Clooney: 'Brad Pitt is dimmer than me'

George Clooney has revealed that he feels better about playing a dimwit in the Coen brothers' new movie because Brad Pitt's character is even worse.

The actor is starring in black comedy Burn After Reading, the Coens' follow-up to Oscar-winning thriller No Country For Old Men.

But the plot of the film, about two gym workers who discover a disk containing a CIA agent's memoirs, has baffled some members of the cast.

Clooney told MTV: "I don't even understand what it is. We have no idea what we've done. The only thing I feel confident about is, as bad and goofy and dim as I am in the movie, Pitt might be dimmer. And that makes me know I have a little cover."

The film also stars John Malkovich, Oscar winner Tilda Swinton and Fargo's Frances McDormand.

Swinton said: "I'm surrounded by buffoons! It's insane... I'm married to John Malkovich and I'm having an affair with George Clooney, and I'm really angry about everything."

The filmmakers have also started work on comedy Suburbicon, which Clooney will direct.

He said of the project: "There's nothing to explain what it is except it's a Coen brothers film - so it's insane. I get clubbed to death with a tyre iron. It made me laugh."