George Clooney Tussling With The WGA

Look, it's an ER reunion! I miss those two as a couple. Remember when she tried offing herself in the first episode? Here's George Clooney with ex-ER co-star Julianna Marguiles at a screening of his new flick Leatherheads. It's a comedy about the early days of football. Things behind the scenes are a little tense because Clooney is not being recognized by the Writer's Guild of America as a screenwriter on the project.

The WGA is assigning credit for the 17-year-old script to writers Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly. Clooney reportedly completely re-wrote the script into a comedy and wrote all but two scenes. The WGA requires that a screenwriter be responsible for over 50% of the screenplay. In a 2 to 1 arbitration this past fall, they assigned sole credit to Brantley and Reilly.

In retaliation, Clooney went what is called "fi-core." "Financial core" means a member is still technically a member of the WGA, but has limited rights within the guild.

"When your own union doesn't back what you've done, the only honorable thing to do is not participate," said Clooney, who says he never tried to exclude Brantley and Reilly.

Deep. Like, really deep. I can't believe I just wrote a post in which there was no discussion of clothes, eating disorders, s, clubs, stankness, or reality television. I feel like friggin' Diane Sawyer!

Photos: Getty Images

14 more photos from a screening of Leatherheads in New York City featuring George Clooney, Ellen Barkin, Karen Duffy, Beth Ostrosky, Howard Stern, Juliana Margulies, Patricia Clarkson, Aidan Quinn, and Sam Rockwell are after the jump.

(Hint - Right-click on the image thumbnails with your mouse to open them in a new tab or window.)

Photos: Getty Images

Published 4/4/08 by

A Socialite's Life

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