D.C.'s Very Own Michael Clayton: Definitely Not Cloned for Clooney

"Michael Clayton" -- the acclaimed new psychodrama starring George Clooney as a ruthless corporate attorney grappling with concepts of ethics and truth.

Michael Clayton -- the respected Washington corporate attorney grappling with the total mind-bending weirdness of hearing his own name thrown around in connection with a new George Clooney movie.

"It's jarring," said Clayton, a partner in the D.C. office of legal giant Morgan Lewis. "In the previews they do this 'George Clooney is Michael Clayton' thing. Like, who am I?"

We'll note there's absolutely no connection between the two. "Michael Clayton" is not a movie about Michael Clayton -- not the one who's practiced law here for 27 years, anyway. It's apparently mere happenstance that writer-director Tony Gilroy gave the character the not-uncommon name. Clayton says that a Warner Bros. honcho who looks after these kinds of things told him that there was basically no name they could have used that wasn't held by some lawyer somewhere in the United States.

But the real irony? Real-life Michael Clayton is an intellectual property and trademark lawyer -- basically a guy whose job is to prevent the misuse of names. Clayton first heard about the movie months ago via a joshing e-mail from the director of the International Trademark Association. "My first concern was that 'Michael Clayton' was going to be some ax-murderer-rapist," Clayton told us. But the character wasn't, so his wife, Sharon, said she'd be okay with the whole thing if she could just meet Clooney.

Clayton made some calls and got an invitation to the N.Y.C. premiere and after-party -- but alas, due to a timing glitch, didn't receive it until the day of the screening and missed it. They hope to see it this week.

HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?

Mary Cheney at her McLean High School 20th reunion. The veep's younger daughter -- who didn't register in advance -- joined her 1987 classmates Friday night at Broad Street Tavern in Falls Church for happy hour, but passed on the karaoke, and again Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, where she wore a jacket, slacks and name tag but was too busy catching up to dance to '80s tunes. Those huge guys wandering the halls? Not Secret Service -- the Detroit Lions, who bunked at the hotel.

Dick and Lynne Cheney at Bistro St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore. The veep, his wife and two friends had an early-bird dinner Saturday surrounded by overdressed high school kids undoubtedly headed to a homecoming dance.

LOVE, ETC.

Acknowledging: Sean "Diddy" Combs admitted he's the father of a 15-month-old girl named Chance. "At first, I wasn't sure if this was my child," he told the New York Daily News, but he has now promised to take care of the baby "for the rest of her life." Combs dated the baby's mother, Sarah Chapman, while still seeing former girlfriend Kim Porter, who gave birth to twins in December.

Registering: Christina Aguilera, who still hasn't officially confirmed that she's pregnant, signed up for baby gifts Saturday at Hollywood's trendy Bel Bambini, reports People magazine. The pop singer told the staff she's expecting and put blankets, bottles and a diaper bag on her registry.

SURREAL ESTATE

Seller: Lisa Ling

Price: $399,000

Details: The TV personality (formerly of "The View," now with Oprah and National Geographic) has unloaded her Nightmare on Florida Avenue. In 2003, Ling bought the four-bedroom Victorian fixer-upper in Columbia Heights for $292K and was soon contending with contractor woes, permit problems and neighbors complaining about collapsing walls and vagrants squatting in the rowhouse. But Ling did a ton of (presumably costly) work to keep the city from condemning it; now the money pit has a new owner. No word on whether the globe-trotting correspondent plans to find another home here; her new doctor-husband is based in Chicago.