Post by CrazyGirl on Jun 28, 2004 15:35:17 GMT -5
No escaping fascination with 'Ocean's Twelve'
LAKE COMO, Italy — A British tourist surveyed the wild scene:
television cameras, paparazzi, reporters, burly security guards,
fans and looky-loos hanging around George Clooney's lakefront villa.
He asked, "Is Bush here?"
No, sorry. Much bigger. It was where some of the Ocean's Twelve cast
of Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Brad
Pitt, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer Aniston, were holed up for
10 days.
Whether it's Lake Como, Rome, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo or Paris, this
paparazzi-dream cast currently filming in Italy causes a stir
wherever it goes. Adults, teens and children caught Ocean's Twelve
fever as production on the Warner Bros. sequel to the 2001 crime
caper hit Ocean's Eleven moved from Chicago to Europe the first week
of May. The film wraps next month in the USA.
In Lake Como, Clooney housed the film's main actors and producer
Jerry Weintraub at his 25-room, 18th-century mansion, while director
Steven Soderbergh and others stayed down the road at the Villa
d'Este hotel, where the switchboard handled calls from star-seekers.
Though the making of a film is as uneventful as getting Botox in
places like Los Angeles and New York, here it was the topic of
conversation seemingly everywhere. It was nearly impossible to go in
an ice cream shop, restaurant or boutique without overhearing
someone asking whether a star di Hollywood (star of Hollywood) had
been spotted. Thursdays are the big night out in the village of
Cernobbio. But instead of Italians mingling over a scoop of gelato
or cup of espresso at Harry's Bar, some of the scantily clad young
girls perched outside the gates of Villa Erba, where production on
Ocean's Twelve was taking place and where maybe, oh, just maybe,
Clooney or Pitt would exit in a tinted-window, chauffer-driven Range
Rover.
"It's great for business, not with the actors, but from the people
looking for the actors," said Nearco Folloni, owner of Bar Laterna,
a local spot just up the road from Clooney's villa and where a glass
of wine sells for less than a dollar.
The press is barred from the movie set, but that hasn't stopped
American, French, German and British media from following the
Ocean's Twelve gang from city to city.
Clooney's home, called Villa Oleandra, is in Laglio, a village of
about 850 residents. The actor bought the mansion from the Heinz
family for about $10 million in October 2002. It sits on long, windy
and scenic Via Regina, the main drag. The front of Clooney's home is
visible to all. So security guards often were stationed at all
entrances and on top of an elevated parking structure across the
street.
Laglio mayor Giuseppe Mantero had issued a temporary order
saying "due to the presence of international v.i.p.s, parking or
standing (on foot) around the street adjacent to Via Regina, 20
(Clooney's address) is strictly forbidden." Laglio parish priest
Mauro Stefanoni asked that the media "lasciate in pace George," or
leave George in peace, because the priest feared the area was in
danger of losing the tranquility that drew Clooney to the village.
During filming in Amsterdam, the scene was chaotic near the set.
School-age children wanting to catch a glimpse of one of the stars
packed a train station during a morning shoot and screamed and
squealed when Pitt briefly appeared.
Security was so tight at the five-star Amstel Inter-Continental that
people calling to make reservations at the bar or the hotel's
restaurant La Rive were told that there are "special guests" in the
house and that they should be prepared for extra security.
Somehow Rome's luxurious Hotel de Russie managed to keep secret from
the media that the cast was headquartered there until a few days
into their stay. Of course, the actors always register under
pseudonyms, so don't bother trying to reach them if you don't know
whom to ask for. A gift for Zeta-Jones took two days to reach her.
One top Italian designer was furious that the items he sent to the
stars were never delivered to their Hotel de Russie suites because
he didn't know their assumed names.
LAKE COMO, Italy — A British tourist surveyed the wild scene:
television cameras, paparazzi, reporters, burly security guards,
fans and looky-loos hanging around George Clooney's lakefront villa.
He asked, "Is Bush here?"
No, sorry. Much bigger. It was where some of the Ocean's Twelve cast
of Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Brad
Pitt, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer Aniston, were holed up for
10 days.
Whether it's Lake Como, Rome, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo or Paris, this
paparazzi-dream cast currently filming in Italy causes a stir
wherever it goes. Adults, teens and children caught Ocean's Twelve
fever as production on the Warner Bros. sequel to the 2001 crime
caper hit Ocean's Eleven moved from Chicago to Europe the first week
of May. The film wraps next month in the USA.
In Lake Como, Clooney housed the film's main actors and producer
Jerry Weintraub at his 25-room, 18th-century mansion, while director
Steven Soderbergh and others stayed down the road at the Villa
d'Este hotel, where the switchboard handled calls from star-seekers.
Though the making of a film is as uneventful as getting Botox in
places like Los Angeles and New York, here it was the topic of
conversation seemingly everywhere. It was nearly impossible to go in
an ice cream shop, restaurant or boutique without overhearing
someone asking whether a star di Hollywood (star of Hollywood) had
been spotted. Thursdays are the big night out in the village of
Cernobbio. But instead of Italians mingling over a scoop of gelato
or cup of espresso at Harry's Bar, some of the scantily clad young
girls perched outside the gates of Villa Erba, where production on
Ocean's Twelve was taking place and where maybe, oh, just maybe,
Clooney or Pitt would exit in a tinted-window, chauffer-driven Range
Rover.
"It's great for business, not with the actors, but from the people
looking for the actors," said Nearco Folloni, owner of Bar Laterna,
a local spot just up the road from Clooney's villa and where a glass
of wine sells for less than a dollar.
The press is barred from the movie set, but that hasn't stopped
American, French, German and British media from following the
Ocean's Twelve gang from city to city.
Clooney's home, called Villa Oleandra, is in Laglio, a village of
about 850 residents. The actor bought the mansion from the Heinz
family for about $10 million in October 2002. It sits on long, windy
and scenic Via Regina, the main drag. The front of Clooney's home is
visible to all. So security guards often were stationed at all
entrances and on top of an elevated parking structure across the
street.
Laglio mayor Giuseppe Mantero had issued a temporary order
saying "due to the presence of international v.i.p.s, parking or
standing (on foot) around the street adjacent to Via Regina, 20
(Clooney's address) is strictly forbidden." Laglio parish priest
Mauro Stefanoni asked that the media "lasciate in pace George," or
leave George in peace, because the priest feared the area was in
danger of losing the tranquility that drew Clooney to the village.
During filming in Amsterdam, the scene was chaotic near the set.
School-age children wanting to catch a glimpse of one of the stars
packed a train station during a morning shoot and screamed and
squealed when Pitt briefly appeared.
Security was so tight at the five-star Amstel Inter-Continental that
people calling to make reservations at the bar or the hotel's
restaurant La Rive were told that there are "special guests" in the
house and that they should be prepared for extra security.
Somehow Rome's luxurious Hotel de Russie managed to keep secret from
the media that the cast was headquartered there until a few days
into their stay. Of course, the actors always register under
pseudonyms, so don't bother trying to reach them if you don't know
whom to ask for. A gift for Zeta-Jones took two days to reach her.
One top Italian designer was furious that the items he sent to the
stars were never delivered to their Hotel de Russie suites because
he didn't know their assumed names.