The Venice Film Festival is not even underway, but the paparazzi were put through their paces in the canal city on Tuesday when Brad Pitt arrived with two of his children a day ahead of his red carpet appearance to promote “Burn After Reading”, the Coen brother’s latest movie in which he stars.

Cameramen and photographers were dispatched to the airport to greet the Hollywood heartthrob and then the water taxi chase ensued. A further “boat scrum” occurred in Venice itself, where about eight water taxis crowded around the steps leading up to the swanky Cipriani hotel for further shots of the star which, no doubt, will be touted by some of tomorrow’s newspapers as “exclusives”.

Pitt has arrived in Venice early to support a charity dinner tonight where he and George Clooney are promoting “Not On Our Watch”, which aims to raise money for and awareness of the victims of natural disasters and conflicts around the world.

There was no sign, though, of Pitt’s partner Angelina Jolie or their newborn twins, which may come as a relief to some reporters but will be bad news for the paps, for whom pictures of the “Brangelina” clan are about as big as pictures get.

It’s rare that anyone gets a hometown parade in their honor and even more rare that a person gets a hometown movie premiere — unless that person is George Clooney.

Monday night Clooney was in Maysville, Kentucky where his family hails from — his great grandfather was the mayor – for a special screening of his new football movie, “Leatherheads,” and Clooney told Reuters on Tuesday that he had a great time. He even saw the gal he took to his sophomore prom.

“You know you do a (Hollywood) premiere and everybody’s real cool. But these guys were all dressed up  and they were so excited. It was a real old-fashioned premiere. Everybody was lit up and having fun. I got onstage and introduced my dad and everyone cheered.”

That’s his dad, Nick, in the picture at the left, straightening George’s crooked tie.

Clooney said that in 1978 he pulled the ropes to draw back the curtains for his sister’s stage play at the town’s old Washington Opera House, where the “Leatherheads” premiere was held. “There’s something really great and full-circle about it,” Clooney said.