Official Site

Release Date: December 10th, 2004 (wide)

MPAA Rating Note: (7/3/03) Nothing's official until the MPAA sees the final cut, but it is extremely likely that Warner Bros. will be aiming for a PG-13 like the first movie received.

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Production Company: Jerry Weintraub Productions (Soldier, Vegas Vacation), Section Eight Ltd. (Insomnia, Far From Heaven, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) (both companies produced Ocean's Eleven)

Cast: George Clooney (Danny Ocean), Julia Roberts (Tess Ocean), Matt Damon (Linus Caldwell), Brad Pitt (Rusty Ryan), Catherine Zeta-Jones, Casey Affleck (Virgil Malloy), Scott Caan (Turk Malloy), Vincent Cassel, Don Cheadle (Basher Tarr), Andy Garcia (Terrence "Terry" Benedict), Elliott Gould (Reuben Tishkoff), Eddie Jemison (Livingston Dell), Bernie Mac (Frank Catton), Carl Reiner (Saul Bloom), Martina Stella; other cast not announced yet.

Cast Notes: (7/3/03) In addition to the gang this time around being one person larger (symbolically, the 12th person is Julia Roberts' character who wasn't in the gang in the first movie), it is likely that there will be some cast members who won't be returning, whose place in the group will be replaced by someone else. Having said that, an effort is being made for *most* of the original 11 to return, so there will probably only be one or a few to be replaced. Thus far, three of the first film's four biggest stars (Clooney, Roberts and Pitt) have been confirmed, with Bernie Mac and Andy Garcia also returning. Two actors who seem likely to return are Matt Damon and Don Cheadle, since they both have strong relationships with Clooney and Soderbergh's Section Eight company, which is producing movies they're directing (Cheadle) or starring (Damon) in. The other six of the original 11 were: Casey Affleck and Scott Caan (as the Malloy brothers), Elliott Gould, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin and Carl Reiner. Of those, my hunch is that the one least likely to return is Elliott Gould, whose character was so steeped in his connection to Las Vegas, that he seems like someone who could be replaced by someone more... European and female, perhaps?

The first name to make the rumor site rounds about being one of the new cast members is Barbra Streisand, whose involvement (if it is real) could be as a performer at a concert used as a distraction (like the boxing match in the first movie). Personally, though, I'd love to see Streisand make her return to acting as a member of a gang of thieves.

(9/28/03) Earlier this month, the French media reported (as reprinted over at ComingSoon.net) that Vincent Cassel has joined the cast. (10/8/03) George Clooney has been quoted by a few sources recently as saying that "everybody" is coming back, so until I hear otherwise, I'm going to list them all. (2/3/04) A couple of casting tidbits have appeared recently at FilmJerk.com. First, they reported that Shaobo Qin is no longer in the running to return as Yen, the Chinese acrobat, with that role being recast. Then, they reported that a new lead role that is being cast is a female government agent who specializes in tracking down thieves and who is also... the ex-girlfriend of Dusty Ryan (Brad Pitt's character). (2/16/04) Catherine Zeta-Jones has signed on to play the aforementioned ex-girlfriend.

Director: Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean's Eleven, Solaris, Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich; he also has Eros, which he partly directed, due in 2004; and Che Guevara in development)

Screenwriter: George Nolfi (Timeline)

Screenwriter Note: (7/3/03) Ted Griffin, who wrote Ocean's Eleven, was the first screenwriter hired to work on this project. However, Warner Bros. ultimately decided instead to hire George Nolfi to adapt a script he had sold to the studio in 2001 called 'Honor Among Thieves' to fit the 'Ocean's Eleven' cast and existing back story. In its original incarnation, 'Honor Among Thieves' was intended to be a project for director John Woo.

Based Upon: (7/3/03) This is the sequel to the December, 2001 crime caper hit, Ocean's Eleven, which was itself a remake of the 1960 "Rat Pack" movie, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Angie Dickinson, Cesar Romero and Norman Fell (yes, Mr. Roper!), which was famously filmed in Las Vegas while each of the Rat Pack members were also performing at the Sands Hotel. The 2001 movie opened to $50 million, and ended up grossing $183 million in the U.S. alone.

Premise: Danny Ocean (Clooney), reignited flame Tess (Roberts) and the rest of a band of thieves and con men (some returning and some new), team up for another three huge heists, but this time they're in three different locations (Rome, Paris and Amsterdam) (perhaps handled by three groups of four thieves each?). In Amsterdam, the prize is Rembrandt's "De Nachtwacht" painting, which resides at the Rijksmuseum. Meanwhile, casino owner Terry Benedict (Garcia), whom Ocean and crew ripped off in Las Vegas, is hot on their tail, looking for revenge...

Filming: Production has been pushed back a month from March 1st, 2004 until April 14th, 2004 due to a (rather ironic) achilles heel injury Brad Pitt suffered while recently filming Troy) (source: Army Archerd, "Variety" 12/16/03). The first locations will be in Rome, Italy, and the budget for the film is in the $85 million range, which is the same budget as the first movie. Other locations after Rome will include Paris, Amsterdam, New York City and Chicago. Previously, London and Berlin had been announced as locations, but they were replaced by Paris and Amsterdam.

Director and producer Steven Soderbergh has been quoted as saying he is aiming to make a "bigger movie" on the same budget, in an attempt to dispel the notion that sequels are always more expensive. Of course, he's doing that by asking his stars to take even smaller salaries than they did for the first movie (which was already a discount for the five biggest stars).

Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Eye Candy, Romance, Sequel, Thriller

Script Review: LatinoReview.com (note: this is not so much a "review" as it is an ultra-spoiler-filled synopsis of the first hour or so)

Unofficial Rumor Control: IGN FilmForce

Official Site of the First Film: WarnerBros.com

I had minor quibbles with Ocean's Eleven (it wasn't as funny *or* as action/thriller-oriented as I expected), but I did appreciate that the stars all seemed to be having a good time, and there was a certain most-Golden-Age-of-Cinema glee to be had in seeing that much star power in one movie. Like Gene Siskel used to say, the ultimate barometer for a film's success is whether it's more interesting than watching the same actors having dinner, and on that note, it only *barely* met those criteria. Having said that, I certainly don't begrudge the idea of a sequel, especially since I find Europe to be a far more interesting setting than Las Vegas (in fact, if I held any sort of fascination for Vegas casinos, I might have found more to like about the movie). Rome, London and Berlin, however are *real* cities, with character, history and style that is richer and more subtle than the glam and flash of Vegas, and against *those* settings, I'd especially like to see the assembled actors try another hand at playing thieves for two hours.