Pants Entertainment News…Lieberman/Palin - The Affair, The Movie and The Interview - Maher on Clooney…

Rumors of a parallel Universal studios picture to be directed by Ocean’s 13 star George Clooney focusing on the 2008 election battle between the Prince of Darkness and that old duffer whose name we forget, have reached fever pitch. Not wanting to be left chasing this bandwagon as it screeches out of town, the Pants entertainment crew got right on it, soon discovering that the movie was far more than mere feverish rumors.

Now, hot off the Pants press we can inform the world that not only is the picture a work in progress, but that it features a salacious affair between Senator Joe Lieberman and Governor Sarah Palin. What’s more, we can confirm that superstar Clooney has wasted no time securing two of America’s favorite TV personalities to play lead rolls; none other than SNL’s Tina Fey is to play Governor Palin, no doubt borrowing heavily from her popular TV characterization, and the steamy senator is to be portrayed by his comedic doppelganger Bill Maher.

The movie will be a departure for standup funnyman Maher as he tackles his first serious acting roll, and Pants wanted to find out more.

Maher on Clooney, and himself
Maher told Pants....

‘This was one opportunity I couldn’t afford to miss’

Maher, well known for holding ‘alternative’ political views, went on to tell Pants about his admiration for Julia Robert’s ex...

‘I’ve always admired George’s work, he’s a realist, always challenge the audience, he’ll bravely take them to places they don’t really want to go, sometimes dragging them kicking and screaming, with laughter of course!’

He talked a little more about the departure to serious acting.

‘I’ve had a burning sensation in my pants, no, no just kidding…you see, I can’t stop myself sometimes. Anyway, no, where was I, oh yeah, for years now I’ve had a driving desire to play a serious roll, you know, so my fans can really see me....see the real me. They know me as the guy next door who’ll have them in fits of laughter with his razor sharp wit, one of the few celebrities that can really understand them, who knows how normal people think, and what they find funny, but now they’ll see that there’s more to me than just a brilliant comic mind. Did you know that Chaplin had an IQ of over 200?’

We told him that we didn’t, but that it sounded exciting. We asked about his relationship with George and whether he’d ever had the pleasure of meeting Senator Lieberman.

‘ George and I go way back, we met when we were only commanding a couple of million in fees, but now, well now George is off the scale and me, well I’m doing very well thank you very much. Man, they were fun times, struggling can be good for the soul, we worked hard to get to where we find ourselves today, at the top of the celebrity food chain. So, that’s good, and....yeah, I haven’t met Senator Joe yet, but George says he’s gonna hook that up, I think it’ll be important to meet, I mean I’ve been working off bare bones.

‘George had a very specific idea about how he wanted Joe played, but it’s like I said to George it’s not in the look, what people don’t realize is that I don’t look anything like him, it’s all an illusion, it’s because I can do the little things right, you know get his idiosyncrasies down,once you’ve nailed those you can play anyone convincingly, in fact, for me it’s not like playing them, I become them.

Imagine how it’ll all look once we’ve done the mask fabrication and makeup and stuff -- you’ll not be able to pick us apart.’

We mentioned that we hadn’t heard about any mask work, when we pressed a little further he admitted that there may not be a mask, because his idiosyncrasies are so good;

‘George thinks we may be able to get away without one. You know I have Joe down that well, can you imagine, me? I mean me, passing as Joe Lieberman, it’s hilarious he’s gotta be at least a good three years older than me as well, just brilliant, sometimes I just love being me, I just…just love it...’

We contacted George Clooney’s office but he wasn’t available for comment, however, we did subsequently receive this email regarding the movie and the casting...

‘Mr Clooney is extremely keen on realism, he feels attached to this project and wants to get it right. He’s of course aware of Tina’s phenomenal ability to play Governor Palin, and felt that she was a shoe-in. Regarding Bill, well, as anyone can see, he’s the senator’s doppelganger, the likeness is so startling that Mr. Clooney was willing to take a flyer on Bill’s acting, although we know Bill is the consummate professional and will commit himself to the work.’

So look out for Palin/Lieberman, but it’ll be sooner than 2012!

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