Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney joked about putting goats in a trance at the London Film Festival premiere of his new film, The Men Who Stare At Goats.

Goat fan: George Clooney

The Oscar-winning actor arrived amid flashing bulbs and screaming crowds with Italian girlfriend Elisebetta Canalis at the Odeon Leicester Square cinema in London.

He quipped: "It's good fun to try and hypnotise a goat but it's getting them out of it that is the problem."

The 48-year-old refrained from practising his special stare on reporters, telling them: "I only have one of them left so I have to save it."

Clooney - the star of Ocean's Eleven, Syriana and Michael Clayton - revealed that he had no intention of only doing comedies from now on.

"Comedies are nice to have right about now. I've done some films that were comedies but weren't supposed to be," he said.

He added that his best friend, director Grant Heslov, influenced his decision to be in The Men Who Stare At Goats, which also stars Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.

"It's been a script that everyone had known about for a long time and Grant, my buddy, is directing it so I was really excited to do it."

Heslov said he was lucky to have a great cast.

"George is great to work with - we've known each other for years so that was easy.

"Ewan McGregor is one of the great guys of the world and one of the great actors, and Kevin and Jeff they know what to do so I didn't really have to do anything," he said.

The comedy, inspired by Jon Ronson's non-fiction best-seller about the bizarre activities of a secret unit in the US military, sees McGregor as a reporter who comes across the story of a lifetime when he meets a Special Forces operator, played by Clooney, who claims to possess psychic powers.

The film, which premiered on the second night of the London Film Festival, will be released on Friday, November 6.