Brad Pitt was not in Venice for George Clooney’s lifetime achievement honor, but he still found a way to get a joke into the ceremony.
Laura Dern read a message from Pitt as she presented Clooney with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 2. Pitt spent most of the note praising his longtime friend before identifying the one activity he apparently believes Clooney should avoid.
The answer was dancing. Pitt’s message urged the audience to keep Clooney away from the dance floor, and by the time Dern reached the end of the tribute, he had reduced his assessment to three words, “really bad dancer.”
It was a familiar interruption to an otherwise formal career honor. Pitt and Clooney have spent more than two decades alternating between movies, red carpets and jokes at each other’s expense, and Pitt’s absence from Venice did little to disrupt that routine.
Pitt Praised Nearly Everything About Clooney Except His Dancing
Pitt’s message began by suggesting Clooney is unusually capable at almost everything he attempts. Dancing was the exception. The teasing continued with Pitt describing his friend as a “pigeon-toed kid from Kentucky” before turning toward the qualities that have sustained their friendship beyond movie sets.
Pitt praised Clooney as an actor, husband, father, prankster and humanitarian and described him as the kind of person he would want nearby during a crisis. Then came the final qualification, Clooney, according to Pitt, remains a “really bad dancer.”
The joke landed in a ceremony that otherwise took a broad view of Clooney’s career. The Venice Film Festival awarded him the Golden Lion in recognition of his work as an actor, director and producer.
Laura Dern Was Chosen to Deliver Clooney’s Official Tribute
Pitt’s note was only one piece of Dern’s laudatio. The festival announced before opening night that the Oscar winner would formally honor Clooney in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema.
Dern and Clooney worked together in Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, which premiered in competition at Venice in 2025. During Wednesday’s ceremony, she focused on his work as a storyteller as well as his reputation among friends and collaborators.
The Golden Lion adds to a career that has produced eight Academy Award nominations across multiple disciplines. Clooney has won twice, Supporting Actor for Syriana and Best Picture as one of the producers of Argo.
His Venice history stretches back to Out of Sight in 1998 and includes appearances with Good Night, and Good Luck, Michael Clayton, Gravity and Jay Kelly. Venice also became personal territory when he married Amal Alamuddin in the city in 2014.
Pitt and Clooney Shared the Venice Spotlight in 2024
Pitt’s absence this year contrasts with their appearance at the festival in September 2024, when the pair brought Wolfs to Venice. Pitt attended with Ines de Ramon, while Clooney was joined by Amal, and the four were photographed together around the premiere.
Wolfs marked Pitt and Clooney’s first movie together since the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading in 2008. Before that, the three Steven Soderbergh Ocean’s films established much of the easy public chemistry that still feeds their jokes about each other.
The pranking goes back to those productions. While making Ocean’s Twelve in Italy, Pitt circulated instructions suggesting crew members should address Clooney only as Danny Ocean or Mr. Ocean and avoid looking him in the eyes. Clooney later recalled that the gag went on long enough for people to start believing he was behaving like a diva.
Another ‘Ocean’s’ Reunion Is Moving Closer
Pitt and Clooney are also preparing to reunite on screen. Another Ocean’s sequel is in development, with Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Julia Roberts expected to return alongside Clooney.
Clooney said in 2025 that Warner Bros. had approved the project’s budget and that scheduling the ensemble was the major remaining obstacle. The planned film approaches the familiar crew as older criminals who can no longer pull off jobs quite the way they once did.
The project remains active. Speaking at Venice this week, Clooney said he would work with Pitt and Damon again without hesitation and indicated that filming will move ahead once their schedules line up. Earlier reporting identified October 2026 as the target for production, although the sequel still does not have an announced release date.
It is separate from Warner Bros.’ other upcoming Ocean’s film, which stars Margot Robbie and Bradley Cooper as Danny Ocean’s parents and centers on a heist surrounding the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix. Cooper is directing that prequel, which is currently scheduled for theatrical release on June 25, 2027.