'The Descendants': George Clooney is a 'jerkface' (in a good way)

Let it be known that no amount of prestige (think Oscar nominations, humanitarian awards) can keep "The Descendants" star George Clooney from pulling classic practical jokes.

On the Hawaii set of the movie, which is garnering the actor a lot of Oscar buzz, Clooney lived up to his reputation for keeping things light — even though Shailene Woodley, who plays Clooney’s character's daughter in the film, said the shoot didn't present prime pranking opportunities for the actor.

"He was in every scene of the film, he was busy, and we had a 10-year-old on set. It wasn’t an 'Ocean's Eleven' atmosphere," Woodley told Ministry of Gossip on Tuesday at "The Descendants' " L.A. premiere. "But we did get a lot of small practical jokes."

PHOTOS: 'The Descendants' premiere pictures

One time Clooney gave about 20 crew and cast members quite the scare when he fell on his back and feigned sharp pain, said Amara Miller, who plays his character's younger daughter.

"For a second there everyone thought we had lost our star. And then he gets up and he breaks through the crowd [surrounding him], and he walks away giggling," Miller said.

"We all just sit there going, 'You jerkface.' We all fell for it."

Clooney also kept the practical jokes coming with the help of smart phone technology.

"We were filming this scene on a plane — really right, a lot of extras, kind of uncomfortable," costar Nick Krause said. "I hear this noise behind me. I look back and I hear it again, and there's George playing with the fart button on his iPhone."

The young cast members have long-running "ER" to thank for Clooney’s natural ability to make things fun during the shoot.

"I did 'ER' for years where I worked with kids," he said. "I played a pediatrician. So I sort of got the hang of keeping it moving."

How does the actor switch gears from goofy jokes to filming somber scenes?

"When it’s a really well-written script and a really talented director," said Clooney, "it's not so hard."

"The Descendants," directed by Alexander Payne, opened with a limited release Wednesday.

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Photo: Shailene Woodley and George Clooney at the L.A. premiere of "The Descendants" at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press.

George Clooney is 'superhuman,' Shailene Woodley says [Video]

Shailene Woodley is already a TV star, but the 19-year-old has yet to make a name on the big screen. That will likely change this fall when she stars opposite George Clooney in "The Descendants."

In the much-buzzed-about movie, the star of ABC Family's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" plays the angsty daughter of Clooney's character, and the two spend the film trying to repair their troubled relationship. In real life, the 19-year-old and the 50-year-old get along far better, Woodley said Monday at the Hollywood Film Awards, where she was the recipient of a Spotlight prize.

"I don't think [we connected] really in a father-daughter way, because he's not my dad. But we did connect in a human-to-human way," she said with a smile on the red carpet. "He's a really amazing human. I would say he's a superhuman. And I just kind of stood there and like a sponge and soaked up all of his greatness because he has so much to offer."

Woodley, who has long wanted to transition from TV to film, explained that she found the slower pace of a movie set conducive to the creative process.

"When you do a TV show, you do maybe eight scenes a day -- and on a movie, you do one. So it was great to have the freedom to be creative," she said. "I do think it's a very different role for me than I've done before. So I'm excited to show that side of me."

While she has yet to line up any additional film projects, Woodley said she is trying to embrace the chaos of her first run on the award circuit.

"It's the kind of thing that you can't really conceptualize. You just go with it," she said of the endless promotion. "You're so endlessly grateful for every day and at the end of the day you're like, 'Did that really just happen?' "

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Photo: George Clooney and Shailene Woodley at a media conference during the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Credit: Evan Agostini / Associated Press