Clooney attending film premiere

Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney is set to delight his army of female fans tomorrow with an appearance at the UK premiere of his latest film.

The star is in London for the screening of his directorial debut Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind.

It tells the story of legendary 1970s American TV producer and Gong Show host Chuck Barris.

The film is based on Barris’s autobiography in which he claimed to have led an extraordinary double life as a CIA assassin – fronting game shows by day and murdering government targets by night.

Actor Sam Rockwell, who appeared in Charlie’s Angels and Welcome To Collinwood, plays Barris and Clooney also makes an appearance as a CIA agent.

The stellar supporting cast includes Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore, while Clooney’s Ocean’s Eleven co-stars Matt Damon and Brad Pitt have cameos as contestants on a Blind Date-style game show.

Clooney, 41, said: “When word got round we were making a film I got a call from almost every single A-list actor in town – not because they wanted to work with me as a director, but because these are such great parts.

“The idea of including Matt and Brad came to us on the set of Ocean’s Eleven and to this day I can’t believe they did it. It shows up what nice people they are.”

Many people have cast doubt on Barris’s bizarre claims but Clooney decided to take him at his word.

The star explained: “I’ve asked Chuck about the specifics of the story and he would look me in the eyes and not say anything. I believe it is Chuck’s story. I believe it was important for him to tell it and fun for us because the story is so wild.

“There is something shockingly fascinating about someone of his wealth and fame who would want to say this about himself. Whether it’s true or not is in Chuck’s head.”

Barris may not be familiar to British audiences but he is regarded as one of the most influential figures in TV entertainment. He created seminal game shows including The Dating Game and The Gong Show and is regarded as the forerunner of stars such as Jerry Springer and shock jock Howard Stern.

Clooney was well qualified to direct the film about TV game shows – his father was a former host of 1970s quiz The Money Maze.

“I grew up in a world of bad television and I was around game show sets during that exact same period of time. So as soon as I saw the screenplay I knew how to tell the story,” he said.

The film includes a rendition of There’s No Business Like Show Business by Rosemary Clooney, George’s aunt who died last summer.

Clooney said: “We didn’t know she was ill when we shot that scene, we just used it because it seemed the perfect song.

“She passed away afterwards and it’s a great thing to be able to do this for her because she was such a huge part of my life and taught me so much about fame.”