A New Plan
“I always had high hopes for Ocean’s Eleven, because we had a fantastic cast, a brilliant director, a great script and a wonderful story,” recalls Weintraub, who has more than a little experience crafting hit films, having produced the wildly popular Karate Kid series, as well as the seminal motion pictures Nashville, Diner and Oh, God! “I think one of the reasons people go to the movies is to escape. They buy a box of popcorn, a Coca-Cola, sit down to watch the show and have a good time. It quickly became clear that audiences were having a good time watching Ocean’s Eleven.”
According to Weintraub, it was at a press conference during the promotional tour for Ocean’s Eleven in Rome that the question of doing a sequel was first posed to the cast and filmmakers. Though no one expected that an ensemble of this magnitude could be wrangled for another Ocean’s film, as fate would have it, later that evening over dinner Soderbergh revealed that he had the beginning of an idea for a story set in the Eternal City.
“I wasn’t thinking in terms of making another Ocean’s film until we went to Rome to promote Ocean’s Eleven and I fell in love with the city,” Soderbergh confirms. “I began thinking about what the story and structure might be, and the idea of setting it in Europe began to take hold.”
“This was the first time that Steven had been in Rome, and I could see the twinkle in his eye,” recalls Andy Garcia. “He was inspired by the city and started talking about a sequel and writing while we were still there.”
After returning to Los Angeles, Weintraub found further inspiration for the sequel in George Nofli’s screenplay Honor Among Thieves, an adventure about the greatest thief in America being beset upon by the greatest thief in Europe. “The script had within it a terrific idea for Ocean’s Twelve, so I sent it to George, Brad and Steven and asked them to read it,” Weintraub says. “We all loved it. The story centered around two main characters, so the biggest challenge was adapting it to fit our ensemble.”
“The tone of George Nolfi’s script was very similar to the tone of Ocean’s Eleven,” Soderbergh says. “I had the basic idea for Ocean’s Twelve that Benedict managed to track all of them down and they had to go to Europe and pull off a series of heists in order to pay him back. And unlike the first film, where you’re having fun watching them be successful and get a lot of things right, I thought it would be more fun if Twelve was the movie in which everything goes wrong from the get-go.
“We decided to fuse George’s script with some of the ideas that I had, and it turned out to be a really terrific fit. The challenge was less turning Honor Among Thieves into Ocean’s Twelve than the fact that George and I had an enormous number of ideas that we were initially trying to jam into the script and had to edit out.”
“I think it’s fair to say we probably could have written five scripts from the number of ideas that we developed,” says Ocean’s Twelve screenwriter George Nolfi. “My writing process was fairly quick because I had such an extensive outline when I began. There was more material in the outline than we could ultimately keep in the script. We just had to hone it down – like chiseling away on a piece of marble.”
“We had to make sure that we had a screenplay that worked without catering to particular actors,” says George Clooney, Soderbergh’s partner in Section Eight, the production company that co-produced the Ocean’s films with Weintraub’s Jerry Weintraub Productions.
“The great thing about our cast is that there are no egos about who has better lines or more lines. And that’s one thing that Steven has always talked about, the fantastic generosity of spirit this ensemble cast has. No one ever tries to take over the scene.”
Twelve Is The New Eleven
If bringing together an ensemble of the world’s biggest movie stars to film Ocean’s Eleven seemed as daring and difficult as Danny Ocean’s plan to steal $160 million from a Las Vegas casino vault, then reuniting the cast for a sequel – and adding another handful of highprofile actors to the mix – appeared to be nearly impossible. That is, to everyone but Jerry Weintraub.
“Nobody thought we would be able to get this film together,” recalls Weintraub, “because logistically it’s very challenging to coordinate a cast of this size and caliber into one 77-day shooting schedule. What made it easier is that they all wanted to come back.” “This is truly a group of people who continually try and work together as much as possible,” George Clooney elaborates. “We all have the same philosophy about what we do for a living, which is if we’re not enjoying what we do, we’re idiots because we’re all extremely lucky.
“Still, it was an incredible thing to try and schedule this many working actors, and somehow Jerry was able to manage it,” Clooney continues. “It doesn’t hurt that we all really love him and enjoy his company. Quite honestly, he gets us to show up places simply because he asks us to. He’s a master showman and knows exactly what is smart to do and what isn’t smart to do. On top of it, he’s enormous fun.”
“For any director, working with Jerry is a dream,” Steven Soderbergh reports. “His story sense, his casting sense and his instincts are very, very good. It would have been impossible to make these two films without him. Jerry’s contacts enabled us to exert an amount of control over the locations in Europe that is very difficult to get, and this is in addition to his ability to keep tabs on everything and keep everybody happy.
“As I said to somebody who asked me to describe Jerry, ‘Well, nobody has ever had to think about whether or not they have met him. Nobody has ever posed the question, Have you met Jerry Weintraub? and gotten the answer I’m not sure. He’s just one of those people.’ He is really fun to have around, and he is the best producer I have ever seen.”
Like their admiration for producer extraordinaire Weintraub, the enthusiasm shared by the cast and crew for working with director Soderbergh cannot be overstated. “Steven is a complete original,” Matt Damon marvels. “His work ethic is unlike any I’ve ever seen.”
“For Steven, every day is shooting and editing and working and figuring things out,” says Clooney, whose role in Ocean’s Twelve marks his fourth film with Soderbergh. “To us, at the end of each day it was ‘Well, we wrapped. Let’s go get a glass of wine.’”
“Momentum is a huge element to my creativity, so I love the efficiency of Steven’s sets,” says Julia Roberts, who received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Soderbergh’s Erin Brockovich. “This is my fourth film with him and there are never days that just drag along, where you get tired and your enthusiasm wanes. Steven is very precise and good at keeping things moving, keeping everyone excited, and he makes you want to achieve your goals with him watching. Part of his efficiency comes from people being happy to serve the work. We’re all on the team together.”
When Roberts discovered shortly prior to production that she was pregnant with twins, Soderbergh and screenwriter George Nolfi reworked the script to cleverly incorporate this new development into the story. “Steven changed things around so that it became even more fun for me,” the actress says.
In addition to Soderbergh’s considerable talent and passion for filmmaking, he brings to his projects the unique ability to serve a film in multiple capacities, from developing the script to operating the camera.
Steven is an extraordinary director, writer, director of photography and editor,” Weintraub says, “which means when he arrives on the set in the morning, he doesn’t have to have long discussions with five different people. He just comes in and gets the work done. He is totally focused, totally prepared and not afraid to try something new. Every day he surprises me.”
“By taking on so many roles, it gives Steven a unique perspective and makes the process go a lot faster,” notes Don Cheadle, who is making his fourth film with the director and his fourth with Clooney. “He’s always bringing something new into the mix and challenging himself and us.”
“There are many cinematographers who are more gifted and skilled than I am, but for me, the idea of being my own cinematographer is just a way to get what I have in my head in the most efficient way possible,” Soderbergh explains. “I don’t really see lighting and operating as being divorced from directing. The ability to look through the lens and really see what we’re getting is a great benefit for me, and it’s exciting.”
For Andy Garcia, part of the appeal of working with Soderbergh is his balance of meticulous preparation and willingness to improvise. “Like a great athlete, Steven can be spontaneous and throw out the game plan and allow something fresh to happen,” the actor says. “He knows that those moments of spontaneity are the jewels in a movie.”
In addition to the returning cast, Ocean’s Twelve welcomes two new additions to the ensemble. Joining Julia Roberts in the female ranks is Catherine Zeta-Jones, costar of Soderbergh’s Oscar winning drama Traffic and the winner of an Academy Award for her performance in Chicago.
“I have the two most beautiful women in the world in the same picture,” Weintraub enthuses. “Julia is a truly gifted actress and she’s extremely funny in this film. And Catherine, who I spent some time with at the Venice Film Festival last year, is a magnificent actress as well. When Steven and I were discussing who should play Isabel, she was our first and only choice.”
“Jerry makes you feel like you’ve got someone looking out for you,” says Catherine Zeta-Jones. “Not many other people could have pulled off this production as graciously and flawlessly as Jerry did. He’s a wonderful diplomat, and each country we traveled to was happy to have us.
“After making Traffic with Steven, I always wanted to relive my experience working with him on a different movie because it was such an amazing time for me,” she continues.
“His process, whether he’s shooting a drama like Traffic or a movie like Ocean’s Twelve, is to create a space in which everyone is part of the process. Everyone comes in with great energy. It’s a wonderful environment in which to work.”
According to Soderbergh, “Isabel was a crucial piece of casting because the sequel centers in part around a character who doesn’t appear in the first film, so we had to have somebody who could really hold the screen. I knew that the role played to everything Catherine does well. She’s a great badass.
“I had a blast with Catherine on this film,” the director continues, “especially being able to use her in a way that accentuates her glamour and beauty, because in Traffic she was six months pregnant, and I admired her bravery in putting herself out there. It’s really fun to watch her in Ocean’s Twelve as she puts the guys in hot water, because Isabel is so smart an sexy and so good at her job.”
For the role of Francois Toulour, a wealthy European playboy who moonlights as an elusive master thief known as The Night Fox, Soderbergh turned to internationally acclaimed French actor Vincent Cassel, star of such films as La Haine (Hate), Elizabeth and Shrek. The director asked Cassel if he would be interested in joining the cast of Ocean’s Twelve when they ran into each other at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival; Cassel said yes without having read a script.
“If a director like Steven asks you to wait for him, you know you can trust him,” Cassel says. “From the very first day, the cast really welcomed and invited me into the group. They really knew how to enjoy being on set together and have fun!”
“Vincent Cassel is somebody whose work I have watched for some time, and I’ve always thought he was really compelling,” says Soderbergh. “As soon as we started working on the script, I told everybody that this was the guy I wanted for Toulour. I had a sense that he would fit right in with this group, that he would find it really easy to play with us. And he did. Everybody took to him instantly. He is very funny, very smart, and he immediately became part of the game, and that was gratifying.”
Rounding out the Ocean’s Twelve cast are celebrated British actors Robbie Coltrane, who appears in a scene in Amsterdam, and comedian-actor Eddie Izzard, who joined the cast as an eccentric inventor for scenes filmed in Rome; as well as Soderbergh alumni Cherry Jones, who appeared with Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, and Jeroen Krabbe, who starred in King of the Hill and Kafka.
“Whenever anyone asks me about working with this cast,” Carl Reiner says, “I simply say they’re otters. When the camera isn’t rolling, they’re either singing, dancing, sparring or reminiscing. They have so much fun it’s almost sickening.”
“It’s hard to fake the kind of ease and camaraderie that these characters have with each other,” Soderbergh notes, “and the good news is, this cast doesn’t have to fake it.”
Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Julia Roberts, Cherry Jones, Casey Affleck, Elliott Gould, Mini Anden
Screenplay by: George Nolfi
Production Design by: Philip Messina
Cinematography by: Steven Soderbergh
Film Editing by: Stephen Mirrione
Costume Design by: Milena Canonero
Set Decoration by: Kristen Toscano Messina
Art Direction by: Tony Fanning
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: December 10, 2004
Visits: 134
