Two George Clooney projects are making news at the Cannes film fest. Focus Features has set Clooney to star in “A Very Private Gentleman,” an adaptation of the Martin Booth novel to be directed by Anton Corbijn. Rowan Joffe is scripting the pic, which shoots in Italy this fall. Clooney will play an assassin who hides out in an idyllic Italian town before carrying out a final assignment. He resists his usual aversion to human interaction, and his friendships and romantic entanglements complicate his mission. Separately, in the first major pickup of the festival, Overture has grabbed domestic rights to war comedy “Men Who Stare at Goats,” featuring Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges and helmed by Heslov.- from Variety

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We will be excited to see George step down from the movie star cloud to grace the small screen – even if it’s without scrubs on and only for a few moments.

George Clooney has agreed to come back to the show that launched his career: ER. Sources close to the series tell PEOPLE that ER co-creator John Wells has ordered a closed set to keep Clooney’s appearance under wraps. It’s not known how many episodes will feature Clooney as the show films its final season. Neither NBC nor Warner Bros. reps would comment, nor did Clooney’s publicist. – From People

According to an Internet report, ER alum George Clooney will return to the medical drama this week to shoot a cameo for the departing show. NBC would neither confirm nor deny the story to EW, but it seems highly likely, especially given what executive producer David Zabel told EW exclusively last year. To wrap the show’s final season, Zabel said he wanted to revisit characters that have existed in the ER over the years and say where they are now. “We’d love to get them all back in some way, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to,” says Zabel of actors like Clooney (Doug) and Julianna Margulies (Carol). “But we’re gonna try.” – From EW.com

NBC’S drama “ER” may be getting back its biggest star ever – George Clooney – if only for a night. Clooney reportedly will tape a scene this week for the long-running medical drama, which helped transformed him from a bit actor into a powerful Hollywood star. – From NY Daily News

The Screen Actors Guild’s battle over its strike authorization has taken an especially nasty turn, thanks to a suggested boycott of eight actors who are up for SAG awards. The proposed boycott came to light after a significant number of SAG members received a pair of anonymous emails forwarded by national board member Frances Fisher. The two emails proposed that the SAG members withhold their award votes for the eight thesps because of their public support for the opposition to the authorization vote. Nearly 2,000 SAG members — including George Clooney and Tom Hanks — have declared that they oppose the authorization due to the nation’s current financial crisis. In her email, Fisher said the letters were forwards and asked that her name and email be removed if the recipient chose to forward the letters. In a response issued Friday, former SAG president and current board member Richard Masur compared the anonymous email to a blacklist and called on Fisher to repudiate it. – From Variety

The fight over the impending SAG strike has gotten uglier, now with an anonymous emailer urging the Hollywood community to awards-boycott eight well-known actors who do not support a referendum that would authorize a strike. The fight over the impending SAG strike has gotten uglier, now with an anonymous emailer urging the Hollywood community to awards-boycott eight well-known actors who do not support a referendum that would authorize a strike. Variety reports that vocal strike authorization supporter Frances Fisher recently forwarded an email, to a “significant number” of Screen Actors Guild members, which encourages voters to cast their SAG Awards ballots for anyone but the several notable nominees who have publicly opposed the union’s possible strike, some citing the troubled economy. – From Gawker