GEORGE CLOONEY - NO BIG PAY PACKET FOR CLOONEY

GEORGE CLOONEY is laughing at reports he'll earn more than $50 million (GBP27.8 million) by making OCEAN'S ELEVEN sequel OCEAN'S TWELVE - he'll actually take home less than he made from the original.

The movie star and his castmates, including BRAD PITT and MATT DAMON, will all receive less than they did for the original 2001 hit film.

Clooney's publicist STAN ROSENFIELD explains, "They will receive only a small percentage of their normal fees. This is the only way a film with this large a cast can be made.

"The only opportunity to make more money will be based on box-office performance. If they make a good film, they will make more money. If they don't, they won't."

Clooney is set for a busy 2004 - as soon as he wraps up Ocean's Twelve, he'll star in CIA drama SYRIANNA, which will not, as previously reported, revolve around the events of 9/11.

Instead, the film is a first-person account of the CIA's false confidence concerning the future of the Middle East after the end of the Cold War. Clooney is set to play a character called ROBERT BAER.