Following the departure of director Lee Isaac Chung from Warner Bros’ Oceans 11 prequel film, Bradley Cooper is now looking to take on the role, and more, as he is now being eyed to write and direct the flick in addition to starring in it alongside Margot Robbie.
As reported by Variety, this move comes after Chung exited the project alongside fellow filmmaker Jay Roach, and having Cooper step in to helm the film would help to keep it on track to begin production before the end of 2026. The 51-year-old actor was previously reported to be in talks to star in the Ocean’s 11 prequel alongside Robbie, so if all goes well, he might end up pulling triple duty.
While the plot of the Ocean’s 11 prequel remains under wraps, its script was written by Carrie Solomon (A Family Affair), and of course, will take place before the events of 2001’s Ocean’s 11, the classic heist drama starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, with sources adding that the prequel will take place in 1960s Europe.
If plans go through, the Ocean’s 11 prequel will mark Cooper’s fourth directorial feature, following 2018’s A Star is Born, 2023’s Maestro, and 2025’s Is This Thing On?.
The original Ocean’s 11 film was released in 1960, and starred five members of the Rat Pack – Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop, with a narrative surrounding a group of World War II veterans who rob five of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas in a single night. The franchise would go on to receive a reboot trilogy by Steven Soderbergh starting in 2001, alongside a 2018 all-female version starring Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway and Cate Blanchett.
In other Ocean’s news, the OG Soderbergh gang of Clooney, Pitt, Damon, and Roberts are also set to return to the life of crime once again in the upcoming sequel, Ocean’s 14, which is set to bring an older, but wiser crew back together again.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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