Actor George Clooney pledged Friday to help his friend and fellow thespian Matt Damon shape up to reclaim the title of "sexiest man alive."

"Matt is very competitive with both Brad (Pitt) and myself, and Brad and I are two-time 'sexiest men alive,' and Matt's only won it that one time, and I kinda consider that a fluke," Clooney quipped.

"Having seen him recently, he's got a lot of work to do if he wants to get back up there," he said. "But I'm going to work with him and he's going to run a strong campaign this year."

Damon was named "sexiest man alive" by People magazine in 2007, for his piercing blue eyes and family-guy demeanor.

But he gained almost 30 pounds (13.5 kilograms) eating pizza and drinking beer for his latest role as a whistleblower in film "The Informant!" -- the last time Clooney saw him.

Since then, Damon has actually shed the weight.

Clooney and Pitt remain the only two-time recipients of the honor in 1997 and 2006, and 1995 and 2000, respectively. The pair have shamelessly campaigned for Damon in the past.

Actor Hugh Jackman won last year.

"Matt was pretty upset about the whole Hugh Jackman thing," Clooney commented. "I'm going to train him, I'm going to work with him, and with any luck at all..."

Clooney, with a bandage on his hand after slamming a car door on it accidentally, was in Toronto promoting the film "Men Who Stare at Goats."

In the film, scoop-hungry journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) happens upon Clooney's character, Lyn Cassady, embarking on a mission to find Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), founder of the US Army's secret "psychic soldier" program, in Iraq.

The film is based on a book by Jon Ronson about the army's experimentation with New Age concepts and the paranormal, for instance the ability to kill goats by staring at them, begun in the 1970s.

His hand "should be fine in two weeks," Clooney said.

Others who have received the People magazine accolade, which has been announced yearly since 1985 when Mel Gibson was the winner, include Tom Cruise (1990), Denzel Washington (1996) and Jude Law (2004).

Source: AFP