Actor George Clooney always thought of himself as a movie star, even when he was cast in "crappy TV shows" early in his career, he said Saturday.

"Even when I was on some pretty crappy TV shows ... you always think of yourself as a film actor, you know, I'm a film actor but I just happened to doing this crappy TV show now and soon I'll have this fabulous movie career that I wasn't actually having (then)," he said.

Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov won the Golden Lion award at the Venice film festival on Saturday for "Faust," a visceral take on Goethe's play about a man who sells his soul to the devil.

The grotesque film is the final installment of Sokurov's cinematic tetralogy on the nature of power, following his acclaimed fictional portraits of Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin and Emperor Hirohito.

Mel Gibson, who reportedly made anti-Semitic remarks during a drunken driving arrest five years ago, is now producing a film about the life of Jewish hero Judah Maccabee.

Gibson's publicist, Alan Nierob, told The Associated Press Friday that Gibson is working on a deal with Warner Bros. to develop the film through his company, Icon Productions. Nierob said the studio also would like Gibson to direct, but Gibson will decide whether he wants to do that once a script is finished.

"Boy, this is a great city," says Woody Allen, lounging on a park bench that overlooks Manhattan's East River and the 59th Street Bridge. "I don't care what anybody says. It's really a knockout, you know?"

The scene comes from Allen's 1979 film "Manhattan," an enduring, romantic portrait of the director's hometown, "a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin."

A New York City gallery will be exhibiting 18 drawings and paintings by Bob Dylan created while the musician was touring Asia.

The Gagosian Gallery says Dylan's Asia Series will run from Sept. 20 to Oct. 22.

Amy Winehouse's father says he believes she died after suffering a seizure related to alcohol detoxification and "there was nobody there to rescue her."

The soul diva, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23. Her family says toxicology reports indicated there was alcohol in her bloodstream but it was unclear whether this had contributed to her death at age 27.

Justin Bieber met fans in a purple leather jacket at Dolce & Gabbana in New York, Michael Kors launched his new Rockefeller Center store with a Rockettes kick line, a Ferris wheel went up over Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and crowds of fashionistas spilled into the streets of Paris Thursday as Fashion's Night Out entered its third year.

"I'm wearing Dolce & Gabbana head to toe," said Bieber, who was signing D&G T-shirts ($195 apiece) for fans in Manhattan, one of hundreds of Fashion's Night Out events worldwide.

Nike is going back to the future.

The sneaker maker on Thursday said it has created a limited-edition shoe based on a glowing pair that appeared in the popular 1989 movie "Back to the Future II." The 2011 Nike Mag is designed to be an exact replica of the fictional sneaker, including a glowing Nike name on the strap. But unlike the movie version, these shoes won't lace themselves.

As the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks draws near, U2 frontman Bono admits he's "a very proud American on 9/11."

"It's just too big a moment in all our lives," Bono said. "Even if you're not American, everyone became an American that day."

The real life adventures of former al-Qaida-linked terrorist Nasir Abas have become a new comic book in Indonesia, chronicling his transformation from militant to invaluable ally in the fight against terrorism.

The story of the soft-spoken, seemingly mild-mannered 42-year-old — recognized by strangers on the streets and even asked for the occasional autograph — is well-known in the world's most populous Muslim country.