Brad Pitt once convinced Italy that George Clooney was a diva in 'Ocean's 12' prank

Brad Pitt played a prank on George Clooney in which he convinced newspapers in the area of Italy where his co-star lived that he was a diva.

In an interview with GQ, Clooney revealed that he befriended Pitt while making Ocean’s 11 and, when they came to make the sequel, he found himself on the receiving end of an elaborate practical joke.

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Ocean’s 12 was shooting in the Lake Como region of Italy, near to where Clooney was living, and so his co-star spotted an opportunity for mischief.

“Brad sent out a memo to all of the people in the town, my town where I lived there for years,” said Clooney.

“He posted on telephone poles that the movie is coming to town and to only address me as Mr Clooney, or in my character name as Danny Ocean, and to not look me right in the eye.

“So all the newspapers were like: ‘Il Divo! George Clooney is Il Divo!’ It was horrible. It was a horrible story that I later got him back for.”

Clooney revealed that he, along with fellow cast members Don Cheadle and Matt Damon, took part in a bet in which Pitt was tasked with spending an entire night alone in an abandoned mansion.

Pitt would get $10,000 (£7,559) from the others if he was able to last the night with just a candle, six matches and a bottle of wine.

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Clooney did not elaborate on what happened, but did reveal that Pitt only managed a couple of hours in the building.

The 59-year-old said: “There was a lot of idiocy that went on along the way, but we had a wonderful time.”

Clooney and Pitt went on to appear together again in threequel Ocean’s 13, before the series was rebooted with a predominantly female cast in 2018’s Ocean’s 8.

The trilogy of films starring the pair made more than $1.1bn (£850m) at the global box office.

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Ocean’s 8 was slightly less successful, but still managed to pull in an impressive total of $298m (£225m) worldwide.

Watch: Most complicated plot points in the Ocean’s franchise