Thursday, 6 September 2007

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George Clooney's new girlfriend turns heads in Venice

Sarah Larson makes her public debut with the actor at the Venice and Deauville film festivals

George Clooney's bella nuova has made her public debut as his date at the Venice and Deauville film festivals. And a source close to the actor says 28-year-old Sarah Larson is getting the thumbs-up from his pals.

"She's really nice and generally liked by George's friends," a source close to the actor tells PEOPLE.

Clooney, 46, "couldn't keep his hands off her" at Venice's Hotel Cipriani, site of the afterparty for Clooney's Michael Clayton, according to an observer.

"At one point he just leaned over and kissed her on the lips," says one partygoer. "My God, she is stunning." (Her $3 million worth of loaner diamonds – which the jeweler Bulgari confirmed were requested for "George Clooney's girlfriend" – didn't hurt, either.)

Larson, a onetime Fear Factor winner, works as a cocktail waitress at Las Vegas's Moon nightclub in the Palms Casino Resort, where Ocean's Thirteen had its premiere June 6. They've reportedly been inseperable ever since Larson flew to France with Clooney on Sept. 1 for the Deauville Film Festival. The two also dined with Clooney pal Matt Damon, his wife Luciana and five other friends at the L'Auberge de l'Abbaye restaurant in Beaumont-en-Auge.

A cozy couple, to be sure, but is it true amore? No one's rushing to register yet. When an artist who met with Clooney at the Hotel Cipriani offered to do a wedding portrait, the bachelor didn't hesitate. "Don't say weddings around me," he said. "No weddings!"

By Courtney Rubin, Monique Jessen, Mark Gray and Jennifer Garcia