A star-studded day in Duluth

DULUTH - It was snow shovels, not spotlights, on the red carpet Monday in Duluth as two of Hollywood's biggest stars kicked off an unusual "whistlestop tour" to promote their new movie.

Trading L.A. sunshine for North Shore windchill, George Clooney and Renée Zellweger arrived at the city's historic railroad depot in grand style, riding an antique Iron Range Railway passenger car.

"We've been on this train for weeks," Clooney declared after a journey of about 400 feet. "We're exhausted."

A shivering knot of about 300 onlookers thronged the depot's entrance, autograph books and cellphone cameras at the ready, to meet the Oscar-winning stars of "Leatherheads," a football comedy based on the exploits of the 1920s Duluth Eskimos pro football team. The film, opening April 4, is set in northern Minnesota and Chicago, but was shot in the Carolinas.

"We thought about shooting here, but it was February," Clooney said. "And apparently, from what I understand, it's cold. So we ended up trying to find someplace a little warmer.

"But the spirit of it was all about" Duluth and the freewheeling, small-town origins of pro football, he said. "That's why it was important to come back here and say 'thank you' for letting us [set] a part of it in this town."

Zellweger said her impressions of Duluth were positive, based on the historic photos she saw at her hotel.

"I'm planning to take a walk later," she said.

"She's not taking a walk," Clooney scoffed.

Pig in a blanket

The city closed busy Michigan Street for the anticipated throng of sightseers, while Mayor Don Ness proclaimed Monday "Leatherheads Day."

"George Clooney is one of my favorite actors," Ness gushed, "and he touched my shoulder. Big thrill!"

Sherri Sittarich, of Duluth, brought her Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, Fozzy, to meet Clooney, who owned a pet pig for 18 years.

"Hopefully, he still likes pigs. I thought we could do some bonding," she explained, cradling the 7-month-old pig in a blanket like a newborn.

Susan Downing, among the earliest arrivals, drove up from St. Paul in hopes she could hand Clooney her screenplay.

"I wrote it awhile back with Paul Newman in mind, but now he's too old," she said. "George Clooney would have to stand in for him, but I think he would do just fine."

Karen Sandberg, of River Falls, Wis., brought a copy of People magazine containing her letter published when Clooney was last voted Sexiest Man Alive. She wrote, "I swear, darlin', it wasn't me that leaked it to the press."

Abrum Olson led a contingent of six men in the mostly female crowd. "Not a lot of famous people come to Duluth, so I thought we should come out and show them our support," he said.

The prospect of waiting three hours in the breath-frosting chill didn't faze him.

"We're from Duluth," he said. "It's OK."

House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, DFL-Chisholm, acknowledged that it was "exciting to have them here, but it would have been better to have them film scenes here. It's at least good that they're here to recognize the Duluth Eskimos and the region."

Please don't tackle the star

Clooney said, "We didn't get it perfect, obviously, but we did the best we could" to represent the city correctly. Many of the backgrounds were computer reproductions of archival photos, he said.

"We were able to match some of the industrial locations of Duluth," he said. "And while filming in the South, we waited for the leaves to fall off the trees. We felt that might look a little more like here."

After Duluth, the whistlestop tour was headed South for a Monday night screening of the film in Maysville, Ky., hometown of Clooney's father, then stops in Salisbury, N.C., and Greenville, S.C., where the movie was filmed.

Clooney, who injured his back shooting "Syriana," called himself "not bright" for playing the physically demanding role of an aging football player.

"The first day of shooting, some 21-year-old hit me and took my lungs out of my chest," he said. "Then I changed the rules to 'Don't hit me.'"

Charming the crowd, he congratulated the University of Minnesota Duluth's women's hockey team for winning the national championship over the weekend. He also mocked his tendency to jump from serious social-issues films to light comedy.

"This film is just a cry for peace," he said.

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186