Kissing your best friend always ends up in awkwardness. Just ask George Clooney, and he’d have plenty to say on the subject.

Clooney and Julia Roberts might have started off as co-stars in Ocean’s Eleven, but their on-screen adventures soon morphed into a beautiful friendship behind the cameras.

From professionals to best pals, the two have been inseparable for more than two decades now. Ironically enough though, their friendship is also what peeled open a predicament for them on movie sets when they were required to enact intimate scenes.

Julia Roberts and George Clooney

George Clooney, Julia Roberts, And Their Awkward Kisses

George Clooney and Julia Roberts share a bond gilded in love; their friendship goes all the way back to 2000 when they first struck a chord on the set of Steven Soderberg’s Ocean’s Eleven. Ever since then, the duo has collaborated on a total of six films, with last year’s Ticket to Paradise being their latest venture together.

Directed by Oliver Parker, Ticket to Paradise stars Clooney and Roberts as a divorced couple who share a common goal of sabotaging their daughter’s imminent wedding in Bali, during which they end up rekindling old, affectionate feelings toward each instead.

A classic, feel-good romantic comedy, the movie had a lukewarm run at the box office, amassing $172.1 million globally, albeit landing mixed reviews amongst critics.

Ticket to Paradise (2022)

While the Academy Award-winning actor’s friendship with Robert naturally played in both of their favor, concerning their on-screen chemistry, it proved to be a double-edged sword.

Their platonic relationship made it quite difficult for them to lock lips in front of the cameras, so much so that the two had to go over the same kissing scene nearly 80 times. And the Batman & Robin star’s wife, Amal Clooney, was rendered baffled when she came to know of this.

“I told my wife, ‘It took 80 takes,’” Clooney, 62, said in an interview about his kiss with Roberts in their rom-com. “She was like, ‘What the hell?’” Joking about the same, the Pretty Woman star claimed how it “took 79 takes of [them] laughing and then the one take of [them] kissing.”

“Well, we had to get it right,” Clooney responded.

Why George Clooney Found It Especially Difficult to Kiss Julia Roberts

Numerous reasons serve as the root cause behind the discomfort that followed the ER star’s smooch with Roberts in Ticket to Paradise. For starters, they’ve been best friends for years now, which only serves as a thorn in their characters’ way since they’re depicting an estranged couple falling back in love.

Not to mention, both Clooney and Roberts are family-oriented stars with loving spouses who they share kids with. So it naturally made things more difficult for them.

George Clooney with his wife, Amal Clooney

“It is [awkward] when my wife and kids come by to visit,” Clooney said, remarking how she’d often appear on the set with their kids which obviously made him more uneasy.

“I mean it was the first day they came to visit,” Roberts chimed in. “It’s like, ‘Papa, oh, Auntie Juju.’ It’s like – ‘Get ’em out, get ’em out!’” Of course, their children didn’t witness them smooch on set, but it certainly does add to the tension,

“It’s kinda ridiculous,” the Notting Hill star added. “It is like kissing your best friend.”