George Clooney Has His Friend Act As Santa On The Phone When His Twins Are Misbehaving

George Clooney might have come to fatherhood later than some, but the 62-year-old actor has really taken to some of the best aspects of it like a duck to water. Like convincing his 6-year-old twins that he has a direct line to Santa Claus and the two strike up casual conversations on the regular. That is some advanced parenting that he just appears to have picked up naturally. Probably because of his history as an enthusiastic prankster.

The Boys in the Boat star recently stepped out for the Los Angeles premiere of his movie with wife Amal Clooney. Naturally, since it is December, the topic of the holidays came up when he was speaking with People about his twins, Ella and Alexander and how they prepare for Christmas. “They’re still all into the Santa thing,” the dad of two explained, going on to admit it’s “very helpful, because when my kids are acting poorly, let’s say in July, I have a call from Santa.”

The level of commitment on Clooney’s part, to be laying the groundwork all the way back in July... truly no notes on this one. Especially as he has commandeered a friend to play the part of Santa on the other end of the conversation.

“I go, ‘Hey Santa, how’s it going?’ And he’s like, ‘Everything’s going good. How are the kids?’ And I go, ‘Well, I don’t know. Kids, how are you guys doing?’ They’re like, [whining]. And then I get away with it,” Clooney told the magazine, adding that one of his friends has been programmed into his phone under the name “Santa,” and we kind of hope that friend is Brad Pitt.

While Clooney could be accused of stringing his kids along with the Santa phone calls, something tells me they’ll thank him for it later. Not because he’s preserving the magic of the holidays for them, but because they’re pranksters themselves. They famously speak Italian in front of him because they know he can’t understand, and they both really enjoy playing poop jokes on their poor, beleaguered mother Amal. So in a way, this is really just a matter of George Clooney upping the stakes in an ever-increasing challenge of playing pranks with his children.

Meanwhile Amal Clooney, human rights lawyer and activist, is busy trying to save the world. Maybe she’s the one who should have the direct line to Santa.