AP Photo/Alessandra TarantinoGeorge Clooney is in a rebuilding period.
While touring L'Aquila, capital of the central Italian region of Abruzzo, where a 6.3-magnitude earthquake on April 6 killed nearly 300 people and left upwards of 65,000 homeless, the Oscar winner announced that he plans to come back soon to shoot part of his next movie in hopes of boosting the economy in the medieval fortress town.
"We'll shoot a film here at the end of September, in which I will act," he told reporters Thursday. "We're here to draw attention to this tragedy."
Clooney didn't mention the name of the movie, but now we know there's going to be some seriously picturesque scenery involved.
"The only way that people who are famous can help is by bringing attention," he added, joking that time and money were about all he had to give.
"I'm not very good with stoneware," he admitted.
The United Nations Messenger of Peace, who has a villa near Lake Como, arrived by helicopter, and a police-escorted motorcade ferried him to the main square. Michelle Obama, in town with her husband for the Group of 8 Summit meeting, also toured L'Aquila's ravaged downtown area earlier in the day.
Clooney and fellow thesp Bill Murray later visited a tent camp for the displaced, where they shook hands with many and Clooney exchanged kisses with some of the luckier female residents.
"You have to help people get going again," Clooney said upon his return to the main square. "The people we've spoken to aren't looking for a handout; they're looking for a hand up. They're looking for help. They want to go home."
Madonna, who said that she had ancestors who once made their home in the region, made a hefty donation to aid relief efforts the day after the quake.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who made a leap of faith by moving the G-8 summit from the island of La Maddalena to L'Aquila two weeks after the quake, showed President Barack Obama around downtown yesterday.