‘AMAL HAS CHANGED GEORGE' CHANGED
WORKING TOGETHER IS NO LONGER FUN AND GAMES
By his own admission, George Clooney has become a changed man since marrying his wife, Amal, and becoming a father to their 4-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander.
And the star’s long-time pal, Julia Roberts, certainly noticed the shift when the pair teamed up for their new film, Ticket to Paradise, in Queensland.
“For years, George was always the life of the party … the king of practical jokes,” says a Hollywood insider. “His crazy pranks were Hollywood legend. He was always the last to leave a party and the first to suggest having one.
“But from the moment he met Amal, George has been on his best behaviour. Julia hasn’t had much opportunity to spend time with him these past few years and was shocked at how much marriage has changed him.”
In Ticket to Paradise, George and Julia play a divorced couple who fly to Bali to stop their daughter from getting married and making the same mistake they did years before.
While George, 60, was joined by Amal, 43, and their kids during the shoot, Julia’s husband, Danny Moder, and their three teenagers stayed home in LA, only coming to Australia for visits.
“It’s such a fun premise and Julia couldn’t wait for the laughs to begin,” continues the source. “Every day she showed up to set, ready for the pranks to start, and every day George showed up knowing his lines, with his nose to the grindstone, interested in only one thing … doing his job.
“Julia remembers a time while filming Ocean’s Twelve when she was pregnant with her twins, and George saw Brad Pitt carrying a suitcase to the car for her.
“George thought it was Brad’s case, so he stuck the heaviest statue he could find inside so Brad would have to struggle when he took it out of the trunk.
“Turns out, it was Julia’s suitcase, and when she found out what happened she retaliated by buying itching powder, which she put in an ointment George used.”
Adds the source: “George spent the rest of the day scratching!”
This time, however, it was all business on set.
“George has really morphed from Mr Cool into Mr Mum,” says the source.
When Julia, 54 – who is mum to 17-year-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, as well as son Henry, 14 – George and Amal did take time out to share a meal together during filming, the doting dad always steered the conversation back to domestic stuff.
“Sometimes it was questions about bringing up kids – whether or not they should be allowed to eat junk food, attend private school or public school, and how to discipline them,” reports the source.
George openly admits he couldn’t be happier with his new roles as husband and father, and says human rights lawyer Amal “changed everything for me”.
“It was the first time that everything that she did and everything about her was infinitely more important than anything about me,” he continued.
“Amal never learnt to cook, so it’s often up to me to make the meals. I also do laundry and mop floors. Amal doesn’t sew, and since
I spent years taking care of myself when I first came to Hollywood, I even sewed buttons on her dresses!” George has previously said.