“Please don’t harm my children”: the worst prank Brad Pitt ever pulled on George Clooney
Brad Pitt and George Clooney aren’t just Hollywood’s most handsome OAP stars – they’re also overgrown children who have been engaged in a prank war for years. Having starred together in films like the Ocean’s Eleven trilogy, Burn After Reading, and Wolfs, the two box office superstars know each other well. Naturally, this means they also know exactly how to get one over on each other, and their back-and-forth prank battle has seen some pretty elaborate japes over the years. According to Clooney, though, a particularly cutting one pulled by Pitt led to him begging Clooney not to harm his children in revenge.
The prank battle between Pitt and Clooney began on the set of Ocean’s Twelve, which was shot in Lake Como, Italy. Clooney owns an 18th-century villa named “Villa Oleandra” in Laglio, on the western shore of Lake Como, so he counts the area as his hometown. The wily Pitt knew this, though, and decided to have a little fun at his co-star’s expense.
Clooney told GQ, “Brad sent out a memo to all the people in the town – my town, I’d lived there for years. He had it posted on telephone poles and said, ‘The movie is coming to town, and please only address George Clooney as Mr. Clooney or his character name of Danny Ocean, and don’t look him right in the eyes.'”
When Clooney touched down on home turf to shoot the film, he couldn’t figure out why locals and crew members were treating him differently than usual. During an appearance on CNN’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, Ocean’s co-star Matt Damon chuckled, “He comes in and he’s like, ‘Something’s weird,’ and he can’t figure it out.”
To Clooney’s horror, he realised that the local Italian newspapers had taken Pitt’s gag seriously. He once told a Reddit AMA, “As you know, jokes don’t translate at all, and they called me ‘il divo’, and said that I was treating the crew like shit.” The press were painting Clooney out to be a diva who had lost touch with reality, and the nickname “il divo” – which translates as “The Star” – cut Clooney deep.
The next time Clooney laid eyes on his smirking co-star – who had the offending newspaper in his hands – he pointed at him and said, in no uncertain terms, “You’re mine from here on out.” He revealed that Pitt simply replied, “Please don’t harm my children” – and it’s unclear if this was simply a piece of gallows humour or if Pitt really felt Clooney might target his kids for prank-based retribution.
Indeed, Damon said Clooney was “the maddest I’ve ever seen him” – and he claimed Pitt wasn’t just worried that his kids would get caught in the crossfire. He claimed the Se7en star implored Clooney to “leave everybody else around me out of it. Leave other civilians out of it.”
In later years, Clooney admitted – with his tongue placed firmly in cheek – that Pitt’s pranks are considerably harsher than his. He told Extra TV, “My pranks, they could take forever, but his pranks cut to the bone. They hurt.” He then joked, “I can’t go home to my home town because he’s done something to me.”
Ultimately, Clooney’s revenge didn’t involve Pitt’s innocent kiddies – but it was also nowhere near as severe as he’d seemingly promised. He simply slapped some bumper stickers on Pitt’s car that read, “Small Penis On Board.” Juvenile? Yes. Funny? Also yes. But we reckon Pitt got off lightly.
