Working with longtime pal George Clooney in the 1920s football comedy Leatherheads – which Clooney also directed – was a “no-brainer” for Renée Zellweger.

“I heard George was making a movie and I said, ‘When?’ If he had asked me to make peanut-butter sandwiches for the catering, I would have said, ‘Crunchy or smooth?’” the 39-year-old actress says in the April issue of InStyle of the film, which also stars The Office cutie John Krasinski. “It’s never less than great with him. And poor me, I had to watch guys throw a football all day … Talk about living the dream.”

But the Oscar-winning film star isn’t only ogling her hunky costars and talking fashion (“It’s extraordinary to wear one of those red-carpet gowns”) in the magazine’s first-ever “Color” issue.

Zellweger says “Sometimes people ask, ‘Don’t you miss your home?’ Well, no. I go to work with George Clooney or Harry Connick,” but she adds, “I’m probably more okay by myself than anything.”

The currently single star, who was briefly married to country music star Kenny Chesney also says, “I’m fortunate. I think I was born happy. If I have a bad moment, it doesn’t take me long to switch the gear back. I say, ‘That sucked,’ and move on.”

WENN