chance of surviving."

It helped to be so philosophical in Clooney's case. When he was 21, he moved to California and stayed at his aunt's home in Beverly Hills as he set about finding work as an actor. After over a decade of minor TV roles, and working in construction for a living when acting jobs were not available, he finally landed the role of the paediatrician, Doug Ross, in the TV series, ER.

"Television was my life," he says. "I grew up in television. My father had a talkshow when I was a kid. I played characters in a variety show and did commercials for potato chips when I was seven years old. Then, as I got older, I did 15 years in television, but I couldn't get a job in a feature film, with the exception of Return of the Killer Tomatoes. I still go back to television. I did Fail Safe for television this year. I sneaked back for the final episode of ER, for Julianna's last episode. So I haven't abandoned television. It's been a great part of my life and I'm not going to let that go.

"It's hard to do a television series, especially an hour show and one where you have to learn to speak Latin like ER and you have to learn all these medical techniques. But it was fun to do and it sure changed my life, and I learned so much about acting and pacing yourself. I remember the first year of ER, Spielberg was on the set all the time because he was the executive producer of the show. He was standing next to a monitor looking at a scene I had just done with Julianna. He tapped the glass with his finger and said, 'Hold your head still. You're the star'."

Clooney's first movies as a leading man were inauspicious - the over-the-top, ultraviolent From Dusk Till Dawn (banned in Ireland), the plodding thriller The Peace-maker, the quite engaging One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer, and of course, Bat- man and Robin. Over the last two years, however, he's been on a roll, starting with the role of fugitive bank robber Jack Foley in Steven Soderbergh's sharp Elmore Leonard adaptation, Out of Sight, and the anarchic Gulf War black comedy, Three Kings with Mark Wahlberg.

Clooney and Wahlberg are reunited in the current US hit movie, The Perfect Storm, which trounced the Mel Gibson epic, The Patriot, at the box-office over the busy July 4th weekend. Based on the speculative best-selling book by Sebastian Junger, the film deals with the factually based story of a Massachusetts fishing boat, the Andrea Gail, which, in 1991, became caught up in a raging storm when Hurricane Grace converged with another storm and a cold front coming down from Canada.

The boat's skipper, a lonely, divorced man who's missing his children and down on his luck, is played by Clooney. "I spent about three weeks taking out our Andrea Gail," he says. "I had to parallel park it at a few different docks. Fortunately, I didn't screw up and wipe out the dock. We did some longline fishing as well, and spent a few nights at sea. It gave me a new appreciation for how fishermen make their living."

It was Clooney who persuaded the movie's director, Wolfgang Petersen, to cast Mark Wahlberg - the former rap singer and underwear model who broke out as an actor of note in Boogie Nights - as one of the six fishermen aboard the boat. "Mark and I are going to do a third film together," Clooney says. "I don't know he handled it, how he stays as normal as he has done. He's been famous for 10 years and he's only 29 years old. I would have screwed up badly if that had happened to me when I was his age."

While Clooney expected The Perfect Storm to succeed at the box-office, he doesn't believe that the Coens' O Brother, Where Art Thou? will attract a mass audience in the US. "It's a weird thing," he says, "but having seen that movie, I think it will have a tough time in the United States. We're a funny country. You can sell things to us very easily.

"I was watching the trailer for The Perfect Storm. I've seen the film and I'm very proud of it, because it's exactly what we set out to do, which is hard to do - to tell a real story that is heartbreaking and still combine it with powerful action. But the trailer has this moment in the middle of all the action when this weatherman goes, `It's like the perfect storm'.

"There's just no need for that. It's already so clear from what the trailer is showing. But the trailer guys said that this is the moment in the trailer that tests the highest! In the United States we still like a little cheese in our soufflés, so we just cheese things up. I think it's very hard to sell films there. Three Kings made $60 million, which is good. We made money, but it wasn't a huge hit. It should have done better.

"In a funny way I've been very lucky that the films I have done haven't been gigantically successful, so I haven't been pigeonholed into one specific acting genre - like only playing men in rubber suits! There's no similarities at all between O Brother, Out of Sight, Three Kings and The Perfect Storm, and I'm very happy with that. I think I'm choosing well right now, but who knows? I could be trying to sell you Ishtar 2 next!"

Joel and Ethan Coen's O Brother, Where Art Thou?, takes its title from the film planned by Joel McCrea's idealistic director in the Preston Sturges classic, Sullivan's Travels - and credits Homer's The Odyssey as the basis of its screenplay by the Coens. Set in 1930s Mississippi, this eccentric tall tale follows the quirky exploits of three escaped convicts, played by George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson, who are advised by an elderly blind man that they will find their fortune at the end of a long and difficult journey.

As one would expect from the Coens, the film is inventive, imaginative and unpredictable, featuring such splendid set-pieces as a Ku Klux Klan rally choreographed and shot like a Busby Berkeley musical, along with a lovely bluegrass soundtrack, gorgeous widescreen location cinematography - and a delightfully droll Clooney as the vain convict with the Clark Gable moustache.

"The Coens did not write the script with me in mind," says Clooney, "and then they saw me in Out of Sight. I was filming Three Kings in Phoenix, Arizona at the time. They sent me the script of O Brother and flew down to meet me. I agreed to do it immediately. That was in February of last year and the really unusual thing was that when we started shooting the film in June, there was just one page of changes in the entire script after all that time.

"We shot everything that was on the script, and they only do one or two takes of every scene, so you really have to be on your toes, and there's never a harsh word on the set. I'd never seen anything like it. When we were doing Three Kings the director (David O. Russell) would change the lines on camera and shout them out. That's not much fun. I prefer to learn the lines. But every film I've been on, the script changes a lot, sometimes too much. Batman, not quite enough."

The Coens are "easy, easy guys to work with, very friendly and easygoing," he says. "If you're an actor, working with the Coens is one of the great goals in your life. And I got to do it. Hopefully, we'll do another project together. We're already talking about one.

"When you make a film with them, you're working with two directors, which is very unusual, especially since they don't ever disagree. And when you start to work with them, immediately you're able to change your acting style and raise the stakes a little bit - because you know from what they've done before that they'll protect you. Being those guys must be a really fun place to be."

Being George Clooney must be a fun place to be these days, now he has the power to be selective about what he does. He and Steven Soderbergh have set up a company and they will remake the Rat Pack comedy, Ocean's Eleven, in the autumn, with Clooney joined in the cast by Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. And Clooney is proud of the TV remake of the nuclear power drama Fail Safe, which he produced earlier this year with Stephen Frears directing.

"Fail Safe is one of my favourite films," he says. "We did it live on television, in black-and-white and letterbox, which were all things they wouldn't do unless I forced them to let us do it that way. So if I can't find a good script I can go off and do something like that.

"It's a good time for me right now, being able to sit back and wait for scripts I like, for movies I'd like to go and see. Those are my criteria. If my taste is bad, my taste is bad. I can die by my own stupidity. It's just other people's stupidity that I'd hate to die by."

And yes, of course, there are downsides to fame, however hard-won, he says. "Nobody wants to hear them because I lead a very privileged life. I used to cut tobacco for a living in Kentucky, so I learned the value of things very early on. It would be nice to be able to go down to the café and just sit outside and have a drink without being the entertainment.

"But that's okay, that's part of the job. Anyone who has any idea of the history of this understands that it goes away - and I will sit down one day at the café and have a drink and wonder why I'm not the entertainment anymore. I'll deal with that quietly."

The Perfect Storm opens across the country next Friday. O Brother, Where Art Thou? will be released here on September 15th.

CURIOUS goings-on between Rachel Hunter and Marky Mark Wahlberg.

Despite both being single, they have been playing a ridiculous cat and mouse game around London to avoid being seen together, suggesting they have something to hide.

Rod Stewart's ex met up with Mark THREE times on Thursday night but - curiously for a model - she seemed a little camera shy.

Actor Mark dashed back to the capital following the premiere of his new pic The Perfect Storm in Birmingham. First he went for dinner at swanky restaurant Nobu. Then, at midnight, he got his limo to the club Kabaret, where Rachel was waiting.

At around 2am the pair slipped off to Kabaret's sister club, Rock, in separate cars.

Rapper and ex-model Mark went in but Rachel, accompanied by her secret date's bodyguard, refused to emerge in front of photographers.

Eventually she went into the club and the pair were reunited. Onlookers said they sat quietly chatting.

At 3.45am, Rachel tried to sneak out in a ridiculous disguise of cap and sunglasses while sucking a lollipop. And yes, you've guessed it, Mark followed. Their cars then headed for his hotel, The Dorchester.

Rachel legged it into the lobby to meet Mark and they took the lift up to his suite. Neither was spotted until long after dawn.

The pair, who met on the set of rock movie Metal God, were spotted together in LA but claimed they were discussing scripts. Odd then, that they continued their discussions here into the early hours.

Summertime is blockbuster movie season, offering film fans a chance to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars in the flesh at glitzy opening nights.

Typically, the star-struck flock to London's Leicester Square, home to big cinemas linked to the big distributors.

Yet two of the biggest films out this season - nautical drama The Perfect Storm and Jim Carrey's latest offering, Me, Myself and Irene - open outside the capital, in Birmingham and Rhyl respectively.

No prizes for guessing that there's an ulterior motive.

On Thursday, Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney and co-star Mark Wahlberg crossed the Atlantic for The Perfect Storm's UK premiere.

The screening marked the opening of the 5,800-seat Star City megaplex, the latest addition to the Warner Brothers' empire. Surprise, surprise, Warner Brothers are the film's distributors.

The presence of the man widely hailed as the world's sexiest hunk guaranteed maximum exposure for both the film and the complex.

Carrey and Kournikova

Come September, Rhyl in north Wales will host the first British screening of Me, Myself and Irene.

The seaside town secured the premiere thanks to Steve Higginson, a vice-president of 20th Century Fox, who played for Rhyl Town Football Club in the 1970s.

But fans of the film's star - and followers of high-profile extra Anna Kournikova - look set to be disappointed. No "talent" will be in town for the screening, says a Fox spokeswoman.

"It's a regional premiere, to benefit a local charity. If the talent becomes available, we'll look at doing a London premiere."

The decision to screen a premiere outside London often comes down to the project having strong links to an area.

Braveheart premiered in Stirling, where Mel Gibson's Sir William Wallace triumphed over the English; and The Full Monty - unemployed steelworkers stripping for cash and empowerment - opened in Sheffield.

Winchester, a one-cinema city in Hampshire, may seem an unlikely choice for a film premiere.

Yet the cinema, part of Mainline Pictures' Screen chain, is the venue of choice for film adaptations of Jane Austen's works. The city was once home to the novelist, who was buried at Winchester Cathedral.

"We're not far from London, it's a lovely cinema in a converted church, and the family who run it are very well-connected in the film distribution world," says a Winchester City Council tourism spokeswoman.

In 1996, Porthmadog in north Wales hosted the European opening of First Knight, starring Sir Sean Connery and Richard Gere, and filmed near Snowdonia.

Hugh Jones, the local film commissioner, persuaded Colombia Tri-Star to go outside London.

"I sold them the idea that it would be a bit quirky to hold it in north Wales."

At first, no one expected the film's stars to attend the event: "But Julia Ormond turned up and we had a lovely night."

The same year, Anthony Hopkins chose Theatre Clwyd in Mold to premiere August, his first outing as a director. The celluloid project grew from his stage production at the same venue.

Rival to London

As well as reinforcing in which country to find the featured location, hosting a premiere has spin-off benefits for the venue, says Matt Lloyd of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

"The Cameo [in Edinburgh], a small independent cinema, exists on having a reputation boosted by these events."

The cinema hosted the UK premiere of the Blair Witch Project at last year's festival - tickets to the midnight screening sold out in minutes.

"This year, we have less big films and more independent films," Mr Lloyd says, adding that possible stars attending this year's event include Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Eric Stoltz.

Mark Rogers, assistant manager at Edinburgh's Odeon multiplex, said the Scottish capital would soon give London a run for its money.

"The distributors are starting to recognise the facilities we can offer, and they are now realising it's not just Leicester Square that can host these premieres."

ACTOR Mark Wahlberg has revealed that British men can't keep their eyes off his manhood.

The hunky star moans: "I went out last night and I was in the John at the Met Bar. Guys kept checking me out. It has become a bit of a pain, actually."

It's all because of his role as super-endowed porn star Dirk Diggler in the 1997 movie Boogie Nights. But all you guys can breathe a sigh of relief - Mark had to wear padding to measure up to the role.

Despite that, Mark who plays hard-drinking Bobby Shatford in new movie The Perfect Storm, is still seen as one of Hollywood's BIGGEST talents.

He first teamed up with George Clooney in last year's Gulf War adventure The Three Kings and it was Clooney who suggested him for The Perfect Storm. Mark, 29, says: "George is one of the few people in the business I actually consider a friend and would have a friendship with outside it."

Boston-born Mark was one of nine kids and had a troubled childhood. He fell foul of the law and dropped out of school at 16.

He briefly joined brother Donnie's group New Kids On The Block before forming Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch, modelling and then becoming an actor. He now gets £5million per movie. Mark, who has been linked to model/actress Jordanna Brewster, says he won't settle down.

He tells me: "I have a hard time just having female friends - they're either everything or nothing. With most women it's been about physical attraction - that's why I'm as sad as I am today."

But he loves British women: "The more the better. I still have whiplash from last night!"

GEORGE CLOONEY has revealed he is a big fan of The Sun and ALWAYS reads it when he is in Britain.

He says: "I love The Sun. Everyone's heard of it, it's brilliant."

His praise echoes that of Madonna - another American fan of Britain's favourite daily newspaper.

But unlike the Anglophile singer - and in a revelation sure to disappoint his millions of female fans - George says he will not be moving here.

On a visit to London to promote his new film, The Perfect Storm, he says: "I know Madonna's out here now but I have no plans to live here.

"I love Britain but I caught the flu in Frankfurt and have had a really bad chest so I haven't had a chance to enjoy myself.

"I feel absolutely terrible. I wanted to go out last night but I ended up staying in bed."

It seems ironic that a bout of flu could have laid the Hollywod hunk so low after the drenching, battering and bruising he got during the filming of The Perfect Storm.

The film, which opens in Britain next Friday, tells the true-life story of the fishing boat Andrea Gail, which disappeared in a killer storm in the North Atlantic in October 1991 after leaving from its port in Massachusetts.

It is based on Sebastian Junger's book of the same name, which was his imagined account of the last days of the fishing crew's lives. In keeping with the book, the scriptwriters tried to envisage the final events on board the Andrea Gail as responsibly as possible. George, 39, says: "It was a little tricky to do but we are very proud of what we achieved.

"We were trying to make sure the decisions the fishermen made were based on the best possible decision at the time, which is what people really do.

"We're very proud of the fact that this isn't a summer film in the general sense.

"We don't have an action scene until 45 minutes into it. That's really rare. And we certainly don't have a great Hollywood ending.

"But I think it would have been much riskier to change the ending and have everyone all right."

George feels the decision made by his character, Captain Billy Tyne, to try to get his boat and crew through the storm and make it home was the one he would have made too.

He says: "It was the right thing to do, and it was just bad luck it didn't come off."

In one scene George had to walk off the top of the boat and jump to the dock.

As the tide rose between takes, the jump got bigger. At one point he fell backwards and would have been crushed between the boat and the dock if a local man had not caught him.

George recalls: "It was hysterical because he was saying, 'Yeah, I saved George Clooney, yeah'.

"It was embarrassing mostly, but I'm glad he caught me because I think I would have got squished."

It was not all pain and suffering during the shoot. George got to steer a boat for the first time - something he loved - even if the crew were a bit fearful.

He says: "It was really hard to get going and to turn and stop. The dock would seem a mile away and I would be coming full steam, and the guy would be going, 'Please stop'.

"And I'd be like, 'It's a mile away,' and boom - I would smash into the side."

George said he also learned a lot about the tough life fishing during six months filming, some of which surprised him. He says: "You gaff a 500lb swordfish through the eye in order to get it up on deck because you don't want to hurt any of the rest of the body."

Amid the drama, the film crew and cast made sure they had plenty of fun. with George living up to his reputation as a good guy to work with.

He says: "I've never been a guy to just spend time in my trailer. I like film sets and I grew up in Kentucky, so a trailer isn't really a status symbol for us. That's not what you aspire to.
"I mean, everyone knows that we're going to have to get along, so the minute they get to the set they all know that we should just go together to the Crow's Nest bar and have a drink." Mel Gibson was first asked to play Captain Tyne, with George in line for the supporting role of Bobby Shatford, in the end played by Mark Wahlberg.

But Mel had other commitments - leaving George with mixed feelings, as he would have loved to play opposite him.

He says: "That would have been great. He's a great actor and a great guy. I've spent a little time with him and he's very nice. He's funny. He cracks me up."

Despite the rigours of filming The Perfect Storm, George is well aware he has one of the best jobs in the world.

He says: "You can't ever prepare for being cold and wet for six months. We all got thrown around a bit. We got beat up. But I've done a lot worse jobs."

One of the worst, recalls George, was a stint selling ladies' shoes in a department store. He says: "Try doing that. Try telling an old lady who thinks she wears a size six that she is really a size ten. You get beat up that way!"

George also worked cutting tobacco, selling insurance and drawing cartoon caricatures to order in a shopping precinct - all so that he could save enough money to head for Hollywood.

In 1982, when he had saved enough, he set off to be a star in Tinseltown but spent most of the Eighties in an acting wilderness, taking parts in tacky sitcoms and bad movies.

George finally got his big break in 1994 when he landed the part of Dr Doug Ross in ER - ensuring him fame and a future as a worldwide heart-throb.

Since then his film credits have included From Dusk Till Dawn, Batman And Robin, Out Of Sight, One Fine Day and most recently Three Kings.

George's next film - O Brother, Where Art Thou? - is about a prison chain gang in the 1930s and is released in the States in October.

But he is particularly excited about a remake of the old Rat Pack movie Ocean's Eleven, which begins filming in January.

George and Brad Pitt will play the parts taken by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in the 1960 original.

George also recruited Julia Roberts for the film and laughs: "I sent her a script with a $20 bill in it. It said, 'I hear you're getting 20 a picture.

"It's a heist movie, which I love. It's really going to be a lot of fun." 

George Clooney may have looked slightly bemused at first when he arrived on the outskirts of Birmingham to the UK premiere of his movie The Perfect Storm, but the consummate professional in him soon took to his Brummie audience. The backdrop of Star City - Birmingham's newest and biggest retail park - may not have been as glamorous as the usual London venues, but it what it lacked in style it more than made up for in the warmth of reception.

Having been flown up to Birmingham from London by helicopter, Clooney was met with a rapturous welcome by the hundreds of fans that had waited for hours to see him. Following the lead of Tom Cruise's walkabout a few weeks ago, Clooney - and co-star Mark Wahlberg - spent 20 minutes shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for pictures. All pretty impressive when you know that the star was dying of flu; 'I've never felt so sick in my life,' Clooney had told reporters earlier in the day at a press conference for the film in London.

The reason for the unusual Birmingham venue was to celebrate the official opening of Warner Bros' huge new cinema at Star City - the 30 screen, 5,800-seater that's now the biggest in the UK. After the premiere, 2,000 guests partied till the small hours at a lavish £1 million party held in a massive tented village that had taken a week to erect. For exclusive premiere photos and a chance to win some Perfect Storm goodies, take a look at our Perfect Storm feature.

Mark Wahlberg has clearly made a big impression on George Clooney. The two actors have starred in 'Three Kings' and the upcoming 'Perfect Storm', and now Clooney has revealed to Popcorn that he's willing to postpone production on 'Ocean's Eleven' in order to accommodate his buddy.
'Ocean's Eleven' was due to begin production next January - with Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts - but the ex-'ER' man tells us he'll try and postpone it a month "to see if we can get Mark freed up". Wahlberg is, of course, starring in Tim Burton's 'Planet Of The Apes' remake and will definitely star in 'Ocean's Eleven', according to Clooney, "if he can finish his ape movie in time."

The film is a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack heist movie and sees Clooney reunited with his 'Out Of Sight' director Steven Soderbergh. Clooney says the 2000 edition of 'Ocean's Eleven' "is a completely different story, we weren't out looking to do a rat-pack story".

In fact, although Clooney loves the new script (by Ted Griffin), he's not a huge fan of the original, which starred Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the gang. "I was driving across country on a bus with my buddies and we got it [on video] a couple of years ago and we're like 'Woooooo!' We stuck it in and went 'Woooo!', and then ten minutes into it you're like 'Woo'. It just sort of fades away. So I'm a real fan of the idea and of the guys that were in it, but I'm a big fan of the script we're doing now."

You can next see Clooney battling against the elements in 'The Perfect Storm', which opens in the UK on July 28.

LONDON (AP) They may call each other ''mean'' and ''green,'' but George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg really are friends.

At a press conference Thursday promoting their latest movie ''The Perfect Storm,'' the pair joked about Wahlberg's sea sickness during filming and Clooney's stint as producer.

''First of all, he's incredibly talented,'' Clooney said of Wahlberg. ''Second of all, we got him cheaper than most.''

Wahlberg targeted his friend's dual personality.

''He's mean as a producer,'' he said. ''It's very different when George is the big boss.''

''The Perfect Storm,'' based on Sebastian Junger's best-selling book, tells the story of six Massachusetts fishermen lost at sea in 1991. Clooney and Wahlberg starred together last year in the action movie ''Three Kings.''

LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood glamour descended on the unlikely location of Birmingham on Thursday as hundreds of screaming fans turned out to see actor George Clooney at the British premiere of "The Perfect Storm".

Clooney, looking tanned and relaxed in a grey suit and casual shirt, arrived with co-star Mark Wahlberg for the screening at the new 5,800-seat Star City megaplex.

The BBC said Clooney spent 25 minutes signing autographs for excited fans before joining celebrities, including TV presenter Carol Vorderman and actor Sid Owen, inside the cinema.

When asked for his initial impressions of the city - not normally renowned for hosting glamorous events - Clooney took a diplomatic approach.

"The weather is so nice here - its beautiful," Clooney told the BBC.

The film is based on a bestselling book by Sebastian Junger and tells the story of a fishing boat caught in a monster storm off the coast of New England.

Earlier, Clooney appeared at a London launch party for "The Perfect Storm" where he told reporters how Wahlberg had a rough ride during the making of the film.

"Only one of us, and it wasn't me, suffered from seasickness. But he said he had just had some bad sushi," the BBC reported Clooney as saying.

The film stormed the U.S. box office when it opened at the beginning of July, taking $64 million in its first weekend.

Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney has confessed to giving co-star Mark Wahlberg a rough ride while filming nautical drama The Perfect Storm - by poking fun at his seasickness.

Boogie Nights star Wahlberg became so ill while shooting scenes on a fishing boat for the new movie he had to keep taking breaks between lines to vomit.

But Clooney says he made his discomfort worse by laughing at his plight - and adding extra lines so the scene took longer to record.

Speaking at a London launch for the film, Clooney said: "Only one of us, and it wasn't me, got seasickness - but he said he had just had some bad sushi.

"It wasn't just between every take, it was between every line that he would throw up."

Wahlberg, also at the launch, said both Clooney and the film's director Wolfgang Peterson had dissolved in fits of laughter as he struggled to stop being sick.

"It wasn't fun and George laughed harder than I've ever seen him laugh," he said. "At least after a while Wolfgang stopped laughing. George wanted to extend the scene."

The press conference at the Dorchester Hotel started more than 40 minutes late as Clooney, 39, had been resting after going down with a chest cold en route to Britain.

Wahlberg and Clooney, who also starred together in the recent Gulf War drama Three Kings, spent much of the launch joking with each other.

When Wahlberg was asked about his forthcoming starring role in a remake of science fiction classic Planet of the Apes, the latter impersonated the original film's star, Charlton Heston, repeating the immortal line "filthy ape".

WHAT:      The World Premiere of Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment's "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps."  Lovable  Sherman thought he had seen the last of his alter-ego, but Buddy Love is back and trying to make it on his own in this sequel to the 1996 worldwide box office hit.  The evening is sponsored by Volkswagen of America, Inc.  "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" opens nationwide on July 28, 2000.

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment's "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" stars Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson, Larry Miller and John Ales.  Produced by Brian Grazer, the film is directed by Peter Segal with a screenplay by Barry W. Blaustein & David Sheffield and Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz based on a story by Steve Oedekerk and Barry W. Blaustein & David Sheffield.  Jerry Lewis, Eddie Murphy, Karen Kehela, Tom Shadyac and James D. Brubaker serve as executive producers with James Whitaker and Michael Ewing serving as co-producers.

WHO:       "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" stars Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson, Larry Miller, John Ales, Jamal Mixon, Anna Maria Horsford and Wanda Sykes will join producer Brian Grazer, director Peter Segal, screenwriters Barry W. Blaustein, James D. Sheffield, Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz, executive producers Karen Kehela, Tom Shadyac and James D. Brubaker and soundtrack artists Sisqo, R. Kelly, DMX, Method Man and Jay-Z.

Other celebrity guests include: Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Shaquille O'Neal, Mark Wahlberg, Bill Paxton, Samuel L. Jackson, Tobey Maguire, Oscar de la Hoya, Paul Walker, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Antonio Sabato, Jr., Evander Holyfield, Jordana Brewster, Laila Ali, Teri Polo, Garcelle Beauvais, Arsenio Hall, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Clarke Duncan, Lisa Nicole Carson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jamie Foxx, Magic Johnson, Debbie Allen, Richard Pryor, Eriq LaSalle, Robert Townsend, Holly Robinson Peete, Forest Whitaker, Jasmine Guy, Tommy Davidson, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson and Blair Underwood, as well as many others.
WHERE:     Universal Amphitheater atop the hill in Universal City
WHEN:      Monday, July 24
               Celebrity arrivals:      6:30 p.m.
               Screening begins:        7:30 p.m.

Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney picked an unusual location for Thursday's UK premiere of his new film The Perfect Storm - Gravelly Hill in Birmingham.

Clooney arrived with co-star Mark Wahlberg for the screening at the newly-opened 5,800-seat Star City megaplex, in the shadow of the M6's infamous Spaghetti Junction.

Asked for his initial impressions of Birmingham, Clooney told reporters: "I have only been here 15 minutes."

But the actor, speaking against a backdrop of gasometers and electricity pylons, proved to be a master at diplomacy, saying: "The weather is so nice here - it's beautiful."

Dressed in a grey suit and casual shirt, Clooney spent 25 minutes signing autographs for 400 delighted fans, whom he described as "his family".

Julia Francis, 26, who travelled from Handsworth, Birmingham, to see the stars, said: "We don't often see this - the big stars just don't come to Birmingham.

"Some people didn't believe they were coming, but they were so nice. They made you feel like you were the only one here and it's nice that they can take time out of their hectic schedule."

Other celebrity guests included Countdown star Carol Vorderman, former EastEnder Sid Owen and the Royle Family's Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnson.

Earlier, Clooney revealed that filming The Perfect Storm, a nautical drama, was anything but plain sailing for his co-star Mark Wahlberg.

Boogie Nights star Wahlberg became so ill while shooting scenes on a fishing boat he had to keep taking breaks between lines to vomit.

But Clooney admitted stirring the situation by laughing at his plight - and adding extra lines so scenes took longer to record.

Speaking at the film's London launch, Clooney said: "Only one of us, and it wasn't me, got seasickness - but he said he had just had some bad sushi."

TIM ROTH ponders ``Potter'' or ``Planet'' ... MICHAEL MANN gets ERIC ROTH in boxing corner ... ROBIN WILLIAMS' ``Coronets'' moment ... CRAIG's a JOLIE ``Raider'' ... Young SHERAK in spoof

NEW YORK (Variety) - Few actors menace a protagonist better than Tim Roth, and that ability has created a dream scenario for the actor, and a nightmare for his agents.

Roth, who had been expected to take a supporting role in ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,'' has just been offered the chance to co-star with Mark Wahlberg in the Tim Burton-directed remake of ``Planet of the Apes'' at Fox.

Both are big movies, and, unfortunately, both go into production at the same time. In Potter, Roth's being sought to play Professor Snape, a teacher of potions at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who has been a nemesis of Potter in the first four J.K. Rowling books, presumably making for multiple film appearances in the Warner Bros. series. But Fox's offer for its potential blockbuster is even better: He's the prime primate who enslaves Wahlberg's character. Roth, who was Oscar nominated for torturing Liam Neeson throughout ``Rob Roy,'' would clearly like to do both jobs, but might be tortured into having to make a tough choice.

Scheduling multiple event-sized films for actors is a perilous process, as evidenced by ``Mission: Impossible 2.'' The film's seemingly endless production schedule nixed Dougray Scott from the ``X-Men'' Wolverine role that went to Hugh Jackman, and knocked Thandie Newton out of contention from joining Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz in ``Charlie's Angels,'' a role that went to Lucy Liu.