in filming
The filming is paralyzed due to the fact that several members of the team have been infected
George Clooney and Julia Roberts had happily reunited in Australia filming ‘Ticket to Paradise’, a romantic comedy directed by the British Ol Parker (‘Now and Forever’, ‘Mamma Mia!’ and ‘A and again’) alongside Kaitlyn Dever, Lucas Bravo and Billie Lourd, Carrie Fisher’s daughter.
The film is a romantic comedy about the adventures of a divorced couple (the characters of Roberts and Clooney), who rush to travel to prevent their teenage daughter from entering into a reckless marriage, such as theirs. The script is signed by the director himself Ol Parker with Daniel Pipski. The film was being shot on the Australian coast, but with two weeks to go, the ghost of covid-19 made its appearance and filming has been paused.
It is not that Clooney and Roberts have been infected, but a large part of the team has, so everything has stopped. Clooney and Roberts are now apparently safe in Los Angeles. They are expected to return in three months, when that on-set flare-up has subsided and ‘Ticket to Paradise’ can resume in three months. The curious thing is that the place where the film was shot was completely closed to anyone outside the filming, so the virus was carried by someone from the team without knowing it. Surprisingly, Screen Queensland CEO Kylie Munnich said in a statement published in ‘Variety’ before filming began: “We are very fortunate to have a safe destination, where people can film right now and, fortunately, not be subject to delays or closures and they can also have an amazing lifestyle while they’re here.” The statement also claimed that Queensland, the area of the shoot, had not seen any community transmission of covid for 55 days.
Julia Roberts and George Clooney have met on several occasions on the big screen. ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ (2001) was the first of them, as well as its sequel ‘Ocean’s Twelve’ (2004). They also crossed paths in ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’ (2002), Clooney’s directorial debut. His last time until ‘Ticket to Paradise’ was in ‘Money Monster’ (2016), the thriller directed by Jodie Foster that both starred.
‘Ticket to Paradise’ is a Universal Pictures film with Clooney and Roberts also participating as producers through their respective
vThe companies: Clooney for Smokehouse Pictures opposite Grant Heslov and Roberts for Red Om Films opposite Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill. Other producers include Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Sarah Harvey and Deborah Balderstone of Working Title.
Universal had initially scheduled the release of ‘Ticket to Paradise’ in theaters worldwide on September 30, 2022, but the studio has since moved it first to October 21, 2022, and now, with this production halt after three months they do not risk setting a new date, although they trust that the film will be one of the star titles of the coming Christmas.