George Clooney’s raw, chafe and up in the air

George Clooney whetted appetites everywhere when he dropped some details of his new flick, Up In The Air.

“Not only is my performance raw in this film, but through most of the film I am naked from the waist down. So not only am I raw, I’m chafed,” he said.

Clooney was at the Mann’s Village Theatre premiere of the movie in Los Angeles earlier, arriving with his mother, Nina, and his girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis. The comment sounds tempting but is likely to be just some more Clooney red carpet banter – of which there has been plenty this summer.

Up In The Air, directed by Jason Reitman and co-starring Anna Kendrick, is drawing rave reviews and tells the very contemporary story of a man who must travel around America laying off workers. Clooney said: “I was the right guy to play the part – I thought that he was a really great character and it was a great part. And it’s Jason Reitman, so you can’t go wrong.”

On a more sober note he said of his comedy’s serious topic: “It’s a tricky thing. It’s very rare that films come out in the middle of when they’re topical. It was just important to do it correctly and deal with the idea that people are getting laid off. And we thought it doesn’t make it a comedy anymore. It can’t just be a flat-out comedy. It had to address what people are going through.”