In the South of France With George and Brad

Clooney is about to say more, but now here come two adorable children, followed by a tall, elegant woman in a white dress, who turns out to be Amal Clooney.

“This is Alexander, this is Ella,” Clooney says, introducing his seven-year-old twins, who have already begun climbing all over Pitt. Amal gives Pitt a hug. She says the property is amazing. “The kids were like, ‘Is this all the same house?’ ”

“Do you guys like animals?” Pitt asks the twins. “We have a bunch of animals over there that need feeding.” He begins reciting the animal population of Château Miraval—donkeys, bunnies, mini horses—as Alexander and Ella cheer.

Eventually, we end up all sitting down for lunch—“Guests on this side,” Pitt says, and so Clooney, his wife, and I all end up in a row, looking out at the property, facing Brad Pitt.

“How did your interview go?” Amal asks.

“We just started,” Clooney says.

“We got eight minutes of interview,” Pitt says.

“Your timing was perfect,” Clooney says.

“I’m sure that’s sufficient,” Amal says to me, laughing.

Out on the lawn, their children have begun scaling a piece of sculpture, which, to be fair, looks like something temptingly halfway between a ladder and a table.

“Try not to do dumb things,” Clooney yells to them, in the weary voice of fathers the world over.

“Make good choices.”

Both men start telling Amal about the fashion they were trying on for their GQ shoot.

“Your man was venturing out,” Pitt says.

“What did you do? Are you wearing a radical colour?” Amal asks.

“I’m too old to care,” Clooney says.

“That’s another thing about getting older,” Pitt says. “It’s too much work to control things. It’s better to just slot in some way to the current.”

That’s the zen, admirable thing, but can you actually do it?

Pitt: Oh yeah. It’s so much easier. Like, I really don’t think things out in that way. Just more and more, if it feels right, I just trust that barometer and go.

And you’ve always been like that?

Pitt: I’ve become more and more like that. When you’re younger, there’s perceived threats out there, and things you think you need to protect against. And then you realize: That’s just exhausting.

Clooney: You’re also much more willing to make fun of yourself. When you’re young, you’re always trying to protect something. When I first got to the place where I could pick a movie, I took everything that came my way. Because I didn’t understand that I was going to be held responsible for the movie. So I get offered Batman & Robin, I call my friends like, “I’m going to be Batman!” You don’t really think it through. And then after I did that for three films, where they didn’t really work, I was like: Oh, I’m going to be held responsible. I need to go back to: good script, good director, if I’m allowed to pick. And that means you have to take money out of the issue. Because remember: When you’re first famous, when somebody offers you a lot of money, you’re like, “Fuck, I’ve never been offered money before. I’ve never been offered anything.”