“They’re dirty, dirty tricks”: The long-running prank war between George Clooney and Brad Pitt
Being a hugely successful and respected professional doesn’t mean childish antics have to become a thing of the past, something George Clooney has made abundantly clear after gaining a reputation for being one of the Hollywood A-list’s most notorious tricksters.
He might be an Academy Award-winning actor and filmmaker who overcame the travesty of Batman & Robin to become a household name and enduring star. But when he decides he wants to have a little fun at somebody’s expense, the prankster quickly consumes the respected thespian and powerhouse producer.
Unfortunately for Brad Pitt, he’s become one of Clooney’s favoured targets, although he has at least developed a thick enough skin to give as good as he gets. In fact, it was the former who struck the first blow during production on the heist sequel Ocean’s Twelve, leaving his co-star with no other choice but to retaliate.
Unbeknownst to Clooney, Pitt sent out a memo to his neighbours on Lake Como demanding that for the duration of the production, he only wanted to be referred to by his character’s name, Danny Ocean, and he didn’t want anybody looking at him in the eye, either. The tabloids gained wind of the story and ran with it in the press, which led him to be branded as ‘Il Divo’ – or ‘The Diva’ – as a result.
Matt Damon said of Clooney’s response that it was “the maddest I’ve ever seen him,” causing him to place bumper stickers on Pitt’s car that read ‘Small Penis On Board’. The actor thought people were honking at him in the streets because he was a world-famous celebrity, only for Clooney to inform him that it was actually because he was being praised for openly admitting his shortcomings.
That wasn’t the only vehicular incident, though, with Clooney admitting that he once “got a bumper sticker in the shape of a pot plant that said ‘Fuck Cops’ and I put that on the back of his Toyota Prius.” Why? According to him, “because there’s no way you’re not getting arrested with that,” although it remains unknown if Pitt was ever apprehended as a result.
Clooney decided that Meryl Streep was fair game to get involved, too, after he orchestrated a ruse that saw the legendary performer sent a package of materials recommended by a dialect coach which would help her capture the essence of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Of course, it was Pitt who ended up taking the blame.
“I sent her a letter years ago with a bunch of CDs that were a dialect coach. And I sent it from Brad, a bunch of CDs to Meryl Streep,” he revealed. “I said, ‘This guy helped me with my accent in Troy, I thought maybe he could help you’. Meryl said she avoided Brad for like five years.”
Clooney ominously intoned as far back as 2016 that “I am working on a prank that will end his career,” which clearly hasn’t come to fruition yet, seeing as he’s still an in-demand superstar. Still, he’s of the opinion that, despite putting plenty of imagination and planning into his work, the same can’t be said of his opposite number.
“My pranks, they could take forever, but his pranks cut to the bone”, he said to Extra. “They hurt. I can’t go home to my hometown because he’s done something to me. They’re dirty, dirty tricks.” He didn’t share the reasons why he couldn’t head back to his old stomping grounds because of Pitt, but it must have been pretty dicey.
Suffice to say, the ongoing war of attrition between the star-powered pair is far from over, the only real question is which one of them will make the next move.
