Why George Clooney Once Halted Pranking for Sandra Bullock

George Clooney has a well-known penchant for pranking his co-stars on various film sets. However, when it came to working with Sandra Bullock on their movie “Gravity,” the two actors agreed to put their pranking antics aside.

Some of Clooney’s famous prank victims include his co-stars Matt Damon and Brad Pitt. Despite his playful nature, Bullock emphasized that “Gravity” was not the right project for such pranks. The sci-fi feature required intense focus from both actors as they portrayed astronauts stranded in deep space. Given the film’s demands, Bullock felt an immense amount of pressure.

“There was a truce,” Bullock mentioned in an interview. “This film was so hard. Pranks had no place. There was never downtime. How are you going to prank someone who’s hanging from a scaffolding with 12 wires, rigged up all day? So, we had a truce at the very get-go because that just wasn’t the appropriate place to prank someone.”

It was easier to establish this truce since Clooney and Bullock were already close friends long before they worked together on “Gravity.” Bullock stated, “We’ve known each other long before either one of us had a career. We’re part of a close group of friends, so I’ve known George before the world knew ‘handsome George.’ And the same person he was then, is the exact same person he is now. He’s a man who loves film, and a man who loves being part of a group and working and supporting. He’s the ultimate team worker. He says, ‘How can I help?’ He’s just the same person I knew, all those years ago when our hair was dark and curly.”

Clooney’s dedication to the project extended beyond his on-screen duties. There were several sequences in “Gravity” where Bullock had to perform without her co-star beside her. Even in those moments, Clooney chose to remain on the set, offering his support behind the scenes.

“There was a point in which there were so many scenes with Sandra alone, and he was so concerned,” the film’s director, Alfonso Cuaron, noted. “He could have just done his job and left, but George noticed that Sandy and I were struggling with a couple of scenes. We were constantly discussing these scenes, rewriting dialogues to convey the emotions better. Suddenly, out of the blue, he offered to help. Actually, one of my favorite scenes, he rewrote. He said, ‘Hey, for what it’s worth, here’s this. Delete it, or use it.’ And it was great.”

With Clooney’s assistance, Bullock felt a much-needed sense of relief. She was able to share the immense responsibility of “Gravity” with her co-star, a contribution that she felt was underacknowledged.

“So, I never once thought, ‘I’m the only person.’ There was George, who’s a vital part of this film. He represents life and this outlook on living that, if you don’t have that, this film could not exist. So, I never thought of it until I started doing press and everybody was freaking me out and going, ‘How do you feel that this rests on you?’ I was like, ‘How is that now my problem?’ I didn’t write this or produce it or come up with the cockamamie idea to make a space movie.’ I still don’t think about it because I feel like I’m third or fourth on the list of characters, with the story, the emotional visuals, the sound and the experience of what they’ve created,” Bullock shared in another interview.