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When George Clooney wings into town, the Clooney clan turns out in force. Recently, he's been hanging out in Italy, shooting a new flick and canoodling with his latest conquest from the beauty-filled country, model Elisabetta Canalis. Last night's "Up in the Air" premiere gave the family a red-carpet occasion to reconnect.

With Elisabetta on one arm and his mother Nina on the other (dad Nick was M.I.A.), George worked the Westwood carpet in front of the Mann Village Theater, greeting his co-stars Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick (she of "Twilight: New Moon" fame), Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey, Danny McBride, and J.K. Simmons, as well as pals Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford. However, the biggest hugs from the handsomest man on earth were reserved for his cousin Miguel Ferrer and his wife Lori Weintraub.

The irony of Clooney's surrounding himself with his closest family members wasn't lost on the rapt "Up in the Air" audience, as writer-director Jason Reitman's tale of a very lonely man unspooled. Clooney's character is completely isolated, a bit of a jerk, and certainly a guy who refuses to get emotionally involved with anyone; that's an image George doesn't want audiences to confuse with his own famously carefree bachelor life.

That's despite Reitman's insistence that "Up in the Air" is more about himself than his leading man. "This is a very personal picture for me," he explained. Hopefully he never went to quite the extreme of his protagonist, who is more comfortable in an anonymous business class airline seat than he is in his own home.

Reitman, who follows up his Oscar-nominated
NOVEMBER 30, 2009 -- Elisabetta Canalis and George Clooney at the premiere of Paramount Pictures' 'Up In The Air' in Westwood, CA. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
"Juno" with this film, has clearly dug himself out of his isolationism, as he also made the night a family affair. Ivan Reitman, his famed father who brought us movies like "Ghostbusters," "Dave," and "Kindergarten Cop," escorted his mom, actress Genevieve Robert, while Jason clung to wife Michele Lee as crowds swarmed at the massive after-party held at the Beverly Hilton.

Clooney flitted through the transformed Hilton ballroom (re-imagined to look like a posh American Airlines Admiral's Club) staying for a few quick photo ops then slipping out the back with his agent Bryan Lourd. The rest of the cast, however, partied on into the night.

Sticking with the family vibe that is at such odds with their likely-to-be-nominated movie, Vera Farmiga got snuggly with musician hubby Renn Hawkey, Jason Bateman kept close to his wife Amanda Anka, and the always-wonderful Melanie Lynskey wandered the all-white world with husband Jimmi Simpson.

The power players from Paramount Pictures worked the room, too, from Sumner Redstone and Brad Grey to directors Michael Bay, Marc Forster, and Adam Shankman; even "Star Trek"'s Mr. Sulu (John Cho) was on the flight deck, hanging out at the bar.

Danny McBride laughed as he navigated the jammed festivities, "Wow, this party is flying!"