Clooney, Pitt, Damon gear up for 'Ocean's 13'
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Now that George Clooney's an Academy Award winner, he and his boys are returning to their thieving ways.
George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt will all reprise their roles when Ocean's 13 starts filming later this year.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon will star in Ocean's 13, the third flick in their franchise about a gang of lovable crooks, distributor Warner Bros. announced Monday.
A supporting-actor Oscar winner for the oil-industry thriller Syriana, Clooney will reprise his role as leader of the pack Danny Ocean, with the group pulling off a new heist in Las Vegas.
Clooney's producing partner Steven Soderbergh, who made the 2001 hit Ocean's Eleven and its 2004 sequel Ocean's Twelve, will direct again.
Julia Roberts, Clooney's love interest in the first two movies, and Ocean's Twelve co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones will not be back for the third movie, according to Warner Bros.
"It was a script issue. We didn't have a place to really use talent like theirs, two big stars like that," said Jerry Weintraub, the franchise's producer. "They're very good friends of ours, and neither Soderbergh nor I would prevail on them to come back and do nothing just to do it."
Weintraub said if the filmmakers hit on a good idea to include the actresses, there was a chance Roberts and Zeta-Jones could return.
The studio expects the rest of the cast, including Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould, will return. Joining the cast will be Ellen Barkin.
Production is scheduled to start in July, with Ocean's 13 due in theaters in summer 2007.
7 comments:
Well, Ellen Barkin will probably be naked at some point, so there's that.
Actually, it's been a while. Is that still a good thing?
Are they fucking kidding?
"Okay, we lost Roberts and Zeta-Jones. But look on the bright side: We've got Barkin!"
The dropoff in quality between 11 and 12 was absolutely shocking. The script for 12 was such loathsome crap it reminded me of the sensation of seeing Godfather III the first time. And 11 was so great! It's amazing what a little success can do. It makes me totally appreciate Richard Donner for doing three Lethal Weapon sequels and somehow keeping it "loose" without the series ever devolving into idiocy. (Although he definitely flirts with it at one or two points.)
Hey, let's get into the prequel jokes! "Ocean's One" tells the story of a SINGLE GUY knocking over a liquor store with a devilishly complicated plan.
When I was watching Ocean's 12 the entire time I felt like the actors were mugging for the camera as if to say, "That's right, it's George and Julia and Matt and.... all acting in a movie for you." They were so damn self-aware and smug. The most striking example of this for me was Brad Pitt's performance. He had this half-smile on his face the entire time as if he could barely contain himself.
Yeah, word. And Pitt was so great in 11. All those wisecracks (and the fact that he's eating in every scene and never has a napkin) were hilarious.
And, he and Roberts were totally funny and charming in "The Mexican." Why? Verbinski.
Never saw 12.
In 12:
1) They are "competing" with another "master criminal" whose mansion is really Clooney's Italian mansion in real life
2) The gang takes advantage of Tess' "resemblance" to Julia Roberts in order to fake out a bunch of people including Bruce Willis as himself
3) The running gag with Bruce Willis is everyone telling him that they guessed the end of "Sixth Sense" -- the punch line is Willis saying, "If it was so obvious, how come the movie grossed $320 million domestic?"
4) Catherine Zeta-Jones plays an Interpol agent whom we meet as she addresses some big amphitheater, saying "We must catch the Scorpion Robber!" or some such
5) Andy Garcia is now fat and wears an ascot throughout
Need I go on?
No, you told me about the Julia Roberts thing before. Sounded cringe-worthy, and despite how much I liked 11, that fact alone made me relegate this to "the people in whose house I'm staying are watching it, so I guess I'll watch it" category.
Post a Comment