Co-star towers over Clooney at film festival

George Clooney got that shrinking feeling today when he posed with lofty co-star Tilda Swinton at the Venice Film Festival.

The 5ft 11in British actress dwarfed Clooney in her sky-high platform heels.

Swinton has often bemoaned her height, saying: “I’m very often referred to as ’Sir’ in elevators and such. I think it has to do with being this tall and not wearing much lipstick.”

The pair were in Venice to promote new movie Michael Clayton.

Clooney plays a “fixer” for a corporate law firm and Swinton is the villain of the piece.

The 46-year-old Ocean’s Thirteen star sparked concern recently when he was pictured looking unusually gaunt.

Today he joked that he had slimmed down thanks to jazzercise classes and a “Buttmaster” exercise machine.

“I do a lot of aerobics and a lot of dance. A lot of jazzercise and Bikram yoga. And I use a Buttmaster,” he said.

“But seriously, I just finished doing a movie where I did football every day with a bunch of 21-year-olds and that keeps you in shape. I highly recommend it.”

Clooney has just completed work on Leatherheads, set in the world of 1920s American football, in which he appears opposite Renee Zellweger.

Starring in Michael Clayton had given him an insight into the legal world, Clooney said.

“I kind of admire the people who go in and say ’I’m going to defend Saddam Hussein’, because nobody’s going to like that person very much. I don’t think I would like doing it.”

The Hollywood heart-throb also joked about his flop role as the Caped Crusader in 1997 film Batman & Robin. British actor Christian Bale has now taken over.

“When I did it they didn’t tell me that Batman was straight. I’d have played him straight if I’d known,” he quipped.

“But Christian is terrific. I think he’s really brought the franchise back. I buried it, he’s brought it back.”