Shailene Woodley Knew George Clooney Was at Her Broadway Play When She Heard His ‘Particular Laugh’: ‘Oh, There’s George’

Shailene Woodley had a surprise in the audience!

During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the actress, 33, recalled recognizing George Clooney – her former costar in 2011’s The Descendants – while starring in her Broadway play Cult of Love at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York City.

When host Jimmy Fallon asked Woodley if she prefers to know when she has special guests in the audience, she said, “I didn’t think I would want to know before when we first started.”

She added, “Then as the play continued, there’s a sheet where you can sign in all of your guests who are coming backstage afterward, like when my mom was there visiting, and I remember opening it one day and seeing some names that I recognized, and I was like, ‘Oh!’ The panic set in.”

However, the actress noted that, given her profession, there is a benefit to being in the know.

“As an actor, there is a little bit of an exhibitionist view that does want to perform a certain way knowing someone else is in the audience,” she said. “You kind of direct a little bit of that energy for them specifically. Or I found that I did and it actually made me better. So, now I love knowing when people are coming.”

Woodley mentioned that several of her former costars have visited the play, which opened on Dec. 12 after starting previews on Nov. 20, including Zoe Kravitz, Iain Armitage, Betty Gilpin and Clooney.

For Clooney, Woodley said she knew he was in the audience because of his distinctive laugh.

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“He’s truly one of the greatest human beings,” she said. “He’s just the best. I didn’t get nervous having him there. I was excited to have him there. I could hear his laugh at one point because he has such a particular laugh. And I was like, ‘Oh, there’s George somewhere in that area.’ “

The two starred in Alexander Payne’s comedy-drama The Descendants as a father-daughter duo navigating life amid a major tragedy.

In a 2011 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Woodley shared that her chemistry with Clooney in the movie came naturally. “We got to know who he was as a person, and he suddenly became just a George and not George Clooney,” she said.

As Woodley wraps her run in Cult of Love, about four adult siblings returning to their childhood home for the holiday season, on Sunday, Feb. 2, Clooney is set to make his Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of Good Night, and Good Luck.

The play, which starts performances on March 12, is based on the 2005 film that Clooney starred, directed and co-wrote about CBS news journalist Edward R. Murrow’s legendary exposé on Senator Joseph McCarthy. He will be playing Murrow in the new production.

Tickets for Cult of Love are now available.

Source people.com