George Clooney is known extremely well for his acting and for being a heartthrob the world over, yet his prankster ways might be his biggest claim to fame — to his costars, at least. George and fellow handsome leading man Brad Pitt have been involved in some heavy prank wars that stemmed from their days on set for the Oceans films.
Clooney recently shared about how he opted to prank Pitt while on the set of Ocean’s 11, and how he even involved other big name actors such as Meryl Streep in order to have the last laugh at Pitt’s expense.
After Pitt purchased a new car, Clooney shares how he helped decorate the new wheels, the Mirror relays.
“I got a bumper sticker in the shape of a pot plant, that said, ‘F%#$ cops,’ and I put that on the back of his car. Because there’s no way you’re not getting arrested with that.”
Additionally, Clooney shared that he sent a CD to Meryl Streep that was tips from a dialect coach and signed it as if it were from Brad Pitt. Then the star brought Tom Cruise into his scheming by sending Pitt pitch letters that he made appear to be from the Top Gun star.
As Vanity Fair shares, Pitt also dishes out his own fair share of pranks. When in Italy, Pitt convinced shopkeepers that George only likes to be addressed as Danny Ocean, his character’s name from the Ocean’s franchise.
George shares with that he is currently working on the prank of all pranks that will potentially end Pitt’s career, as VF notes.
“But I am working on a prank that will end his career. If you take the time, if you’re willing to sit on one for a couple of years, and just plant the seed… there’s no rush.”
George Clooney divulged details about his prankster ways during a chat at the Adobe Summit “an annual gathering of digital-marketing and analytics professionals.” Following Clooney’s onstage chat, World Cup soccer champ Abby Wambach, and by executives from Mattel and Cirque du Soleil took to the stage.
Although Clooney has experienced a multitude of successes when it comes to films he’s involved in, the star was sure to share that even he sometimes gets himself involved in film flops. George used the 1997 film Batman & Robin as an example of this.
“It’s a little bit of guessing. You try to do movies that people would like to see. Most people don’t get to make that decision—most of your career, you just take a job. Most of you might not remember, but I almost destroyed the Batman franchise. When I got the call, to star in what is widely regarded as one of the worst movies of all time, I told my friends, and I told them, ‘I’m going to do Batman !’ In general, what I say is, ‘It was a bad film, and I was [in a] very bad film,’ but I usually don’t say ‘waste of money,’ because I think it actually made some money despite how bad it was. Bad money and bad movies don’t necessarily correlate.”
Vice President and CFO of Adobe Ann Lewnes piped in and noted how interesting it is what people will pay to see. To which Clooney agreed and shared that this is why he’s sitting on the stage so “surprised” by it all. Due to flops like his Batman attempt, Clooney admits that he is much more selective and careful when choosing films to be a part of.
“Now, I try to do the ones that wouldn’t get made unless I get involved.”
[Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images]