Art-house Clooney

Art-house Clooney Hollywood has feted George Clooney with a career retrospective, shifting the spotlight from his swaggering star persona to his longtime support of emerging film-makers and art house cinema.

Among those cheering him at the Los Angeles Film Festival were Ocean's Eleven co-star Don Cheadle, Oscar nominees Virginia Madsen and Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Emmy winner Allison Janney.

While Clooney is best known for his work on TV's ER and in such big-budget films as The Perfect Storm, the gathering honoured the 44-year-old actor's role in the world of independent cinema. He was a producer of the Oscar-nominated Far From Heaven and directed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind as well as the coming McCarthy-era drama Goodnight, and Good Luck.

Clooney said his career had always been a battle between art and commerce. "You try to do a little bit to make it that you can afford to do the things you are most passionate about," he said. "It's a trade-off."