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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."

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.

When Justin Bieber finally does have a baby -- well, that kid isn't very likely to get beaten up on the playground, or to lose a game of chicken: Mariah Yeater's paternity suit against the pop star reportedly is no more.

Yeater "quietly" dropped the suit late last week and her lawyers quit the gig, according to TMZ, after they were informed by Bieber lawyer Howard Weitzman that a lawsuit was headed right back at them if (when?) the DNA test came up in the singer's favor.

Good thing the Biebs didn't rush home from Europe to take that paternity test, yes? After saying, "I know that I'm going to be a target, but I'm never going to be a victim," he and his legal team are looking pretty tough.

Yeater had filed a child-support suit against Bieber on Halloween, alleging he'd knocked her up via 30 seconds of post-concert coitus in a backstage bathroom last year when he played Staples Center. It emerged that she'd previously tapped an ex-boyfriend, and possibly a mystery lover named Steve, as the daddy of her 3-month-old boy.

If her allegation had been proved true, she could have been looking at statutory rape charges. She'd claimed they'd done the nasty when she was 19 and Justin was only 16.

"Go BIG or Go HOME," Bieber said a few hours ago on Twitter. Even if it had nothing to do with the dropped case, that sentiment is on point.