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George Scrawny

IN BOX office terms, he's still huge. But in other ways, it seems, George Clooney is a far smaller star than he used to be. Two and a half years ago, at the Ocean's Twelve premiere in California, the actor appeared so fullfaced that his neck had vanished...

beneath the generous jowls. However, as he smiled for photographers during the latest round of promotions for a watch company in Tokyo this week, his chiselled features confirmed that the chubby Clooney has been consigned to the past.

In 2005, he piled on 35lb in 30 days for his Oscar-winning role in Syriana. The 46-year-old heart-throb was determined to regain his figure after finding himself ' unrecognisable'. But he has now lost far more than he initially put on.

Such was his trim physique that Cannes film festival commentators recently remarked on his rapid three-stone loss. Yet since then more weight has fallen off.

Clooney said after shooting Syriana: 'I made a vow to keep in shape. It was frighteningly easy to put the weight on.

'I did it in a month and that's scary because it takes a lot longer to get it off again.

'Especially when your body isn't up to working out.' He admitted being fat made him feel old and depressed.

'There was not a moment that was fun about shooting this film,' he said. 'Everybody has a year where they age a decade and this was that one for me.

'It was good for the film and I am glad I did it, but I would never do it again.'

He recently finished directing and acting in Leatherheads, a film about American football which also features Renee Zellweger.

Perhaps she passed on some dieting tips to her former boyfriend after gaining two stone to play size 14 singleton Bridget Jones before slimming radically to play Roxie Hart in the film Chicago.