'Cruelty' thesps tolerate press

The two stars were the only talent on hand to tubthump for the Coen brothers' "Intolerable Cruelty," which screened for the first time on the Lido Tuesday night. Pic, which is not in official competition, received the warmest applause so far during the fest from the usually hard-bitten press and mostly Italian cinephiles.

The post-screening press confabs in Venice are known among fest aficionados as the venue for the most far-fetched and fuzziest of questions: the bigger the stars, the dumber the queries.

Hard-charging reporters

Of Zeta-Jones, one questioner wanted to know what her "relationship with love" is. The star made out to be intrigued by the question and replied that she was indeed deeply in love, with Michael Douglas no less. Another wanted to know whether she still travels. Hello? She is in Venice after all.

Of Clooney, a reporter wondered how much he cared about poverty in east L.A. -- and whether the teeth in the opening sequence of the film were the actor's or not. (He does care, and they were "stunt" teeth.)

Throughout the 45-minute session, Clooney was alternately self-deprecating and generous in his praise of Ethan and Joel Coen: "They're the Preston Sturges of today, with their unique point of view. I just tried not to mess up their script or step on the furniture."

Laffer's not done

The screwball comedy -- a clear stylistic departure for the Coen brothers -- unspooled to the public Wednesday night and is purportedly still in "an unfinished state." Clooney said a couple of scenes, presumably between him and Zeta-Jones, were shot recently and will be added to the final cut.

The Coens canceled out of Venice because, per Clooney, they're deep into shooting "LadyKillers" with Tom Hanks; Universal's Stacey Snider canceled, presumably because her company is in the process of being bought out by General Electric/NBC.

A questioner named Victoria, who was rumored to work for MTV Italia and was on crutches, managed to monopolize the mike in order to propose to Clooney, making her way to the podium, with priest in tow. The actor took it all in stride.

Clooney even volunteered he'd love to become more a part of the culture and confessed to having a bunch of Italian-language tapes. He already has a house on Lake Como, and is building a post-production bay onto the back. That addition could come in handy during the 11-week shoot on the "Ocean's Eleven" sequel in Rome next year.

Which led to the inevitable question whether Clooney planned to forgo Hollywood and get involved in Italian co-production.

Not so fast. He'd have to put up with more such press events -- and he'd miss his L.A. friends.