Thompson On Hollywood

Jolie Has Her Twins

Angelina Jolie gave birth to a boy and a girl by Caesarian section Saturday night. The obstretician who delivered the twins told the A.P. their names are Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline. UPDATE: Here's NYDN.

More creative baby-naming.

Trailer Watch: Pitt and Clooney Star in Coens' Burn After Reading

One of the high points of the recent Cannes Film Fest was talking to Brad Pitt at the afterparty for Clint Eastwood's Changeling, where we enjoyed some friendly cocktail banter over the appropriate length for The Assassination of Jesse James. Let's just say that we each held our own.

Pitt's antics in the trailer for the Coens' next, the CIA spoof Burn After Reading, made me laugh out loud. (The movie opens the Venice Film Festival this August.) Pitt's a movie star--and can be very funny--look at the Oceans films and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Clooney has mined a rich comedy vein in his films for the Coens, and clearly does so here, along with Tilda Swinton and Fran McDormand:

Clooney's Consigliere

George Clooney and his father Nick have come to rely on civil rights attorney David Pressman for advice and support on his various political activities, writes the LAT's Tina Daunt:

Then the elder Clooney met one of Pressman's relatives at a party and learned of the extensive connections the young lawyer had made in the region through his work as a special assistant to then-Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and, later, as a Sudan expert for the United Nations. The elder Clooney called Pressman the next day. Both Clooneys quickly came to view Pressman as a member of the family. "I call him 'Cuz,' " Clooney said. "My dad seems to think we're related. I'm not sure how he came up with that."

The idea makes Pressman chuckle. "He's an Irishman, and I'm a Jew. Go figure."

Over lunch recently at a fashionable bistro near his Chelsea law office, Pressman recalls that a female friend reacted in horror when he told her that he was taking George Clooney into Darfur. "She said, 'You realize if anything happens to him, you will be committing the greatest crime against womankind,' " Pressman said.

Since the first trip in 2006, Pressman and Clooney have gone on a number of missions to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa to lobby for peace in Darfur.

[Photo courtesy of the LA Times]

Coens' Burn After Reading to Open Venice

As expected, the Coens' next film, the CIA comedy Burn After Reading (starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney), which was not going to be ready in time for Cannes, will open the Venice Fest this year.

Pitt Fires PR, Decides to Go It Alone

Radar reports that Brad Pitt has let go his long-time PR rep Cindy Guagenti. He's going to take it alone, like his partner Angelina Jolie. I've long thought that Pitt's PR was well-handled; we'll see where it goes from here. Remember what happened when Tom Cruise and Pat Kingsley parted ways?

Here's Pitt's latest announcement.

Pitt/Jolie Wedding Rumors Rampant

This Huffington Post report about the various tabloid and celeb mag reports this weekend about the possible New Orleans wedding of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is fascinating. The New York Daily News, for example, reported Saturday that they were married, citing The Star website. But Sunday, Fox News relies on People Magazine's assertion that it's not true.

Coens' Burn After Reading, Starring Pitt and Clooney, Goes Wide

While speculation runs rampant on whether or not the Coens will take their next movie, the CIA pic Burn After Reading, starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, to Cannes--obviously Thierry Fremaux will want it, but he hasn't screened it yet; UPDATE: Working Title says it probably won't be finished in time--in the meantime Focus Features has booked the Working Title movie to go wide on September 12. This suggests that after the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men (which soared 67% this weekend) the Coens have jumped out of art-film territory and boast more commercial appeal; this pic's stars are certainly big enough to warrant a wide opening.

BTW, over the weekend I caught up with Time's entertaining Clooney cover story, which involves writer Joel Stein (who has a man-crush on George) inviting the star over to his modest abode for dinner. Stein proceeds to undercook the bloody entree, sets off house alarms and sends Clooney skittering into his dusty attic.

Clooney is more accessible than most stars, and understands and therefore manipulates the press better than anyone. I've met stars who can turn the charm on and off and focus their laser-beams on you in a way that can be unnerving. But no one is a better politician, remembering first names, delivering engaging attention, than Clooney. He's got the gift. He likes journalists because he grew up the son of one. That makes all the difference in the world. Other stars may have the same ability--they just don't choose to expend their energy.

The Assassination of Jesse James, Sex and the City Scoop

Until I get my thoughts organized on The Assasination of Jesse James, here are some strongly worded thoughts from a Variety colleague who travels the blogosphere under the nom de plume MiraJeff.

He also has an early scoop on Sex and the City, which reveals that the movie boasts a flashback with younger versions of our four heroines.

Clooney, Pitt and Damon Stick their Hands and Feet in Cement

As illusionist Criss Angel was escaping from a cement block suspended above Times Square, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and producer Jerry Weintraub --promoting the "Oceans Thirteen" Friday opening, natch--stuck their hands and feet in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre Tuesday. "If I had to be on my hands and knees with three other men I couldn't think of three better guys to do it with," Clooney said. Damon noted that "this isn't the first time somebody tried to put Jerry Weintraub's feet in cement."

As soon as they signed their wet cement, their shoes and styluses were bagged and delivered to the Hollywood Museum around the corner.

Meanwhile, demonstrators wearing yellow Save the Boom T-shirts were holding up signs in front of the Chinese Theater yelling "save the Boom!". They were trying to get the attention of Clooney and Pitt as part of their ongoing campaign to get the two stars to buy the landmark Boom Boom Room in Laguna Beach, CA., according to the organization's email press release:

"The campaign kicked off Monday with a ¼ page ad in Daily Variety asking Clooney and Pitt to help SAVE the BOOM!!! The Boom has been a fixture of gay life in Southern California for 60 years, and was sold 21 months ago to Beverly Hills billionaire Steven Udvar-Hazy. Pitt and Clooney were reported to have purchased the Boom with Udvar-Hazy back then, but their representatives denied that. Hazy’s plans were to close the historic Boom Boom Room and turn it into a boutique hotel and restaurant. Now the billionaire airplane leasing mogul has put the property up for sale and SAVE the BOOM!!! is in hot pursuit of a buyer who will keep the bar the way it has been for the past 6 decades."

Oceans Gang Hits Croisette

Raucous laughter hit the Palais during the morning screening of Oceans Thirteen, which was followed by an equally entertaining press conference as Steven Soderbergh and his Oceans Thirteen gang goofed on themselves and the assembled press corps.

When asked about the quality of scripts today, master quipster George Clooney replied that Oceans Thirteen is one for the history books. "This film is a cry for peace," he said with a straight face. "We thought we were in competition."

While the fate of a fourth Oceans is in the air, the ensemble seemed good to go. But Damon won't do a fourth Bourne, he said: "We have ridden that horse as far as we can." He admitted to feeling like "a bit of a prostitute for putting out two number threes in one year."

"That's better than three number twos," added Clooney.

When asked about one of the film's running gags involving Oprah Winfrey, Andy Garcia confessed, "I had to sleep with Oprah in order to do the show."

"That's the headline," sighed Clooney.

Brad Pitt, while insisting that The Assassination of Jesse James missed its first fall deadline but will make its second, noted that the absent Al Pacino, who stayed in Los Angeles to attend his American Film Institute tribute. "took notes from each of us, and settled in after a few weeks. He raised our respectability and we brought his down."

"We try to bring the classy guys down," added Clooney.

On a more serious note, continuing one of the themes of this year's globally-conscious festival, Clooney admitted that he used Cannes as "an international platform to raise awareness of something that's important to all of us," the crisis in Darfur, he said. The Oceans gang also turned up at Wednesday night's AMFAR event, which raised a record $7.5 million and sold a Clooney kiss for $350,000.

Soderbergh, who won the Palme d'Or for sex, lies and videotape 18 years ago, insisted that making a romp like Oceans 13 is nonetheless hard to do. "There's an assumption that if we're making an entertaining film we're not as engaged, interested or passionate about it," he said. "I don't think any of the people here feel that way. The Oceans films are more difficult, more tricky than the films I've gotten attention for."

UPDATE: I showed up at the Baoli Oceans Thirteen party Thursday night too late to see the gang, who had already fled the glassed-in VIP room for something more private. By the time I got in they were gone. Offering $1000 chips for roulette and black jack was a nice touch, but the lines were too long.

Pitt Producing Series on Transsexual Sportswriter

As fate would have it, Brad Pitt is already producing a series about a transsexual sportswriter, reports Hollywood Deal:

Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy and Brad Pitt's Plan B have already beaten them to the punch. In a strange coincidence of life imitating art, Murphy had already made a deal with FX for a new drama called 4 oz, about the transsexual metamorphosis of a married sportswriter, with Pitt's Plan B executive producing with Dede Gardner (who produced the adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' Running With Scissors with Pitt). Murphy had even mapped out a five-season arc for the series.