Actor George Clooney puts on a crown and 'Sexiest Man Alive' sash presented to him on the NBC 'Today' television show during an interview, in New York, Dec. 1, 2006. He tells Newsweek in its Dec. 18, 2006, issue that he can't get any woman he wants despite being a two-time winner of People magazine's 'sexiest man alive.' (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK - Let's get real: George Clooney is a two-time winner of People magazine's "sexiest man alive." He can woo practically any woman he wants?- right? "Um, ah, no, because I also wake up and my knees hurt and I think, `I'm 45,'" he tells Newsweek in its Dec. 18 issue. The actor-director, who was married in the early '90s to actress Talia Balsam, is one of Hollywood's most famous bachelors.

He won People's "sexiest man alive" title in 1997 and again this year, and is now tied with his good friend Brad Pitt.

Media speculation about a wedding at Clooney's villa in Lake Como, Italy, for Pitt and Angelina Jolie, which was rife last year, resurfaced earlier this year.

There was also speculation that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes would wed at Lake Como. The Hollywood couple were married last month at a 15th-century castle in Bracciano, Italy, outside Rome.

"This year it was Tom and Katie getting married at my house," Clooney tells Newsweek. "He sent me a bottle of wine to thank me. With Brad and Angie, I say they're not getting married and the press goes, `Arrgh!' The more you deny, the guiltier you sound."

Though he won an Oscar for his role in 2005's "Syriana," Clooney says he feels more at home in the director's chair.

"Directing is the key to filmmaking. Everything else is just paint," says Clooney, nominated for an Oscar for directing "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Does he have a bullhorn?

"No, I'm very modern," he says. "I have someone that I yell at and they yell it out loud."

Clooney's latest film, "The Good German," directed by Steven Soderbergh, will be released by Warner Bros. on Dec. 22.