12:00pm Friday 14th July 2006
By Charlie Francis-Pape
WOMEN in Bridport could be forgiven for swooning over the town's latest resident.
Film star George Clooney has taken up residence at an artist's studio in South Street since February, where artist Mike Wade has been applying the finishing touches to his makeup.
Ex-Madame Tussaud's sculptor Mike has been creating a life-sized wax model of the ER actor over the past five months at a cost of £7,000.
The face is made of wax and painted with oil, the body is made from fibreglass, the hair is real human hair and the eyes are made from hand-blown glass.
Mr Wade said: "I began by making the head out of clay and then taking a wax mould from that. Once the body and head is complete I send it up to London to artist Lisa Hopwood to put in the hair and paint the face.
"It's really amazing to send away the plain wax head and for it to come back a realistic George Clooney."
Ms Hopwood said: "The hair was really challenging. I didn't want it to be left too long but then if I cut it too short it's ruined, as it can't grow back."
Mr Wade's previous waxworks, Princess Diana, Gordon Ramsay and Kylie Minogue, are residents of Louis Tussaud's in Blackpool.
The Clooney waxwork was commissioned by a museum in San Francisco and will be transported by boat when it is complete.
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