George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who haven’t shared a screen together in 16 years, have reignited their iconic partnership for Apple original film Wolfs. The duo play two professional fixers who prefer to work alone but find themselves forced to work together after being hired for the same job.
With the close friends playing rivals in the project, Clooney told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday, “It was just fun, the script was great, we thought it would be fun to do. We haven’t worked together in a long time so it was actually a blast to get together.”
They have previously co-starred in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Burn After Reading and the Oceans trilogy, as Pitt chimed in that rather than this action comedy feeling like another Oceans movie, “It was more focused without all those other people around.” Clooney joked, “Actors I think is the word, those guys.”
Wolfs was originally expected to get a wide release, but in August Apple announced that it would instead have a one-week theatrical release before heading to the streamer. A sequel was also announced at the same time.
“We’re happy it’s getting released at all. Obviously we wish it was having a wider release and we’re trying to figure these things out as we go,” Clooney said of the streaming pivot. “This is a revolutionary time in our industry so it’s taken a moment to get through it, but we’ll get through it.”
Richard Kind, who co-stars in the film, also weighed in, saying, “I don’t know if Apple wants to hear me say this — I have a feeling this is a communal movie, and I’ve seen a few of those lately that just go straight to streaming and I’ve been lucky enough to see them with an audience. Movies are movies are movies, they should be seen on movie screens. These guys are larger than life — life is not a phone or an iPad or even a 60 or 70 or 80 inch TV. It should be dealt in feet.”
Co-star Amy Ryan added, “However large an audience we can get by any means, fantastic; the more people see the film, fantastic. I suppose we’re in a growing pains — I still love going to the movies, I love being with a bunch of people, a bunch of strangers, in a safe space, and experience something. At home you can get distracted and start doing the dishes, so I prefer to leave the dishes at home.”
Austin Abrams, who spends much of the movie being chased by Clooney’s and Pitt’s characters — mostly in his underwear — also revealed at the premiere that he was subject to one of Clooney’s famous pranks.
“The first day, they put out chairs, someone on production — two big chairs for them, one small chair for me which we all kind of laughed about; I don’t know why, I think it was by accident,” he recalled. “Two weeks later we’re in some ballroom and there’s like two giant, regal chairs that they had set up that said ‘Brad’ and ‘George’ on the side and a little chair for me in the middle which is really funny. I think Brad has a photo of it somewhere.”
Wolfs hits limited theaters on Friday and starts streaming on Apple TV+ on Sept. 27.