Indonesian Actor Maxime Bouttier Says George Clooney Tried To Prank Him During The Making Of Ticket To Paradise: “But I Saw Right Through Him” - 8days Skip to main content

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Indonesian Actor Maxime Bouttier Says George Clooney Tried To Prank Him During The Making Of Ticket To Paradise: “But I Saw Right Through Him”

The 29-year-old Indonesian actor makes his Hollywood debut in the George Clooney-Julia Roberts-starring rom-com Ticket to Paradise.
Indonesian Actor Maxime Bouttier Says George Clooney Tried To Prank Him During The Making Of Ticket To Paradise: “But I Saw Right Through Him”
 In the rom-com Ticket to Paradise, now in cinemas, Indonesian actor Maxime Bouttier makes his Hollywood debut as Gede, a Balinese seaweed farmer who gets engaged to a just-graduated Lily (Justified’s Kaitlyn Dever) after a whirlwind romance. The problem is, Lily’s divorced parents, played by George Clooney and Julia Roberts, disapprove of their impending nuptial. The former spouses then make their way to to Bali (Victoria, Australia, actually) to stop the wedding. Speaking to 8days.sg over Zoom recently, the 29-year-old French-born, Jakarta-based actor/musician soon to be seen alongside Fir Rahman, Lim Yu-Beng and Chen Yixin in the Netflix series Mr Midnight: Beware The Monsters — said he still can’t get over the fact that he’s made a Hollywood movie, let alone one with Clooney and Roberts. Will Ticket to Paradise turn Bouttier into a global heartthrob what Crazy Rich Asians did for Henry Golding? He sure has the charm and talent to get him there.

8 DAYS: It must be surreal to make your Hollywood debut in a movie starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, together again for the first time since 2016’s Money Monster.

MAXIME BOUTTIER: I mean, look, you’re right. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them on screen together. I was just happy just to be a part of it. Honestly. I was just happy it was actually happening at all. Even without me in it, I would still watch the movie ’cos I love to see them back together in a more light-hearted environment, where it’s just all fun and laughter [and] not much heavy drama. Seeing them in the movie, enjoying each other’s company, as you can see on screen, is just such a ride. And I feel really blessed being in it.

How star-struck were you? Be honest now…

Oh, I mean, I was star-struck the first time we had a dinner party. And I guess we got that out of the way. On the first day [of filming] I was a little bit nervous, but they were very welcoming and I think they knew I was very nervous and I think they saw that. I was over-prepared anyway — like 150% prepared — so that I won’t hold them back. But they would make you comfortable so that you can just be there and be confident to play your character. And that was how I felt. They were very nurturing. They welcomed me into the Hollywood family (laughs).

You make it sound like they were going to adopt you. What kind of stories did George share with you?

He shared stories about the pranks he pulled on his friends. I was like, Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of that one. It’s crazy to hear those stories told right in front of you, just like the way he told them in so countless interviews. It’s exactly like how it happened, you know? Oh my God, he really is that guy, you know? He’s really like genuine. Yeah. So, yeah, those were pretty cool (laughs).

Yes, George and his notorious pranks. Did he pull a fast one on you during the making of Ticket to Paradise?

He didn’t do much, but he did try to put some seaweed and made me think it was like some animal or something. It was the scene where I was carrying him on my back. He found some seaweed and put it on my back, and I was, like, What is that? And I looked around and I was like, Yeah, I know it’s you! (laughs). So yeah, he tried, but I saw right through him (laughs).

What about Julia?

Julia was a wonderful person. She was amazing just to be around. I think the things that I’d learned from them… I was just a sponge, absorbing their presence and watching how they worked. Because it was a very fun environment, you know? It wasn’t a very serious one. We were just having fun and we tried to convey that in the movie. We tried to improv as much as possible, so that that was just like really funny to watch.

Ticket to Paradise is set in Bali but because of the Covid-19 restrictions there, it was filmed entirely in Australia! You and your character are from Bali. Just how believable was the make-believe Bali?

The set I was most surprised by was my home on the seaweed farm. When I first saw it, I was like, Wow, this is incredible! And it does look genuinely like Bali, but with a little Hollywood touch. And I loved it! I loved my room (laughs). I was like, this is a very beautiful room — I wish I was living in it! The scale of the [seaweed farm] set was huge. You see like five houses next to each other. And I thought that was very special.

Ticket to Paradise (PG13) is now in cinemas. Mr Midnight: Beware The Monsters is out on Netflix Oct 24. 

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos

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