George Clooney, Brad Pitt Were ‘Fine’ Making Fun of Age in ‘Wolfs’: Director

Brad Pitt and George Clooney were good sports about a little age-related humor in Wolfs.

Jon Watts, who wrote and directed the upcoming Apple TV+ action-comedy, told Entertainment Weekly in a new interview that Clooney, 63, and Pitt, 60, were okay with his script having some fun at their expense, in the form of jokes about their age.

“That was one where you put it in the script and you cross your fingers and you hope that they don’t get mad,” said Watts, 43. “But no, they liked it. It was just the right amount and it was things that I think they were totally fine having some fun with.”

Wolfs follows the friends and frequent costars as two rival fixers hired for the same job. As a synopsis teases, the two “lone wolves” have to “cover up a high-profile crime.”

But when they are “forced to work together, they find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected,” the synopsis adds.

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While attending the premiere of Wolfs at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, Clooney reflected on his many years of friendship with Pitt — but not without getting in a few playful jabs.

“There’s nothing good about it,” the two-time Oscar winner joked to PEOPLE with a shake of his head, while signing some autographs on the carpet. “It’s all a disaster.”

Getting serious, he added, “It’s fun to work with people you know really well.”

Clooney and his fellow Ocean’s Eleven actor attended the Wolfs premiere accompanied by their significant others: Amal Clooney and Ines de Ramon, respectively.

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Wolfs also stars Amy Ryan, Poorna Jagannathan and Austin Abrams, and is co-produced by Watts. Aside from starring, Clooney and Pitt produced the film through their production companies, Smokehouse Pictures and Plan B Entertainment, respectively.

Asked by EW about making sure he didn’t recreate the Ocean’s films with Wolfs, Watts said, “Well, they’re friends in the Ocean’s movies; this was immediately the opposite of that. They hate each other, so that immediately makes it feel different but also gave them something really fun to play.”

“Because they’re such good friends in real life, it creates this sort of need in the audience where you just want them to be friends,” he continued, adding with a laugh, “You’re like, ‘Can’t you see they’re perfect for each other?’ ”

“It makes people frustrated in a good way. It’s the opposite of an odd-couple pairing because they’re the same guy; it’s not two different characters. And it takes half the movie to realize that,” Watts said.

Wolfs is in select theaters Sept. 20, then on Apple TV+ starting Sept. 27.