Clooney reported to Venice police for driving boat with no permit

Actor George Clooney might have landed himself in trouble for taking over the helm of a boat on the Venice Lagoon, news reports said Thursday, a day after the star attended the red carpet premiere of his science-fiction thriller Gravity.

 

The American was photographed Tuesday steering a water taxi while wearing a promotional T-shirt for a brand of tequila he is producing with friends. At the press conference for his movie at the Venice Film Festival, he joked that it was the most dangerous thing he had ever done.

 

Lawyer Mario D'Elia reported him to Venice police and local authorities, asking them to verify whether Clooney has a nautical licence, the La Nuova Venezia newspaper said. It said that even if the star of The Descendants and Up in the Air did, he would have needed a permit to steer a water taxi.

 

The local daily stressed that "nerves are very fraught" in Venice on water traffic regulations after this month's deadly collision on the Grand Canal between a water ferry and a gondola, which killed a German tourist.

 

- Sapa