Bradley Cooper, who is in talks to star opposite Margot Robbie in the new Ocean’s Eleven prequel, is the frontrunner to write and direct the Warner Bros. film.
The news comes after Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung recently left the project, following former director Jay Roach. Cooper will be directing the film, which will be produced by Robbie’s Lucky Chap, and will be on track to shoot by the end of the year. The project follows Cooper’s previous work on A Star Is Born, The Maestro, and last year’s Is This Sing On? This is the director’s fourth feature-length work, following “”.
The story is expected to take place before the events of the 2001 casino heist comedy Ocean’s Eleven, starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. Carrie Solomon wrote the first draft of the script, which is said to be set in 1960s Europe.
The original “Ocean’s Eleven” premiered in 1960 and starred Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford and Dean Martin. Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s spawned two sequels (2004’s Ocean’s 12 and 2007’s Ocean’s 13), as well as a 2018 reboot, Ocean’s 8, starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, and Rihanna. Clooney is also working on a new Oceans movie starring Roberts, Damon, Pitt and Don Cheadle, which focuses on a group of older criminals.
“There was something appealing about the idea that we’re too old to do the things we used to do, but we’re still smart enough to know how to get things done,” Clooney told Variety last year. “They missed a step. They need to find a way around the limits.”
The “Ocean’s” prequel is one of a handful of projects Lucky Chap has in the works at Warner Bros., with the production company signing a first-look deal on the heels of $1.4 billion-grossing and Oscar-nominated “Barbie.” Last month, the companies debuted Emerald Fennell’s interpretation of the literary classic “Wuthering Heights.” Next up is a reimagining of “Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman” with Tim Burton.
Pack first reported details of Cooper’s new role. Warner Bros. has not commented.
