HOLLYWOOD NEWS

Sep. 18, 2006–Star-director George Clooney is set to helm and star in football picture, “Leatherheads,” which Universl has been trying to make for a decade.

Renee Zellweger is in negotiations to co-star in the romantic comedy set against the backdrop of pro football's formation in the 1920s.

Clooney is rewriting the script and will begin production in spring 2007. His Smoke House Production partner Grant Heslov will produce with Casey Silver.

The film has had several incarnations, including as a drama with screenwriter Jon Favreau and director Jonathan Mostow. The original premise revolved around an aging football player who coaxes a college star to drop out and try his luck in a new professional league. Clooney was once close to starring in it for Section Eight partner Steven Soderbergh; they expected to make it their follow-up to Universal's “Out of Sight.”

Clooney and his “Good Night, and Good Luck” co-writer Heslov's company, Smoke House, has a first-look Warner deal in July.

Clooney is currently filming the Soderbergh-directed “Ocean's Thirteen,” the third segment of the franchise that began in 2001. He recently wrapped Soderbergh's “The Good German,” which will open in the holiday season, and completed the Tony Gilroy-directed “Michael Clayton.”