George Clooney and Julia Roberts really are a breath of fresh air in Ticket to Paradise. The hilarious trailer alone is enough to convey that we need more rom-coms with A-listers. Not only was their chemistry on point but so were their beer-ponging skills! To that point, the Ocean’s Eleven duo explain how they were able to pull off the fun and hilarious scene so well and shock their co-stars in the process.
In Ticket to Paradise, there’s a scene in which resentful exes, played by George Clooney and Julia Roberts, face off against their daughter and her fiancé in an entertaining game of beer pong. Clooney told Entertainment Weekly that there was no need for any prep during this key scene and that he and his co-star had this scene down to a T:
It was funny because when we got to the set, everyone was like, ‘Okay, we’re going to talk about the scene.’ Julia and I were like, ‘Let’s just shoot it, man. Don’t worry. We know what to do. We’ve been down this road a few times.’ … There was real shock on the faces of the younger actors.
So the Money Monster duo knew exactly what they were doing — so much so that George Clooney nailing his shot in a red cup during the first take, and that’s what was ultimately used in the final cut. Like the crew, I would’ve probably been surprised by the stars’ prowess at the drinking game as well. Julia Roberts further explained to EW that there was no need for pros like them to start with a warm-up for this scene:
I think people thought we might warm up. They thought we’d start off a little slow, and we just came in going 100 percent from the beginning — and we left some people speechless.
Director Ol Parker revealed during the same interview that he thought the stars were going to need a choreographer to get the scene down. Boy, did they prove him wrong! Not only did the Oscar winners show off their excellent beer pong skills, but they also pulled off some old-school moves during the celebratory dance sequence that followed. (And funny enough, House of Pain’s “Jump Around” is the former Batman actor’s real-life go-to party closer song, so Parker couldn’t have picked a better tune for him to bust a move to.)
As soon as the news came out that George Clooney and Julia Roberts would be re-teaming for another movie, you better believe some rom-com fans were all jumping for joy. The Descendants alum had previously taken a break from acting for four years, returning to the big screen with the mixed review Netflix movie Midnight Sky. The last time he starred in a true rom-com was when he co-led 1996’s One Fine Day. Roberts is also making a comeback of her own as she stopped acting in rom-coms for years because she couldn’t find a script that seemed good enough for a return to the genre. Of course, that changed when she was offered the chance to work with a certain familiar co-star of hers.
One thing that was a struggle for Julia Roberts, however, was the fact that she had to hurl insults at her frequent co-star while in character. She didn’t want to be mean to George Clooney since the two of them are such great friends in real life. Their interviews along show just how much they care about each other. During this press tour, alone they’ve revealed A+ nicknames and discussed what Clooney considered Roberts’ best quality. Ticket to Paradise itself has received mixed reviews, though the critics agree that Clooney and Roberts are a great pairing.
Now that we know George Clooney and Julia Roberts are impressive beer pongers, I kind of want to see them go head to head in a real game. The chances of us actually witnessing a thing are slim, so we’ll just have to settle for their hilarious faux competition in new movie release Ticket to Paradise, which is playing in theaters now.