If audiences have as much fun watching Ocean's Twelve as the star-studded cast did making it, they're in for a good time. Steve Pratt reports.

Practical joker George Clooney found himself on the receiving end of a prank during the making of the Ocean's Eleven sequel called - what else? - Ocean's Twelve.

Co-star Brad Pitt decided to try to pull off an insider joke on his close friend while shooting in Rome. He gave the crew a memo, purportedly from Clooney, insisting that no-one on the set look him in the eye and that everyone refer to him as "Mr Ocean".

Clooney recalls: "He made it sound like I was trying to stay in character. And everywhere I went, everyone was calling me Mr Ocean. Until finally I said, 'What the hell is going on?'. It also got into the paper that all the crew were being made to call me Mr Ocean."

Naturally, Clooney couldn't allow Pitt to get one over on him and extracted revenge by putting two stickers on his car. "I think they were both there for three days before he noticed," recalls Clooney. "One said, 'I'm gay and I vote' and the other said, 'Small penis aboard'."

The stickers didn't go unnoticed by the public. Co-star Matt Damon says: "People were honking at him and waving, and he thought it was because people saw that he was Brad Pitt. So he was waving back."

Pitt seems to have taken the joke well. "He likes to take credit for that, but I'm very proud of being a gay voter and I don't feel a small penis is anything to be ashamed of. Those stickers were just me. I'm trying to break ground and cut new ground for others who are affected like me," he says.

One person who hasn't yet been the object of Clooney's practical joke-playing is Catherine Zeta-Jones, who previously starred with him in Intolerable Cruelty. "I really felt that the guys didn't like me because I didn't have any jokes played on me. But I've been told it can take up to three years and I've only known George for two," she says.

All of the above demonstrates that making Ocean's Twelve was as much fun for the cast as they hope it will be for the audience. The sequel was inevitable given that Ocean's Eleven - itself a remake of the Rat Pack film of the same name starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr - proved such an international hit.

The idea for the sequel was first posed to the cast during the promotional tour for the first movie. Director Steven Soderbergh wasn't contemplating another Ocean's film until he fell in love with Rome on that tour. "I began thinking about what the story and structure might be, and the idea of setting it in Europe began to take hold," he recalls.

Actor Andy Garcia says: "This was the first time that Steven had been in Rome and I could see the twinkle in his eye. He was inspired by the city and started talking about a sequel and writing while we were there."

Producer Jerry Weintraub found further inspiration for the sequel in a screenplay Honour Among Thieves, an adventure about the greatest thief in American being challenged by the greatest thief in Europe.

When Julia Roberts became pregnant, her role had to be changed to accommodate her condition and she ended up playing a character who impersonates Julia Roberts.

"She was immediately up for doing what she did, which was pretty ballsy," says Clooney. "Not everyone would make fun of themselves and it's a hard thing to do anyway, using yourself as the target. But she jumped in with both feet."

All the ideas were worked into the script that became Ocean's Twelve, taking care not to favour any of the actors in what's an ensemble cast. As well as Clooney, Pitt, Zeta-Jones and Garcia, the rollcall includes Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Vincent Cassel, Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould.

"The great thing about our cast is that there are no egos about who has better lines or more lines," says Clooney. "That's one thing that Steven has always talked about, the fantastic generosity of spirit this ensemble cast has. No-one ever tries to take over the scene."

Weintraub certainly ensured that the cast were comfortable on location in Europe. He built a restaurant and bar on the roof of their hotel in Rome. "Every night, we'd all be, 'You going up to the roof?'," says Clooney. "So every night after work there'd be 40 or 50 of us sitting there."

The actor got to stay in his villa on Lake Como while filming in Italy. Less welcome for the screen heart-throb was being mistaken for a 50-year-old in Rome. "This gorgeous Italian girl was talking to me and she says, 'So Giorgio, how old are you?'. And I actually said, 'How old do you think I am?'. And she said 50. So we put that in the film as a gag."

For the record, he's 44 in May. But Clooney can take a joke, even if Damon continues by saying they're going to try to get Clooney voted Sexiest Man Alive, 50 and over.

"Yeah, that's good," responds Clooney. "What about pretty boy Pitt finding out that Jude Law was last year's Sexiest Man Alive?".

Damon says that he's worried for Law, his co-star in The Talented Mr Ripley, because Brad "is really angry".

Pitt joins in by adding that, as former winners of Sexiest Man Alive, he and Clooney had some things to share with the young ones and started classes. "And you know, Jude was just at the top of his class immediately. He had great flair and it was obvious to us that he's a natural. We do have great hopes for Matty too. We think he'll get there," he says.

Ocean's Twelve also provides proof that Clooney isn't always successful in love. He starred with Zeta-Jones in Intolerable Cruelty but never got the girl, and now Pitt gets her in Ocean's Twelve.

"It's very upsetting," admits Clooney. "But it's okay. I'll get her back. I'm doing a love scene with Michael Douglas next to even the score. That'll teach her."

* Ocean's Twelve (12A) opens in cinemas tomorrow.

Published: 03/02/2005