Big day finds Clooney on crutches

Santa Barbara, Calif. — George Clooney showed up on crutches for a screening of his directorial debut, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.”

Clooney, 41, hurt himself playing basketball at his home Sunday, publicist Stan Rosenfield said Thursday.

Rosenfield said the injury, which put the former “ER” star’s right foot in a brace, will not keep him from publicity functions for the film, based on the “unauthorized autobiography” of “The Gong Show” host Chuck Barris.

Barris, creator of such TV shows as “The Dating Game” and “The Newlywed Game,” also claims he was a CIA hit man.

“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” stars Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, Clooney and Julia Roberts.

Hugh winds up in ‘Who’s Who’

London — Actor Hugh Grant and Julian Fellowes, the screenwriter who won an Oscar last year for Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park,” have been added to the new edition of “Who’s Who.”

They’re among about 1,000 newcomers who will grace the pages of the famous red book this year, published Friday, the company said.

“Who’s Who” is dedicated to the rich, famous and successful, and the 155th edition will contain more than 32,000 mini-autobiographies.

Grant, 42, discloses in his entry that his middle names are John and Mungo. He cites football and singing as his hobbies.

Leo defends dark side of ‘Gangs’

Berlin — Leonardo DiCaprio says he’s satisfied that “Gangs of New York,” in which he stars as an Irish immigrant to the city during the 1860s, turned out gritty and gory.

“To have a whitewashed or glorified world … would be blindly patriotic. It wouldn’t be showing the ugly facet of the formation of our democracy,” said DiCaprio, 28, in Berlin with director Martin Scorsese to promote the film’s German debut at next month’s Berlin Film Festival.

DiCaprio’s character gets caught up in political corruption, underworld violence and riots in New York during the Civil War. Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis co-star.

Frenchman takes reins in Cannes

PAris — French director Patrice Chereau, best-known for his historical drama “La Reine Margot,” will preside over the jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Chereau follows last year’s jury president, David Lynch, for the festival running from May 14-25.

Internationally renowned for his theater and opera productions, Chereau most recently directed “Intimacy,” a love story that won the Golden Bear at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival. “La Reine Margot” won the jury prize at Cannes in 1994.

Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes festival, said Friday that the director’s work made “him a scrupulous eyewitness and very open to all types of cinema today and all cinema of the world.”